The Lowestoft Scores Trail

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. Some were footpath develop five fish merchants going from their homes to the fish houses and net stores, others were carriageway is formed by natural cliffs.

Lowestoft was originally built on top of cliffs overlooking the North Sea. The schools that run down these clips were ways to access from the high ground to the beach area. Summer footpath developed by fish merchants going from their homes to the fish houses and net stores, others were carriageways formed by natural cleft.

It is thought that the verb to score all the old Norse 'skor' which means notch it could also come from the Anglo-Saxon scorn meaning ‘precipitous‘

The growth of industry on the north beach area led to the development of the beach village itself, which is excellent and inscribed in the Jack Rose and Dean Parkins book the grit.

many of the scores were named after people and in some cases after the public houses that stood at the top of several scores. As buildings were demolished and names changed so to did the name of the score resulting in having many different identities over the years.

The Ravine

The bridge across the Ravine was given to the town to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign on 28th March 1887 by William Youngman, the first Mayor of Lowestoft.

The bridge links North Parade and Belle Vue Park. Originally this park was created from a piece of "“bleach" land, which was an area where the public could dry their washing. The area also had a reputation for being used by "rough and disreputable characters”.

The Ravine is now the northernmost score of the Scores Trail and is best viewed from the bridge.

Carl Score

Once known as 'Gallows Score', it is thought that the town's gallows stood at the top of this score. The spectacle of a gibbet standing high on the cliff overlooking the sea conjures up an evocative image. However, it is also possible that there is a less grisly origin, with the score getting its name from a Mr Gallow who lived here.

At the entrance to Belle Vue Park there is a pile of stones known as the 'Witches Stones that are alleged to go down to the beach as midnight chimes to wash in the sea. The stones are reputed to have earned their name from the story that Amy Denny - who was hanged for witchcraft in 1662 - used to sit on them and hurl abuse at passers-by.

Text from Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust

Lighthouse Score

The present lighthouse situated at the top of this score is 123 feet above sea level and its light is so powerful it can be seen 17 miles out to sea. The lighthouse was opened on 16th February 1874 and was man-operated until the 1990s when it became automated and closed to the public.

A row of fishermen's cottages used to stand at the bottom of this score and one of the residents was local character 'Happy Welham'. Happy, a chimney sweep and odd-job man, was a common sight riding his donkey and cart through the streets accompanied by his faithful dog. Happy was very fond of his drink, so much so that on occasions he could be seen riding home asleep on his cart with the dog holding the reins. Happy - who 'never did wash except when it rained' - could be quite enterprising. During hot summer days he would sell 'Happy's Home Made Drink' a wine of dubious vintage and in 1916 took full advantage of an unexploded naval shell that landed in the score by charging passers-by 'tuppence' to view the exhibit (until the Royal Navy took it away three days later).

Mariner's Score

This score is situated near the Town Hall and considered to be the most picturesque with its pointed arch at the top framing a view of the sea. The name comes from Samuel Mariner or from the 'Mariner's Inn' - now sadly gone.

It was originally known as Swan Score probably named after the Swan Inn that stood on the south side of the junction with the High Street. It was here that Oliver Cromwell stayed when visiting Lowestoft in 1643 to quell the Royalist enthusiasm amongst some of the local gentry.

In 1628 the Lowestoft Low Light stood at the bottom of the score and was illuminated by candles. This was replaced when a new 40-foot tower lighthouse was built in the High Street in 1676.

Crown Score

This was formerly known as Lion Score because the records show that the Lion Inn was on the corner of this score and the High Street. The score has 48 steps and is flanked by brick and pebble walls so characteristic of this part of the country The score gets its name from the Crown Hotel, one of the oldest inns in the town. The Crown can be traced back under the same name to the 16th century when it belonged to William French, a merchant.

The hotel stands in the High Street opposite the score Crown Score is also home to the 'invasion of crabs sculpture. This is one of a series of works by artist Paul Amey designed to augment the Scores Trail. The intention of the design is to suggest that the crabs, having escaped the fishmonger's slab, are threatening an assault on the High Street.

Martin's Score

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".

