connected with their several places of worship, the places and people
will he spoken of together.
1. _The Episcopalians_. In this parish, as in most others, episcopacy
has flourished under its two forms, Romish and Protestant, and the parish
church has been its home, which even now presents many mementos of the
time when Romanism held an undivided sovereignty over the minds and
hearts of the inhabitants: but there are records and traditions of places
of worship of earlier date than the present parish church, which we must
first notice. There was Good Cross chapel, situated in the south-east
part of the town, probably near the lane, called to this day chapel lane;
this has been washed away by the sea. There was also another chapel
which occupied the site of the present town hall; it was originally built
on arches, and was but a poor thatched building, which, after having been
long disused, was fitted up in 1570, as a place of protestant worship,
for the convenience of the inhabitants. In 1698 this chapel was
re-built, since which time it has undergone various alterations, and has
recently been converted into a town hall, in front of which is the town
chamber, where parish business is transacted. The building may be
instantly recognised by the clock, which is attached to its front,
projecting over the street.
Near the town hall may be seen the fragments of a flintstone building, in
which exist the weather mouldings of one or two arches, apparently in the
style of Henry VII. Gillingwater conjectures that it is the remnant of a
cell belonging to the priory of St. Bartholomew in London, to which the
Impropriation of Lowestoft belonged; other appearances in the immediate
neighbourhood, and especially the discovery of the arms of the priory, on
a piece of timber dug up there a few years ago, seem to favour the
conjecture.
Having now spoken of the ecclesiastical buildings, which either no longer
exist, or have been appropriated to common purposes, we turn to the
parish church and matters connected particularly with it.
The benefice of Lowestoft is a vicarage, endowed with the great tithes,
through the exertions of the Rev. John Tanner, a former vicar, who, with
great trouble and perseverance, collected money for the purchase of the
Impropriation, which purchase he effected in 1721.
[Picture: St. Margaret’s, Lowestoft]
THE CHURCH.
The church ‘standing by the roadside in its own little garden of
Gethsemane,’ is a fine old building dedicated to St. Margaret, situated
about half a mile westward of the town, towards which all the streets on
the west side tend, as to a common centre. The present building is
supposed to have been founded about the middle of the fourteenth century,
(on the site of a more ancient fabric, to which the tower, from its
inferior proportions and mean construction, is concluded to have
belonged,) though much of the tracery which enriches its windows, is
supposed to be referable to a later era.
The church is with good reason supposed to have been built by the funds
supplied from the treasury of the priory of St. Bartholomew, to which
establishment the impropriation of the town belonged. The dimensions of
the church are as follows:—Its length, 182 feet; width, 62 feet; height,
43 feet. It comprises a nave, chancel, two aisles, north and south
porches, and a square tower, surmounted by a tapering spire of timber,
covered with lead, the extreme height of which is 120 feet. On the roof
of the south porch are to be seen the popish emblems of the Holy Trinity,
and of our Lord’s passion; and over the porch is a room called the “maids
chamber,” formerly inhabited by two maiden sisters who lived a recluse
life, and who left money for the sinking of two wells, situated between
the church and the infirmary, called the Basket Wells; Basket being a
corruption of Bess and Kate, the names of the donors. Under the chancel
floor is a well wrought crypt of stone, entered by a winding staircase
from the interior of the north wall; and at the west end of the nave is a
long narrow arch, supposed to have been originally used as a penitent’s
porch, agreeably to the custom of the ancient church.
The great east window is filled with stained glass, painted, and
presented by Mr. Robert Allen, a bookseller of Lowestoft, whose first
attempt at staining may be seen over his shop, in the High street, now
occupied by Mr. Thos. Crowe.
A large brass eagle, formerly used as a lecturn, stands with outspread
wings in the chancel, supporting an old Black letter Bible.
The Font is very elegant, but has been much defaced. The rich series of
figures with which it was, and still is, partially adorned, were
mutilated by one Francis Jessope, who, with a commission from the Earl of
Manchester to take away from gravestones all inscriptions on which he
found “_orate pro anima_” (pray for the soul), tore up most of the
ancient brasses which were in the church, and visited the images of the
saints with his peculiar displeasure.
One inscription escaped his search.
