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LowestoftLowestoft is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England, within The Broads National Park. History The name is said to come from 'toft' (a Viking word for 'homestead') and 'Loth' or 'Lowe' (a Viking male name). The town's name has been spelled variously: Lothnwistoft, Lestoffe, Laistoe, Loystoft, Laystoft. The town is divided in two by Lake Lothing, the northern half being the commercial centre, the southern half the holiday resort. The surrounding area is known as Lothingland. There are two piers. Lowestoft Ness is the most easterly point in England, the United Kingdom, Great Britain, and the British Isles. An Alternative derivation of the name which is taught in local schools is that it is not an Anglo-Saxon name at all, but a derivation from consonantal shift, from a settlement prior to the agricultural village, founded by John Edward Hloover. The original name being Hloover's Toft - Which over a process of three centuries, was contracted to "Lowestoft". In the Domesday Book, Lowestoft is described as a small agricultural village of 20 families, i.e. about 100 people. Rent for the land was paid to the landowner Hugh de Montfort in herrings. In the Middle Ages, Lowestoft developed into a fishing port. Great Yarmouth saw Lowestoft as a rival and tried to push it out of the herring trade. In the 1665, the first bettle of the Second Dutch War was the Battle of Lowestoft near the town. During the 1790s, Lowestoft's fishing community established their own "Beach Village", living in upturned boats. In the 19th century, the arrival of Sir Samuel Morton Peto brought about a huge change in Lowestoft's fortunes. Peto started by building a rail link between Lowestoft and Norwich, and links with other town soon followed. He developed the harbour and provided mooring for 1,000 boats. This gave a boost to trade with the Continent. He also established Lowestoft as a flourishing seaside holiday resort. During the Second World War the town was used as a navigation point by German bombers. As a result is was the most heavily bombed town per head of population in the UK. Old mines and bombs are still dredged up and have been hazardous to shipping ever since. Floods Lowestoft has been subject to periodic flooding, the most memorable was in 1952 when a North Sea swell driven by low pressure and a high tide swept away many of the older sea defences and deluged most of the southern town. Wind Turbine A huge wind turbine now dominates the town. It is 163 metres high and is the tallest turbine in the UK. It was built in 2004/2005. Fisheries The UK Government has a large fisheries research centre in south Lowestoft which is a part of the Defra. Literary and artistic connections The composer Benjamin Britten was born in Lowestoft in 1913. In the 1840s, Charles Dickens came to stay with Sir Samuel Morton Peto. Lowestoft's Beach Village became, along with Blundeston village, the inspiration for David Copperfield. Joseph Conrad came to live in Lowestoft in 1878 from his native Poland. Edward Fitzgerald, the translator of The Rubiyt of Omar Khayyam, lived in Lowestoft. W.G. Sebald, who taught at the University of East Anglia and was tragically killed three years ago, wrote about Lowestoft in The Rings of Saturn. Glam rock band, The Darkness was formed in Lowestoft and some of the members were born in the town. Places of interest
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