Lowestoft
Template:Short description Template:Pp-move Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place Lowestoft (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.<ref name="OL40">OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : Template:ISBN.</ref> As the most easterly UK settlement, it is Template:Convert north-east of Ipswich and Template:Convert south-east of Norwich, and the main town in its district. Its development grew with the fishing industry and as a seaside resort with wide sandy beaches. As fishing declined, oil and gas exploitation in the North Sea in the 1960s took over. In 2021 the built-up area had a population of 71,327<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the parish had a population of 47,879.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
Some of the earliest signs of settlement in Britain have been found here. Flint tools discovered in the Pakefield cliffs of south Lowestoft in 2005 allow human habitation of the area to be traced back 700,000 years.<ref name="cba">S. Parfitt et al. (2006) '700,000 years old: found in Pakefield' Template:Webarchive, British Archaeology, January/February 2006. Retrieved 24 December 2008.</ref>
Habitation occurred in the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages and in the Roman and Saxon times. Several finds have been made at a Saxon cemetery at Bloodmoor Hill in south Lowestoft.<ref name="cau">Cambridge Archaeological Unit A Roman and Saxon settlement at Bloodmoor Hill, Pakefield, Lowestoft Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 28 November 2009.</ref><ref name="wavlandscapehist">'Human influences' Template:Webarchive, Waveney District landscape character assessment pp. 27–29, Waveney District Council, April 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2011.</ref> The place name derives from a Norse personal name, Hlothver, and toft, an Old Norse word for homestead.<ref name="mills">A. D. Mills (1998), A Dictionary of English Place-names, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 227.Template:ISBN</ref> It has been spelt historically as Lothnwistoft, Lothuwistoft, Lestoffe, Laistoe, Loystoft and Laystoft.
The 1086 Domesday Book gives Lothuwistoft village some 16 households in three families, with ten smallholders and three slaves.<ref name=freeman>Freeman E & J (2009) Old Lowestoft, Stanlake publishing, p. 3.</ref><ref name="ddmap">Lowestoft Template:Webarchive, Domesday Map. Retrieved 20 April 2011.</ref> The manor formed part of the king's holding in the Hundred of Lothingland, worth about four geld in tax income.<ref name="ddmap"/><ref name="ddbook">Lowestoft, Domesday Book online. Retrieved 20 April 2011.</ref> Roger Bigod was the tenant in chief.<ref name="ddbook"/> The lost village of Akethorpe may have lain close by.<ref name="ddmapake">Akethorpe Template:Webarchive, Domesday Map. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref>
In the Middle Ages, Lowestoft became an important fishing town that came to challenge its neighbour, Great Yarmouth.<ref name="edplow"/><ref name="poppy">Lowestoft, Poppyland Publishing. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> The trade, particularly for herring, continued as the town's main identity into the 20th century.
The naval Battle of Lowestoft in June 1665 was the first in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Held Template:Convert off the coast, it was a victory for the English.<ref name="battlepic">Battle of Lowestoft: notes Template:Webarchive, National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref>
Lowestoft Porcelain Factory, from 1757 to 1802, was in production for longer than any English soft-paste porcelain manufacturer other than Royal Worcester and Royal Crown Derby, producing domestic pots, teapots and jugs.<ref name="edplow">Lowestoft Template:Webarchive, Eastern Daily Press, 14 April 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2011.</ref> It stood on the site of an existing pottery or brick kiln and was later used as a brewery and malt kiln. Most of its remaining buildings were demolished in 1955.
