1000s

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.

Lowestoft 

The Domesday Survey details (1086) relating to these two communities have been presented and examined in another article, so there is nothing to be gained from repeating what was said there. What can be usefully done, by way of follow-up, is to look at what is known of their function during the centuries following on from William I’s great audit of his realm and reveal something of their manorial status and history.

• Domesday Lowestoft (1) 
• Domesday Lowestoft (2) - Original/Latin 
• Domesday Lowestoft (3) - Akethorp

Domesday Lowestoft (1)

The further back in history that any researcher tries to go, the more difficult it is to make progress because of diminishing, usable, documentary sources. This is what makes Domesday Book so valuable. 

The Domesday Book gives Lothuwistoft village a population of some 16 households in three families, with ten smallholders and three slaves.

Lowestoft’s name is derived from the Viking personal name Hlothver, and toft, a Viking word for 'homestead'. The town's name has been spelt variously: Lothnwistoft, Laistoe, Lestoffe, Loystoft and Laystoft.  

** see this on our history timeline ***