Orate p.aia dne Margarete Parker qe obitt po
die marciz ao dni mo bco bizo cui aie ppiciet de.
It has frequently been our lot to hear the most opprobrious epithets
applied to the Iconoclasts of the times of Reformation; but, however much
we may regret the indiscriminate manner in which they performed their
mission, we must remember, that “their backs were yet sore with the
burdens which had been laid upon them; their indignation fierce at the
impostures and rapine which they had actually witnessed: theirs would
have been a lukewarm zeal indeed, had it not urged them to abolish even
the innocent memorials of that wickedness, which had been wrought in
their eyesight, on every hill and under every tree. Another period
succeeds, in which the vices of a system are no longer distinctly
remembered, and contemplated only through the softening medium of
antiquity, and the services of the Iconoclast and the motives on which he
acted are all forgotten; and he is regarded with mere horror as an
incarnate spirit of destruction.” {48}
In the chancel lies buried Thomas Scroope, Bishop of Dromore in Ireland,
and vicar of this parish. His effigy in brass, habited in his episcopal
robes, with a crosier in one hand, and his pastoral staff in the other,
was formerly to be seen on a large stone, surrounded by a
circumscription, and ornamented with divers heraldic devices, but all
have long since disappeared.
He was first a monk of the order of St. Benedict; passed to the
profession of a Dominican; then became a Carmelite, and preached the
gospel in hair and sackcloth round the country; then became an Anchorite
and so continued twenty years; was made Bishop of Dromore by the Pope;
then quitted his bishoprick; came into these eastern counties, and went
abroad in the neighbourhood barefoot, preaching, teaching, and dispensing
alms; and died in Lowestoft, January 15th, 1491, at the age of a hundred
years.
In the church there are many Monuments, the inscriptions of which will
interest and amuse the reader; some are simple narrative, others are
written in the inflated style peculiar to the age in which they were
composed; most of them tell their own tales, it is not necessary,
therefore, to transfer them to our pages. One, however, very short, begs
to be noticed; it is found in the middle aisle; a small brass simply
bears the initials,
[Picture: Brass with initials R. I.]
On the stone which bears this brass, there was formerly the effigy of a
person standing in a praying position, with an inscription underneath,
but these brasses are all stripped from their matrices. This is most
probably the index to the grave of Robert Inglesse or Ingloss, Esq., who
died in 1365, and was buried in this church. This, from its antiquity,
is worth a special notice.
“In the churchyard are a few flowers and much green grass; and daily the
shadow of the church spire, with its long tapering finger, counts the
tombs, representing a dial plate of human life, on which the hours and
minutes are the graves of men.” Here is the tomb of John Barker, Esq.;
{50} the resting place of Sir J. E. Smith, the celebrated botanist; the
grave of the Rev. James Alderson, a dissenting minister; and the dust of
the Rev. B. Ritson, an estimable clergyman: here, all ranks and
conditions of men mingle their undistinguishable dust; here, are high and
low, rich and poor, together; here, it seems as though all strifes are
hushed and discords forgotten—one stone, however, close to the wall, on
the west side of the churchyard, lifts its querulous head to perpetuate
the remembrance of a family disagreement; it is raised to the memory of
Charles Ward, and informs the visiter, who goes to meditate among the
tombs that his heart may be made better, that “it is not erected by Susan
his (_i.e._ Mr. Ward’s) wife; she erected a stone to John Salter, her
second husband, forgetting the affection of her first husband,” it
moreover begs that “no one may disturb his bones.”
At the east side of the churchyard and towards the northern corner, may
be found two or three versions of the sailor’s favourite epitaph, wherein
“Boreas’s blasts” are very powerful ingredients.
The other building in which worship is conducted in the Episcopalian
mode, is St. Peters Chapel, which is a neat building, in the street
leading from the south part of the town to the Beccles road. The first
stone was laid on the 6th of August, 1832, by the Rev. F. Cunningham, the
vicar of Lowestoft. The building was consecrated by Dr. C. Sumner, Lord
Bishop of Winchester, on the 15th of August, 1833.
