Score
A good deal has been written about the scores over the years - not all of it accurate. What follows here is an account of these footways, working from north to south, and looking at them in both a topographical and historical context. The main sources used for the study are a Manor Roll of 1618 (which gives a complete account of landholding in the parish, together with location and tenancy stated) and a series of Manor Court minute books dating from 1582-85 and 1616-1756.
Added: 1 February, 2024
Once known as Gallows Score, with manorial documentation of c. 1720 relating to property ownership and transfer in this location showing both terms in use - which would seem to suggest that this was the time of change from one to the other. It has been postulated that the name perhaps relates to a Mr. Gallow, who lived nearby - but no one of that name has ever been found as a resident in the manorial records and an earlier association with a gibbet-pole (rather than the apparatus of execution itself) is feasible.
Added: 10 February, 2024
Welcome to the Scores Trail. This booklet has been designed to help you understand a little more of Lowestoft history and of the significance of these ancient pathways leading down to the sea. You can find your way around the trial by reading the map in the attached Ledford leaflet or by following the red herring way markers. Lowestoft was originally built on top of the cliffs overlooking the North Sea. The schools that run down these clips were ways to access from the high ground to the beach area.
Added: 23 September, 2023
The ‘giant mackerel statue represents a prized catch from our fishing past. The position of the fish suggests that its prodigious weight has caused the wall to bow in. The sculpture is no longer there. All you can see is the top supporting plate in the crinkle-crankle wall (serpentine wall)
Added: 22 September, 2023
Here, in 1643 Cromwell met the local Royalist gentry and captured two cannons together with arms and ammunition. It was a bloodless affair without a shot being fired but he took a dozen prisoners including the vicar (James Rouse) and sent them to prison in Cambridge.
Originally it was named as Gowing's Score until 1850. This score has two claims to fame. The first records the visit of John Wesley on the 11th October 1764. Wesley preached in the open air with his back to a garden wall. In his journal he noted, "A wilder congregation I have never seen".