The second, which cannot be substantiated, concerns the small post set against a wall on the south side. It was originally put there in 1688, and has since been renewed in 1788, 1888 and 1998. The post bears the initials TM' and is commonly known as the Armada Post'. The theory asserts that as 1688 was exactly 100 years after the Spanish Armada, the post was erected to commemorate the event and the part that Lowestoft merchant Thomas Meldum's vessel "Elizabeth' played in the victory.

The fishing boat plaques designed by Paul Amey form an outdoor gallery of Lowestoft's nautical history. The ships were chosen by Peter Parker, director of the Lowestoft and East Suffolk Maritime Museum.

Rant Score

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.

King George II was driven up Rant Score when he was forced to land on the north beach due to rough seas on 14th January 1737 on his return from Hanover. He stayed at the home of Mr Jex at No. 45 High Street before continuing to London by road. The Eagle Brewery stood at the bottom of the score on the left hand side and the Royal Naval Patrol Service used this building during WWII.

Wilde Score

Named after the Wilde family who lived in the Flint House from 1588 to the 1740's when John Wilde left in trust, money for the building of a schoolhouse for the free education of boys from fishing families. £40 per year was left for maintenance and the salary of a "virtuous and learned schoolmaster who shall teach 40 boys to read, and write, and to cast accounts: and also teach them the Latin tongue".

A school remained here until WII when the pupils were evacuated; it was then used by the Air Training Corps and later bombed. Part of the old school still stands which the Lowestoft Civic Society has converted into a heritage centre for the community.

The bottom of the Score was blocked and the cottages demolished to allow the development by Birds Eye. The Score now turns right into Cumberland Place and then winds down past the shoal of herring to Whapload Road.

Maltsters Score

This Score leads down between distinctive “crinkle crankle” walls. This type of wall is a traditional Suffolk design built to withstand winds and the passage of time even though they are often a single brick in thickness and are built without buttresses. They are also known as "serpentine walls' because of their snake-like turns.

Malster's Score has abrupt turnings and in the 19th century had an evil reputation for robberies. It is said that it was constructed in this way as a trap to waylay the seamen returning to their ships.

At that period the site was covered with shops and on its western side were some three taverns, the resort of sailors, enjoying their brief leave ashore.

At the bottom of the Score were some old maltings that have also been used for fish curing and canning. The skeletal fish sculptures are an allusion to Lowestoft's maritime past and suggest ghostly images of past fishing catches, but their shape also symbolises the decaying structure of ancient ships. Their position on the wall is a reminder of the flooding that was once a threat to this part of the town.

Spurgeon Score

Originally many people lived on the scores, but today Spurgeon Score is one of the few to still have cottages opening onto it. In times gone by there was a row of three small cottages that between them were homes to seventy young children. The Woodrow family alone had twenty-three offspring. Perhaps it was the sea air.

The cottages all required services but the narrowness of the score prevented the coal merchant from getting his cart down it and so deliveries were by hand. This task was left to the coalman's young assistants who were expected to carry the hundredweight bags the length of the score while the merchant shouted encouragement from his seat on the cart.

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.

Herring Fishery Score

Herring Fishery Score has previously been known as Porters, Christchurch and Nelson Score. Christ Church, the most easterly church of the British Isles stands at the bottom of this score. Christ Church was built in 1869 for the residents of the Beach Village and as a monument to Rev. Francis Cunningham. The Lowestoft Central School was also sited at the bottom of this score. This was a Grammar School which was bombed during WWII after which the site was used for a period by the Lowestoft Technical Institute.

THE LOST SCORES

Frost's Alley Score

The Police Station and Magistrates Court now stand on the site of Frost's Alley Score. This was an ancient footpath which probably was a prehistoric trackway leading from the Ford (Mutford Lock) at Oulton Broad along the north of Lake Lothing. Then past Leathes Ham to Rotterdam Road along Love Road and Milton Road to a narrow paved passage beside the "Adelaide Vaults" to Frost Alley. This connected Old Nelson Street with Whapload Road.

The Score

This ran from the back of the vicarage, south of Arnold House, to Whapload Road. Access to the High Street was via the private garden of the house and was only used for emergencies, such as flooding in the Beach Village.

It was the vicarage to St. Margaret's Church. The Rev. Cunningham was vicar there between 1830 and 1860, and he was married to the sister of Elizabeth Fry, the famous prison reformer.