Sir Samuel Morton Peto's arrival in 19th-century Lowestoft brought a change in the town's fortunes, including its fishing industry.<ref name="poppy"/> To help stimulate this, Peto was given the task of building a line for the Lowestoft Railway and Harbour Company, connecting with Reedham and the city of Norwich.<ref name="lmmport">Port of Lowestoft Template:Webarchive, Lowestoft Maritime Museum, February 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2011.</ref> This had a profound impact on the town's industrial development – its fishing fleets could sell to markets further inland, and other industries such as engineering gained from increased trade with the continent.<ref name="lmmport"/> Peto's railway enabled Lowestoft to become a flourishing seaside holiday resort; much of Peto's seaside resort in south Lowestoft still exists, including the Grade II listed Kirkley Cliff and Wellington Esplanade terraces.<ref name="poppy"/><ref name="lmmport"/>
During World War I, Lowestoft was bombarded by the German Navy on 24 April 1916 in conjunction with the Easter Rising. The port was a major naval base during the war, including for armed trawlers such as Ethel & Millie and Nelson used to combat German U-boat actions in the North Sea such as that of 15 August 1917. In World War II the town was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe for its engineering industry and role as a naval base.<ref name="ww2bombing">Prime target for bombers, Lowestoft Journal, 27 May 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2011.</ref><ref name="hoseasonobit">James Hoseason Obituary, The Guardian, 17 July 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2011.</ref> It is sometimes placed among the UK's most heavily bombed towns per head of population.<ref name="ww2bombing"/> The Royal Naval Patrol Service was mobilised in August 1939, mainly by trawlermen and fishermen of the Royal Naval Reserve. Its depot, HMS Europa, was also known locally as the Sparrow's Nest.<ref name="memorialist">Naval War Memorial, Lowestoft, British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 24 April 2011.</ref>
GovernanceEdit
Lowestoft is the major settlement in the East Suffolk district. In 1885 Lowestoft became a municipal borough which became part of the administrative county of East Suffolk in 1889, the district contained the parish of Lowestoft, from 1890 to 1907 the district also contained the parish of Kirkley.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 1 April 1974 the district and parish were abolished and became part of Waveney in the non-metropolitan county of Suffolk.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2008, a Government Boundary Committee proposed that Lowestoft become part of Norfolk, but this proposal was met with strong opposition from residents, and Lowestoft remained in Suffolk. <ref> https://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/articles/2008/08/14/places_lowestoft_norfolk_20080814_feature.shtml </ref> It retained a ceremonial mayor elected annually by its district councillors and acting as charter trustees until 2017.<ref name="mayor">Mayor of Lowestoft Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref> Suffolk County Council is the county authority. A civil parish of Lowestoft was created on 1 April 2017, governed by Lowestoft Town Council, which elects a town mayor annually.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The town is part of the Lowestoft parliamentary constituency.
Before 1 April 2019, Lowestoft, as part of Waveney District Council, was divided into ten electoral wards, with Carlton Colville treated as a separate electoral area. Harbour, Kirkley, Normanston, Pakefield, St Margarets and Whitton wards elected three councillors each, and Carlton, Gunton and Corton, Oulton and Oulton Broad wards two.<ref name="elecmap">Lowestoft ward map Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council. Retrieved 6 May 2011.</ref> Of the 48 council seats in the district, 26 represented wards within Lowestoft and three were in Carlton Colville. In 2010 the council changed to a system of all seats being elected every four years.<ref name="fouryearelec">Changing to Whole Council Elections – Explanatory Document Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council, 2010. Retrieved 6 May 2011.</ref>
On 1 April 2019, governance arrangements for Lowestoft changed with the merger of Waveney and Suffolk Coastal District Councils to form a new district council of East Suffolk. Elections were held on 2 May 2019 for the six new Lowestoft wards. The seats, fourteen in all, are allocated to Carlton and Whitton (2), Gunton and St. Margarets (2), Harbour and Normanston (3), Kirkley and Pakefield (3), Lothingland (1), and Oulton Broad (3). There are also changes to wards adjacent to Lowestoft.<ref name="East Suffolk District Council elections">East Suffolk District Council elections 2019 Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 26 March 2019.</ref> After the inaugural 2019 East Suffolk District Council election of 2 May, eight of the fourteen Lowestoft seats over the six new wards went to the Conservatives and six to Labour.
On Suffolk County Council, Lowestoft and its district are represented by eight councillors, split equally between four divisions: Gunton, Lowestoft South, Oulton and Pakefield.<ref name="ccelec">County council elections Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council. Retrieved 6 May 2012.</ref> For county council elections, held every four years, Pakefield division includes Carlton Colville. After the 2017 election, seven of Lowestoft's county councillors represented the Conservatives and one Labour. In 2018, one Conservative councillor left the party and became an Independent.<ref name="lowjournal5May2017">[1] "Lowestoft Journal", 5 May 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2019</ref><ref name="lowjournal1Aug2018">[2] "Lowestoft Journal", 1 August 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2019.</ref>
Geography and climateEdit
Template:Climate chart Lowestoft, the easternmost town in the United Kingdom, lies on the North Sea coast. The town is divided by Lake Lothing, which forms the inner part of Lowestoft Harbour and gives access via Oulton Broad and Oulton Dyke to the River Waveney and the Broads. The northern half is on the island of Lothingland.
