1500s

What you see is the remains of the base of a beacon, one of a pair erected in 1552 (on the orders of the Marquis of Northampton), to warn of attack from the sea. Its companion was located just to the north of what is now the junction of Gunton Drive with Corton Road.

This fascinating document records settlement of the estate of a leading Lowestoft merchant, whose burial was recorded in the parish registers on 18 September 1636. It is located within the pages of the Lowestoft Tithe Accounts book (Norfolk Record Office, 589/80) – placed there by the Revd. John Tanner (Vicar of the parish, 1708-59), who had married into a branch of the Mighells family on 20 January 1713 (1712, by Julian Calendar dating) and who probably found the document among existing family papers. He obviously noticed, in the second set of accounts, that burial within the walls of St.

The national Muster Roll of 16 January 1584 (1583, by Julian Calendar reckoning) was a head-count of all adult males in England between the ages of sixteen and sixty, taking into account their military capability in terms of the weapons they held. It was carried out in anticipation of a possible Spanish invasion, launched across the North Sea from the occupied Netherlands (see Lothingland Invasion Scare of 1584,elsewhere, in the History pages of LO&N).

The national Muster Roll of 23 May 1535 was ordered by Henry VIII to take stock of England’s military capability, in terms of the country’s able-bodied adult males and the weaponry they possessed (there being no standing army of any kind) – this in anticipation of possible invasion from abroad, with a coalition of France and Scotland seen as being the likely source of aggression.

Introduction

Great Yarmouth’s attempted dominance of Lowestoft and control of the latter’s trade only came to an end during the second half of the 17th century, when its legally backed dominance was ended and the Suffolk town placed beyond its jurisdiction.

Introduction

The Church of England, as it stands today, is an organisation which originated in the need for a Tudor monarch (Henry VIII) to produce a male heir and secure his family’s tenure of the Crown and which then became part of a North European, Protestant, theological revolution. It is currently undergoing one of its periodic phases of change.

Reasons for the move

It is perhaps unwise to single out any one particular event in the life of a community over a period of about 1,500 years as being the crucial or formative one (other than its founding), but there is a good case for doing so where Lowestoft is concerned.

Provision of credit in the community

The importance of scriveners as community bankers in London during the second half of the 17th century has been noted, as has their role as providers of funds elsewhere. Nor has the function of the goldsmith escaped attention. Lowestoft, being a town of modest size, had few named scriveners among its inhabitants (no more than six or seven have been identified between 1560 and 1730) and most of them had other occupations.

Inns

The configuration of roads and the importance of land transport have always been major influences on the development of towns and their inns. Large yards were necessary for stabling horses, and for standing carts and carriages; buildings were required for storing hay and other forage; and provision had to be made for watering the animals. Adequate accommodation was also needed for those people making overnight stops or staying in a place for longer.

Lowestoft Houses – 16th-18th Century   

The most commonly mentioned items of interior decoration during the later part of the 16th century, in the houses of the merchants and the better-off tradespeople and craftsmen, are stained or painted canvas cloths. These served to decorate the walls on which they hung and they probably also served as draught-inhibitors. They were present in bedchambers, as well as in halls and parlours, but no indication is given as to whether they had scenes depicted upon them or whether they were simply covered in patterns.