Church rates are not levied in this parish, the lands belonging to the
church being amply sufficient to keep it in repair. This being the case,
those unseemly feuds, which frequently arise in parishes where this
obnoxious tax is imposed, do not trouble the inhabitants. Suckling
wishes it to be understood that “church rates have been occasionally
raised,” and quotes only one instance, and that, as far back as 1716: the
memory of this might as well have been buried in the “tomb of all the
Capulets.”
The deceased Vicars of note, are Scroope, before mentioned; William
Whiston, who succeeded Sir Isaac Newton at Cambridge; John Tanner,
brother of Bishop Tanner, who purchased the impropriation; Robert Potter,
the translator of the three great writers of greek drama.
2. _The Independents_ have long had a place of worship in the town.
Before the erection of their present chapel in 1695, they worshipped in a
barn, situated in the Blue Anchor lane, where the Rev. Mr. Emlyn, a
learned man, was for a short time minister: since that time there has
been a long succession of ministers, and the congregation has experienced
many vicissitudes. The chapel has, within the last few years, been
altered and greatly improved, and has now a very respectable appearance.
It is situated in the High street, near the old market plain.
3. _The Wesleyan Society_ in this town was formed in 1761, under the
auspices of the Rev. John Wesley, who first preached on a spot of ground
in Martin’s score, near the Star hotel.
In 1776 their present place of worship was opened on November the 19th,
when the Rev. John Wesley preached in the morning, from Rev. xx. 10; and
in the afternoon, from Isaiah lxvi. 8 and 9. The society is in a
flourishing condition. Their place of worship is situated in Frary lane,
at the back of the Crown and Anchor hotel.
4. _The Baptists_ have a chapel opposite the vicarage. It was built in
1813, chiefly through the generosity of R. Kemp, Esq. of Yarmouth. S. M.
Peto, Esq., M. P., has taken great interest in the prosperity of the
cause, has built a commodious school room, and contemplates the erection
of a larger chapel in a more convenient situation. The Rev. J. E. Dovey
is the present minister.
5. _The Primitive Methodists_ have a place of worship situated on the
beach, (near the bottom of Denny’s score,) among that class of the
inhabitants who are generally least disposed to go in quest of religious
instruction, and here they usefully employ themselves in their important
work.
SCHOOLS.
The Public Schools in the town provided for the poor are numerous, and
generally well conducted. The principal are Wilde’s, Annot’s, and the
British School.
JOHN WILDE left several estates, together with the rents and profits
thereof, to be applied for a virtuous and learned schoolmaster, who shall
teach forty boys to write and read and cast accounts, and shall also
teach them the Latin tongue.
THOMAS ANNOT, merchant of this town, also left money for founding a
grammar school at Lowestoft; and by a decree, given in Gillingwater, it
is ordered “that the same school shall consist of a schoolmaster, learned
in the art and knowledge of grammar, and able to instruct and teach the
rules and principles thereof, and the Latin tongue, and other things
incident, necessary, and belonging to the said art, to be master, tutor,
and teacher of the scholars in the said school, consisting of forty
scholars and not above, to be taught and instructed within the said
school.”
Henry Wilde, known by the name of the Arabian Tailor, was master of this
school. He was a great proficient in the oriental languages, and was
sent by Dean Prideaux to Oxford, where he gained a poor living by
teaching languages; he afterwards removed to London, where he died. Mr.
Rogers is the present master.
The British School is a neat building, on the south turnpike, which was
opened in 1844, on the liberal principle of educating the children of
all, without distinction of sect or party. It is principally supported
by the Independents and Wesleyans, assisted by the munificence of S. M.
Peto, Esq. M.P. Mr. M. Hinde is the efficient master.
Sabbath Schools are connected with most of the places of worship in the
town.
THE FISHERIES.
At present there are two fishing seasons during the year.
