modern

The Novel David Copperfield is well known for its central figure’s connection with Blundeston, Great Yarmouth and the Peggotty family – but, scarcely known at all for David’s brief acquaintance with the town of Lowestoft, as revealed in Chapter 2 of the novel.

Centuries of Ongoing Change

Denmark Road, Flensburgh Street and Tonning Street: three closely connected roads near the shopping-centre and railway station of the Suffolk coastal town of Lowestoft (the UK’s most easterly community). What possible connection can there be between this trio, the most southerly located of the Scandinavian countries and two towns in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein?

May 1535 - Muster Roll of Lothingland Half-hundred, dated 23rd of the month, listed and named 292 able-bodied men for its defence. Lowestoft provided 130 of these (46%), with three widows included for their late husbands’ weapons. Armaments consisted mainly of bills (a hatchet-like metal attachment on the end of a pole) and bows and arrows, with a minority of the men also possessing helmets and body armour. No firearms are recorded. 

Introduction

An account of this trip, taken by two young men, from Saffron Walden to Lowestoft and back, took place between Saturday 26 August and Sunday 3 September 1797. It is written on two pieces of rag-paper 7½ inches by 63/8 in size (190mm X 162), folded to form eight pages, and with a half-piece serving as the first two – the outer one of which is the title-page itself. Originally hand-stitched down the middle of the fold (and with this either failing or being removed, at some point), the document was later secured by a single staple in the middle.

The collection of superstitions which follows is not seen, in any way, as definitive. It simply records a number of the more commonly held beliefs once current in East Anglian fishing communities. Not all of them were peculiar to fishermen only; some had (and may still have) currency among seafarers in general, while others can be traced well inland. But no matter how extensive their area of circulation, all of them are interesting for what they tell us of the human mind and the way it works when faced with natural powers beyond either its understanding or its control.

This building, which stands in Arnold Street, is in need of some restorative tlc and is an important remnant of Lowestoft’s military past.

Kirkley Cemetery is a burial ground in the Kirkley area of Lowestoft in Suffolk. Located on London Road South, the cemetery is maintained by Waveney District Council and is open for traditional and Green Burials. 

novel published, Silver Harvest, which is based on Lowestoft's history 1826-1956. The launch is at Waterstone's, Lowestoft, on Thursday, 5th September, 6.30 for 7.00

Author: Francis D. Longe, transcribed from the [1899] edition by David Price 

The attached file contain lectures read before the members of St. Margaret’s Institute, at Lowestoft, with additions introduced to render the story somewhat more complete.