Lowestoft is mainly low-lying, with hilly areas in the north and high points of Template:Cvt above sea level.<ref name="wavlandscape">'Physical influences and ecological context' Template:Webarchive, Waveney District landscape character assessment pp. 15–21, Waveney District Council, April 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2011.</ref> The rock beneath is crag-sand with overlying sand and glacial till deposits with gravel, with the crag exposed at coastal cliffs such as Pakefield's.<ref name="wavlandscape"/> Areas around Lake Lothing feature alluvium silt; some marshland remains west of Oulton Broad.<ref name="wavlandscape"/> The sandy beaches south of the harbour have Blue Flag status.<ref name="northclaremont">Lowestoft north of Claremont Pier Template:Webarchive, Blue Flag. Retrieved 10 April 2011.</ref><ref name="southclaremont">Lowestoft south of Claremont Pier Template:Webarchive, Blue Flag. Retrieved 10 April 2011.</ref> To the north of the harbour is an area of old sand dunes known as the Denes, along with more beaches and Ness Point, the easternmost point of the UK.
Lowestoft has been subject to periodic flooding, notably in January 1953, when a North Sea swell driven by low pressure and an extreme high tide swept away many earlier sea defences and deluged most of the southern town.<ref name="bbc53">1953 floods – What areas were affected?, BBC Suffolk, 2003. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> Heavy rain caused flash flooding in the town in September 2006.<ref name="bbc25sep06">Homes under water in flash floods, Fierce storms force mass evacuations in England |BBC News Website, 15 September 2006. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> In December 2013, a storm surge caused severe flooding of Lowestoft and its suburbs.<ref name=bbc6dec13>Fierce storms force mass evacuations in England, BBC News Website. Retrieved 30 January 2014.</ref><ref name=itv6dec13>Lowestoft flooded, ITV news. Retrieved 30 January 2014.</ref>
Lowestoft is among the UK's driest areas: annual rainfall averages under 600 mm distributed fairly evenly through the year.<ref name="metoffice">Lowestoft 1971–2000 averages Template:Webarchive, Met Office. Retrieved 10 April 2011.</ref> Mean daily summer temperatures peak at 21 °C in August, when the town averages over 200 hours of sunshine, while in winter minima average 2 °C.<ref name="metoffice"/> Marked snowfall is rare. Sea fog and cool onshore breezes can affect the town.
DemographyEdit
Lowestoft is Suffolk's second largest town, after Ipswich, with an estimated population of 58,560 in 2010.<ref name=wav2010>Economic statistics and data – an overview of Waveney, Waveney District Council. Retrieved 14 August 2013.</ref><ref name="scccensuslow">Profiles of Ipswich, Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds Template:Webarchive, Suffolk County Council. Retrieved 10 April 2011.</ref> The wider urban area brought the estimated population of the built-up area to 73,755 in 2018 from 68,850 at the 2001 census.<ref>City Population site. Retrieved 26 October 2020.</ref> The town's wider urban area includes the suburbs and villages of Carlton Colville, Gunton, Pakefield, Oulton, Oulton Broad and Kirkley. Other outlying villages in the urban area include Blundeston, Corton, Gisleham, Kessingland and Somerleyton.
About 10 per cent of the area population at the 2001 census was aged 75 or over and 20 per cent under 16.<ref name="scccensuslow"/> In general the population of several wards is slightly skewed towards the elderly. The population is mainly classed as "white", with minority ethnicities making up 1.4 per cent, compared with 8.7 per cent nationally.<ref name="guntonprofile">Gunton electoral division profile Template:Webarchive, Suffolk County Council, September 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="pakefieldprofile">Pakefield electoral division profile Template:Webarchive, Suffolk County Council, September 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="oultonprofile">Oulton electoral division profile Template:Webarchive, Suffolk County Council, September 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="lowsouthprofile">Lowestoft south electoral division profile Template:Webarchive, Suffolk County Council, September 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name=wavprofile>Waveney district profile Template:Webarchive, Suffolk County Council, April 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="ONS who">D. Gardener and H. Connelly (2005) Who are the "other" ethnic groups? Template:Webarchive, Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 22 June 2008.</ref>
At the 2001 census there were 27,777 households, giving an average household size of 2.40.<ref name="scccensuslow"/> In total 8,430 (30 per cent) were classified as one-person households, while 26 per cent included children aged 15 or under.<ref name="scccensuslow"/> The proportion of households without a private car was 29 per cent, whilst 22 per cent had two or more. In housing tenure, 72 per cent of homes were owner-occupied.<ref name="scccensuslow"/>
EconomyEdit
Originally based on fishing and engineering, the economy of Lowestoft has declined over the years.<ref name="aldous">'East Coast Inshore Fishing Fleet', Hansard, 14 October 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> Although the tourism sector has grown, the major employers in the town are the wholesale and retail sector, with 18 per cent of employment.Template:Citation needed Service industries, including health, social care and education are significant employers, while manufacturing employs about 10 per cent of the workforce.Template:Citation needed