The Herring season begins about a fortnight before Michaelmas, and
continues till Martinmas. At the beginning of the season the boats sail
off to sea, about thirteen leagues north-east of Lowestoft, to meet the
shoals of fish. Having arrived on the fishing ground, the fishermen
shoot their nets, (extending about 2,200 yards in length, and eight in
depth, which, by simple means, are made to swim in a position
perpendicular to the surface of the water,) in which the fish are
entangled. As soon as the fish are brought on shore they are taken to
the fish houses and salted; they remain in salt two or three days, are
then washed; then spitted; (_i.e._ an osier wand, about four feet long,
is thrust through the gills of as many as can hang freely upon it,) the
spits are then hung upon rafters, with which the upper part of the fish
houses are fitted up; fires of oak billet are made on the floors of the
houses, by which the fish are at once dried and smoked; the herrings hang
thus about a fortnight, and then they are fit for market. {56}
The Mackerel season begins about the middle of May, and continues to the
end of June. At the beginning of this season the boats sail to the
north-east, in order to meet the fish at the beginning of their annual
revolution round the British Isles. A blustering stormy season is best
suited to the successful prosecution of this fishery, for only then do
the fish rise in large quantities, within reach of the nets, the meshes
of which are larger than those used in the herring fishery. The fish are
generally brought in every day.
Small boats called ‘along shore boats,’ generally the property of those
who use them, are employed in catching whatever fish will come to their
nets; these are speedily brought into the town, and disposed of for the
consumption of the inhabitants.
There were formerly two other fisheries, the North sea and Iceland
fisheries, but they have long since been entirely neglected.
THE TITHE OF FISH.
The vicar of the parish makes a claim of half a guinea from each boat on
its return from the herring fishery; and half a dole,—_i.e._ one
three-hundredth part of the whole catch—from the mackerel boats at the
close of their season. The legality of these claims is disputed, and, in
the case of the latter, legal proceedings were instituted in 1845, by the
Rev. F. Cunningham against Mr. John Roberts, who declined payment of the
demand. Those persons who are interested in the affair may obtain a
sight of the argument, as maintained by the legal adviser of the
plaintiff, in Suckling’s History, _in loco_; and of the argument, as
maintained by the defendant, in a Lecture delivered and published at the
time, by the Rev. J. Browne.
THE BATTERIES.
Before Kett’s insurrection in the year 1549, there were six pieces of
cannon for the defence of the town; these were carried off by the
insurgents to batter the walls of Yarmouth. To replace these, Queen
Elizabeth presented to the people of Lowestoft four pieces of cannon and
two slings; these appear to have been carried away by Cromwell in 1643,
but afterwards he found it necessary to build a fort and plant four guns
upon it; some time after, the platform on which these guns were placed
was destroyed by the sea, but the guns were rescued; after which, another
platform was erected which shared the same fate; on this occasion also
the guns were preserved.
In later times it was found expedient to build three Batteries; that on
the south was begun and finished in 1782. The fort consists of a ditch
mounted with _chevaux de frize_; the magazine (in the north-west angle of
the fort, thirty feet long and twelve broad,) is sunk beneath the surface
of the earth, and is bomb proof. To the east of this fort is the
promenade, and the green known by the name of the Battery Green.
In the same year a fort was erected at the north end of the town, about
one hundred yards to the north of the light-house; this battery was
intended to act with another erected during the same year on the beach,
near the ness, the bounds and breastwork of which are still clearly
visible.
THE PORCELAIN MANUFACTORY.
There was, some years since, a manufactory of Porcelain or China-ware in
this town, but it has fallen away and become extinct. Specimens of the
ware may be frequently purchased in the cottages in the neighbourhood.
THE SAVINGS BANK
was established in 1818, for the purpose of affording to sailors,
journeymen, and others, especially to the females of Lowestoft and its
vicinity, a secure place where they may deposit the small savings they
may be able to make from their wages; which deposits are repaid with
interest at £2 18s. 10d. per centum per annum, agreeably to certain
rules.
The office for this Institution is kept at the town chamber in the town
hall, and is open every Wednesday from twelve till one o’clock. Mr. T.
Bird is the clerk.
THE MECHANICS’ INSTITUTION
was established in June 1843, for the following purposes—_first_, the
diffusion of useful knowledge; _secondly_, the promotion amongst the
inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood, of that harmony and good
feeling which ought to exist among all men.
The means used for attaining these objects are—a library for circulation;
the delivery of lectures on literary and scientific subjects; and the
adoption of such other means as, from time to time, are deemed expedient
by the committee of management. The library is increasing both in the
number and value of its books. The subscription is one shilling per
quarter. S. S. Brame, Esq., is the President of the Institution.
THE REPOSITORY SALE.
