The story's setting
Part One
1826-1827
Lowestoft beach before a harbour was built.
Part Two
1856-1857
The new esplanade and harbour.
Part Three
1903-1906
The Edwardian promenade.
Part Four
1952-1956
The seafront and packed beaches.
Part One
1826-1827
In the early part of the 19th century, Lowestoft was a small Suffolk town located at the most easterly point of the British Isles. At that time it had a population of about 4000. The town itself was positioned in what is now the northern end of Lowestoft, on top of the cliff. The main thoroughfare, High Street, ran parallel to the cliff edge, with the Town Chamber, the Crown Hotel, and a produce market about half way along. A number of streets led off it to the west, onto common land. One of these, Bell Lane (now Crown Street), was once the site of the Porcelain Factory, which made Lowestoft China. The denes and beach to the east were accessed by a number of narrow paths cut into the slope of the cliff, known as ‘scores’. The town’s boundaries were effectively the lighthouse to the north and the fort of the South Battery to the south. Houses and other buildings only stretched a few hundred yards inland to the west. The principal church, St Margaret’s, was further out, isolated in the countryside. The church was once the centre of the town, which several centuries before had moved eastwards to the cliff top.
A half-mile south of the town a landlocked lake, separated from the sea by a stretch of shingle, stretched for nearly two miles westwards to meet Mutford Bridge, at present-day Oulton Broad. The lake was then known as the Fresh Water as well as its current name, Lake Lothing. This lake connected Lowestoft to the inland waterways. It would later become the Inner Harbour.
The turnpike road began at the southern end of High Street and cut a swathe through open fields, pasture and common land all the way through what was then Kirkley Parish to Pakefield village. Its path sloped down from the town, levelled off towards Lake Lothing and then, after half a mile, rose again on a gentle slope, passing by St Peter’s Church with its cluster of small houses. The old turnpike is now present-day London Road North and London Road South. A thatched coaching inn, named the Suffolk Hotel, would be built near the north side of Lake Lothing a few years later. There was no harbour or promenade at this time. A small tourist industry existed in the old town, with a dozen bathing machines, a Bath House (1824), and hospitality at inns and lodging houses. The shoreline in this area was much further inland than it is today, closer to the embankment of South Battery, now known as Battery Green.
All landing and loading of cargo and fish took place on the beach of the Denes. Fishing, salvage, rescue, and mercantile business was organised under the auspices of Beach Companies. There are many treacherous sandbanks off the shore and rescues were common. The town’s first lifeboat was called the Frances Ann. Whapload Road at the base of the cliff was lined on one side with service industries, including smoke houses, net stores, and coopers’ yards. In 1826, approximately one-third of the town was involved in maritime activities. Herring was the staple catch.
Part Two
1856-1857
By 1856, just thirty years later, Lowestoft had been transformed by three major developments – a harbour, a railway, and a seaside promenade. All three combined to create Lowestoft as a port and resort. A shipping channel dug through a shingle causeway, joined Lake Lothing to the ‘German Ocean’ (the North Sea) and effectively divided the town between North and South thereafter. A single-span, iron, swing bridge connected the two halves over the severed turnpike road. The original, 1831, harbour only had two short piers from the bridge.
By the 1850s the Outer Harbour consisted of two, much longer piers that formed a wide, sheltered basin. The original short inner piers continued as the channel for ships to pass through to the Inner Harbour. The Inner North Pier was built up with a bridge house, an ice house, a fish market - with a livestock market on land behind. Drifting for herring was still the main industry but the old three-mast luggers had been replaced by the more efficient two-mast luggers. The banks of the Inner Harbour housed industries such as shipbuilding, brick-making factories, and oil and coke works. The South Pier was intended as a leisure pier and had a single-storey Reading Room built halfway along its length.
The new promenade stretched from the South Pier for a quarter of a mile. Marked at both ends by two identical statues of the sea god, Triton. The 'Esplanade' was lined with fine, semi-detached villas fronted by gardens. The prestigious Royal Hotel dominated an open area across from the South Pier, known as Royal Plain. In addition, there was a line of terraced houses behind Esplanade, named Marine Parade. The construction of St John’s Church and the Harbour Hotel completed the first phase of the ‘New Town’.
On the immediate north side of the bridge was a Customs House and next to that a fine railway station, built in an Italianate style in 1855, superseding an older design of 1847. A few roads in the area had been laid out and housing was being developed. The thatched Suffolk Hotel survived in its original position. Further along the old turnpike, in the direction of High Street, the west side was dotted with private residential housing. The Baptist Chapel stood on this side, and a little further up on the opposite side, there was the United Reform Church. The east side was mainly taken up by two walled estates, St Margaret’s Estate and the Grove Estate. By now the fort of South Battery was not in operation.
The old town on the cliff had expanded housing westwards, almost swallowing up the common and greens. The produce market near the Town Chamber was enlarged by the demolition of the old Queen's Head Inn. The nearby Crown Hotel continued to trade at the head of Bell Lane (later, Crown Street). A new Town Hall would soon occupy the site of the old Town Chamber, from where the town's Improvement Commissioners continued their civic duties.