Employment can vary seasonally due to the importance of tourism to the economy.Template:Citation needed In early 2011, around 10 per cent of the working population of the town claimed Jobseekers Allowance.Template:Citation needed
Traditional industriesEdit
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Until the mid-1960s, fishing was seen as Lowestoft's main industry,<ref name="poppy" /> although from the 1930s the percentage so employed directly and in trades associated with fishing was actually only about 10 per cent.Template:Citation needed Fleets of drifters and trawlers caught fish such as herring, cod and plaice. Catches have diminished since the 1960s<ref name="bbcfilm">Fish stocks dwindle, BBC Nation on film. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> and although 100 boats remained by the 1980s, there are now only a few small boats operating out of Lowestoft, with no large trawlers.<ref name="aldous"/><ref name="bbcfish27dec07">Fears for Suffolk fishing industry, BBC news website, 27 December 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="bbcfish080630">Madslien.J (2008) Fishermen fight for brighter future, BBC news website, 30 June 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> By 2011 just three traders remained at the town's fish market, which is under threat of closure due to redevelopment of the port.<ref name="bbc30mar11">Fears for future of Lowestoft fish market, BBC news website, 11 March 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref><ref name="edp29mar11">End of an era beckons for Lowestoft fish market, Eastern Daily Press, 29 March 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref> The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), a large fisheries research centre that is a part of Defra, is still located in Lowestoft.<ref name="aldous"/>
Other major traditional employers included Eastern Coach Works and engineering and shipbuilding companies clustered around the harbour.<ref name="poppy"/><ref name="aldous"/> These included the Brooke Marine and Richards shipbuilding companies, which together employed over a thousand men but went out of business in the 1990s, and the Norwich-based engineering company Boulton and Paul.<ref name="poppy"/><ref name="bbc03dec09">Timber factory closure announced, BBC news website, 3 December 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> Some shipbuilding and repair still goes on at the harbour.<ref name="bbc28jun08">'Oldest' steamship gets £2m refit, BBC news website, 28 June 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="bbcwherry">New start for grand old lady, BBC Suffolk, 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref>
Modern economyEdit
Major local employers include Birds Eye frozen foods, with 700 workers.<ref name="aldous"/><ref name="bbc04feb10">Farmers hit as Birds Eye, Lowestoft loses peas contract, BBC news website, 4 February 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="bbc05oct10">East Anglian pea farmers sign frozen food deal, BBC news website, 5 October 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> This has been located in the town for over 60 years.<ref name="bbc07nov03">Jobs safe at Birds Eye factory, BBC news website, 7 November 2003. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> The food-processing company Wessex Foods closed its Lowestoft plant in 2010 after a fire destroyed the factory and it failed to find alternative premises.<ref name="bbc29oct10">Staff at fire-hit burger factory in Lowestoft lose jobs, BBC news website, 29 October 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref>
Several other employers have shed labour in recent years. The Sanyo plant in the town closed down in 2009 with a loss of 60 jobs,<ref name="bbc12jan09">Sanyo to shut down monitor plant, BBC news website, 1 December 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> having once employed 800.<ref name="bbc17mar10">Sanyo TV monitor factory site in Lowestoft up for sale, BBC news website, 17 March 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> The timber company Jeld-Wen closed its factory in the town in 2010.<ref name="bbc03dec09"/>
From the mid-1960s to the late 1990s, the oil and gas industry provided significant employment in the area.<ref name="offshore">Offshore industry timeline, Great Yarmouth Council. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> For many years the Shell Southern Operations base on the north shore of Lowestoft Harbour was town's largest employer.<ref name="offshore"/> A decision to close the Shell base was finally made in 2003.<ref name="bbcshell">Talks over Shell shutdown, BBC news website, 3 April 2003. Retrieved 14 June 2009.</ref> Oil and gas is still a major industry.<ref name="yartoft">Great Yarmouth and Waveney March 2010 Template:Webarchive Shaping Norfolk's Future, March 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="gymi">International acclaim for innovation in oil and gas Template:Webarchive, Great Yarmouth marketing initiative, 17 May 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="abpoil">Lowestoft delivers gas platform, associated British Ports, 11 May 2000. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref>