Annually a Bazaar is held in the bath rooms, to which the ladies in the
neighbourhood contribute principally articles of their own manufacture.
The proceeds of the sale are usually divided between the Church schools
and the Infirmary funds.
CRICKET CLUBS.
During the summer evenings the denes usually present a very lively
appearance; the members of the several cricket clubs are practising, not
only for their own amusement, but that they may be prepared to meet other
gentlemen who, residing in the neighbouring towns, cherish a friendly
rivalry in the art of bat and ball.
* * * * *
THOMAS NASH
the satirist, who flourished in the reign of Elizabeth, was born at
Lowestoft. He wrote a play called “Lenton Stuffe; or, the Praise of the
Red Herring,” published in 1599, in quarto; he was also “the author of a
slight dramatic piece, mostly in blank verse, but partly in prose, and
having also some lyrical poetry interspersed, called ‘Summers’ Last Will
and Testament,’ which was exhibited before Queen Elizabeth at Norwich, in
1592; and he also assisted Marlow, in his tragedy of ‘Dido, Queen of
Carthage,’ which, although not printed till 1594, is supposed to have
been written before 1590. But his satire was of a higher order than his
dramatic talent. There never was, perhaps, poured forth such a rushing
and roaring torrent of wit, ridicule, and invective, as in the rapid
succession of pamphlets which he published in the year 1589, against the
Puritans and their famous champion (or rather knot of champions) who bore
the name of Martin Mar-Prelate; unless in those in which he began, two
years after, to assail poor Gabriel Harvey, his persecution of, and
controversy with whom, lasted a much longer time, till, indeed, the
Archbishop of Canterbury (Whitgift) interfered, in 1597, to restore the
peace of the realm, by an order that all Harvey’s and Nash’s books should
be taken wherever they might be found, ‘and that none of the said books
be ever printed hereafter.’” {62}
ENVIRONS OF LOWESTOFT.
The neighbourhood of Lowestoft is by no means destitute of attractions,
and, in its vicinity, visiters may enjoy many pleasant rides and rambles.
To the north is Gunton, with its neat little church and churchyard, the
pleasantest approach to which is by the first lane leading out from the
road which skirts the common on the west. The church has been repaired
and refitted under the direction of the Rev. F. C. Fowler, the present
Incumbent; a fine specimen of the Norman doorway, on the north side,
deserves notice.
In the vicinity of the church are the remains of Gunton Old Hall, now
much altered and improved; at a short distance from which, is the new
Hall, the residence of R. C. Fowler, Esq. On leaving the churchyard, a
road to the right will conduct the pedestrian to the turnpike road again.
If, instead of turning off in the direction of Gunton, the rambler should
pursue the road on the west of the common, he will be struck with the
beauty of the new marine abode of Holland Birkett, Esq., a little beyond
which, is the residence of the Rev. F. C. Fowler, both delightfully
situated on the edge of the cliff. The architecture of the former is a
combination of the Swiss and Elizabethan styles. The garden and grounds
are tastefully laid out, and will amply repay the stranger for a visit.
Further north is the village of Corton, the church of which is a ruin;
public worship is, however, performed in a portion of it, which has been
fitted up for that purpose. The tower is ninety feet high. To the west
are the Corton Cliffs, which present a commanding view of the ocean and
its shipping, of which latter there is usually a plentiful supply.
On return, the sandy beach and the rabbit warren under the cliff, offer a
choice of walks; if the latter be chosen, it will lead past the Warren
house, along a path as pleasant as any in the neighbourhood, and
eventually bring the traveller out near the upper light-house.
The village of Blundeston lies to the west of the Yarmouth road; here are
seen the house belonging to J. Chapman, Esq., and Blundeston House, the
delightful residence of Charles Steward, Esq., which, with its grounds,
was once the property of the Rev. Norton Nicholls, and a place admired
and frequently visited by the poet Gray. The church at Blundeston is an
old Norman erection with a circular tower; its roof has been lately
covered with flakes of stone, about half or three-quarters of an inch in
thickness; and its principal internal decoration, is a fragment of a
screen on which is represented the story of St. Peter and the Angel.
Not far from Blundeston Church, to the south, Thomas Morse, Esq., has
erected a substantial house in one of the most delightful situations the
country affords.