Lighthouse, from The Denes

A different kind of warning light from that referred to in Beacon Stones, with safety at sea the main consideration rather than warning of attack by an enemy. Lowestoft’s “High Lighthouse” (as it was once known) had its origins back in the first half of the 17th century, but it wasn’t the first navigational aid to be established for the town. That came in 1609, when Trinity House authorised the construction of two movable “leading lights” down on the beach (wood-burning braziers, of some kind), which had to be placed one behind the other on a south-east/north-west axis.

During the hours of darkness, these were set alight and ships wishing to enter the inshore haven had to align them accurately in order to negotiate the Stanford Channel which separated the Newcome and Holm sandbanks. In 1628, John Wild (merchant) was charged by Trinity House with supervising the building of a “highlight” on the cliff, to replace one of the beacons down on the beach - this, in order to give vessels a better alignment on the Stanford Channel, which tended to change position slightly as a result of tidal action, meaning that the beacon on the beach would have to be moved periodically to align with the light on the cliff.
 

The site chosen for the first “high light” was towards the top of Swan Score (now, Mariner’s Score), on the northern side, and the light remained in use until about 1676, when it was replaced by one on the present site shown here - this, on the authority of Samuel Pepys, Master of Trinity House. The new facility was probably brought into operation, because it was clear of the built-up area of the town - whereas its predecessor was surrounded by houses and ancillary buildings and there was the constant danger of fire resulting from the sparks emitted by its wood-burning or coal-burning brazier.

There is neither time nor space here to go into all the intricacies of Lowestoft’s main lighthouse, but suffice it to say that the building of today (still on Pepys’s site) and its accompanying pair of lighthouse-keepers’ cottages were built in 1873, with the new, oil-burning light first shining out on 16 February 1874. It would, of course, have shone out over the Denes (seen here to good advantage in this image), which served for centuries as a large open-air wharf - prior to the building of the harbour (1827-30). The net-drying spars seen in the foreground began to appear during the second half of the 19th century, as the fishing industry expanded on the back of Samuel Morton Peto’s innovations, but most of the ones seen here probably date from the earlier part of the 20th, mainly consisting of split, redundant railway sleepers to form the uprights with old telegraph poles serving as the horizontals.
 

During medieval times, and right through into the 18th century, drift-nets and other gear - after curative treatment - were spread out to dry on the scrub vegetation which grew freely on the Denes. Returning now, to the original beach lights of 1609, it used to be said that these were the first aids of their kind to be authorised by Trinity House - but that is not so. Caister was the first coastal community to have such a facility (in 1607), to give safe passage into Great Yarmouth - as borne out in the London Record Society series vol xix, Trinity House Transactions, 1609-1635 (pub. 1983), p. 74