Below the cliff, the Beach Village continued to grow and blocks of houses formed a rough outline of streets. It had its own shops, public houses, and a chapel. The maritime industries along Whapload Road continued to thrive, helped by the demand for cured herring, now being delivered by rail transport to other parts of the country, and to markets abroad. As well as the fishing industry, there was a growing trade in livestock on the Outer Harbour, particularly cattle from Denmark, shipped by steamers run by the North of Europe Steam Navigation Company.
Part Three
1903-1906
The Edwardian period could be described as Lowestoft’s Golden Age.
On the north side of the town, new housing stretched further westwards. Two new parks had been opened near the lighthouse – Belle Vue Park and Sparrow’s Nest. London Road North (the old turnpike) was now a thoroughfare of shops on both sides – the old estates having been sold for development.
The Outer Harbour had been expanded to include two new basins – Trawl Dock at the rear of the Inner North Pier, and Herring Dock. Both included their own fish markets. Hamilton Dock opened soon afterwards. Drifting for herring had become a huge industry and the fisheries now included trawling with sailing smacks. There was a mix of sail and steam vessels at this time. The Inner Harbour continued its traditional role for cargo vessels. Shipbuilding had become a big industry and a number of food-processing and canning factories were starting to appear along the south side of the lake.
A new bridge, the 'Swing Bridge', with two lanes, was opened in 1897. The railway station had an expanded network of lines. Its frontage opened out onto a square whose edges contained a new, four-story Suffolk Hotel and a large department store known as Bon Marché. The Customs House remained in its original position, where it still stands today.
The promenade had been extended almost to the boundary with Pakefield and stretched for a mile in length. Halfway along, a new pier – the Claremont Pier – was opened in 1903 and included a T-piece landing stage at its end, used by the Belle Steamer Company. South of the Claremont the promenade diverged between lower and upper walkways. The upper promenade followed the rise of the hill and boasted some fine hotels – the Victoria, the Grand, and the magnificent Empire Hotel with its 300 rooms. At the opposite end of the seafront, the Royal Hotel still dominated the area of Royal Plain, where a new, impressive building had been added, the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club. The South Pier had a large, ornate pavilion that had replaced the old Reading Room, which had been destroyed by fire.
One more notable addition was a tramway, which opened in 1903. It ran the length of the town between Belle Vue Park in the north and Pakefield in the south.
The Beach Village had continued to grow and now had a discernible layout of named streets and little squares, with a residential population of around 2000.
The one threat to all this prosperity was the undermining of the southern cliffs by sea incursions. At this time the village of Pakefield was suffering serious erosion and loss of property. The new hotels and buildings on the upper promenade were under threat until the Borough Council eventually agreed on funding for substantial sea defences, saving Lowestoft as a premier holiday resort.
Part Four
1952-1956
Post-war Lowestoft was a different place from the splendour of its Edwardian heyday but it was still thriving. The town’s expansion continued throughout the first half of the 20th century, during which time Pakefield and Oulton Broad were incorporated into the Borough. More housing continued westwards to create a conurbation that included Oulton Broad.
During the Second World War, the town played host to thousands of armed services personnel, many of whom were billeted in guest houses and local hotels. The beaches were protected by tank traps, gun emplacements and rolls of barbed wire. Even the Claremont Pier lost its mid-section to prevent the enemy from using it as a landing stage. Lowestoft was a base for the Royal Naval Patrol Service, which had its headquarters in Sparrow’s Nest – named HMS Europa. The town was a prime target for the Luftwaffe and suffered extensive bomb damage. Many people lost their lives and some fine Victorian and Edwardian buildings were destroyed, although the Swing Bridge survived.
By the 1950s the port and fish market was back in full swing and the tourist industry welcomed holidaymakers to its fine promenade and beaches. Several of the original villas had been pulled down to make room for tourist attractions. The stately Empire Hotel was in disuse and in poor state of repair. The once beautiful South Pier Pavilion was deteriorating and was demolished to make way for a new pavilion of the same name, known locally as the Space Tower (1956). Kensington Gardens, a park created near the Grand Hotel just after the First World War, added a pleasant recreational space for visitors. Another new facility, Nicholas Everitt Park, situated by the banks of Oulton Broad, opened for public recreation.
The harbour had now reached its present-day layout and processed both white fish and herring. Diesel trawlers began to take over from steam and the Market continued to flourish, despite occasional dips in the herring fishery. One change was the advent of refrigerated lorry transport, which began to rival rail for the transportation of fish.
London Road North continued as a bustling shopping centre, with many small, independent establishments catering to the town's needs. The railway station, the Suffolk Hotel, and the large department store ‘Tuttles’ (formerly Bon Marché) continued to dominate Station Square, which had become a hub for local bus services. The tramway did not survive motorised transport and stopped running in 1933.
In the old, original town, High Street declined as a shopping area, although the Town Hall continued to function as the seat of local government.
It was the Beach Village that experienced the most change. Despite new sea walls designed to protect the housing and the denes, the area was still subject to periodic flooding and its buildings were in a poor state of repair. The area suffered extensive bomb damage and abandoned houses were used by the army for training. The tidal surge of 1953, which temporarily put most of the streets and denes under five or six feet of water, marked the eventual end of the community.