The town has made efforts to develop as a centre for renewable energy in the east of England.<ref name=scctran11>Lowestoft transport strategy Template:Webarchive, Suffolk County Council, 29 June 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2013.</ref><ref name="bbc25mar05">Plan for £6m green energy centre, BBC news website, 25 March 2005. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> The non-profit Orbis Energy centre has been set up to draw business in the green-energy sector and features solar thermal heating.<ref name="bbc26feb07">Meeting on green energy in East, BBC news website, 26 February 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="bbc26dec07">Low carbon work boosted by £80m, BBC news website, 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2011-04-21.</ref><ref name="sworksorbis">Orbis Energy, Suffolk works. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref><ref name=orbis>OrbisEnergy Website. Retrieved 20 May 2009.</ref> In April 2009, Associated British Ports announced that the harbour is to become the operations centre for the 500 MW Greater Gabbard wind farm, which when completed will be the world's largest offshore windfarm. The turbines will be located Template:Convert off the Suffolk coast and the Outer Harbour will be used to house the necessary operational support facilities. Other developments in the renewable energy sector include a prototype tidal energy generator being produced by local company 4NRG<ref name="bbc02feb11">Suffolk firm's wave energy machine gets backing BBC news website, 2 February 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-21.</ref> and wave power systems developed by Trident Energy.<ref name="bbc02nov10">Wave power machine tested on land, BBC news website, 10 November 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref>
Hoseasons (now part of Awaze), a specialist in self-catering UK holidays, is also a large employment provider.<ref>Your Credit Union Template:Webarchive Rainbow Saver Anglia Credit Union (retrieved 6 February 2015)</ref>
RetailingEdit
The town centre is the main shopping area in Waveney district.<ref name="retail">Retail and Leisure Study: Summary Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council, 2006. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> The retail chain Marks & Spencer has a store. Chadds independent department store was founded in 1907, and after nearly 100 years trading in the High Street, was taken over in 2004 by the Great Yarmouth-based Palmers group.<ref name="palmers">Lowestoft, Palmers Department Store. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref><ref name="edp17jan07">How we're keeping our independents, Eastern Daily Press, 17 January 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref> Specialist shopping areas, branded as The Historic High Street and the Triangle Market Place, have been developed on the northern edge of the centre. Several retail parks have appeared, the largest being North Quay Retail Park in Peto Way.
TourismEdit
Lowestoft is a traditional seaside resort, first developed as a bathing site in the 1760s.<ref name="edplow" /> The coast has been called the "Sunrise Coast". The town's main beaches are south of the harbour, where two piers, the Claremont and South piers, provide tourist facilities, and the East Point Pavilion the tourist information service.<ref name="edplow"/><ref name="bbcaug07">Suffolk's beaches: Lowestoft, BBC Suffolk. Retrieved 21 April 2011</ref> The beach south of the Claremont Pier is a Blue Flag beach.<ref name=bbc22may13>Blue Flag awards given to 55 beaches in England, BBC news website, 22 May 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-22.</ref> Lifeguard facilities are provided during the summer and water sports take place along the coast.<ref name="bbcaug07"/> Tourism is a significant aspect of the town's economy.<ref name=scctran11/>
The town features two major attractions, the first being Pleasurewood Hills Theme Park, situated on the northern edge of the town,<ref name="hills">Wipeout, BBC Suffolk, 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> while the second is the Africa Alive! wildlife park, situated in the south at Kessingland. The town maintains a holiday park at Pakefield, operated by Pontins,<ref name="yartoft"/> and a small caravan site near its northern beach. The natural attractions of the Broads and the River Waveney on the west edge of the town, also attract visitors and been the site for boat trips and water sports events, with companies such as Hoseasons operating hire boats from Oulton Broad.<ref name="yartoft"/>
Between 1996 and 2012, the town hosted a major air show during the summer, dubbed the Lowestoft Airshow. A major attraction, the two-day event took place in August, and featuring a wide range of aircraft including the Red Arrows, a Lancaster bomber, Spitfires and an Avro Vulcan.<ref name="bbcair">Lowestoft air festival, BBC Suffolk, 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> From 2004, it was run by Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival Ltd, a non-profit company, but suffered financial difficulties. In 2010, the event made a loss of £40,000 and raised concerns over its sustainability,<ref name="lj25feb11">Lowestoft Air Festival sponsor appeal goes nationwide, Lowestoft Journal 25 February 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2011.</ref><ref name="evnews26jan11">Lowestoft air show in fund-raising drive, Norwich Evening News 26 January 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2011.</ref> whereupon further financial difficulties coupled with bad weather and low visitor numbers made the 2012 airshow the last before it was discontinued.<ref name=bbc25jul12>Lowestoft Air Festival cancelled for 2013, BBC news website, 25 July 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2013.</ref><ref name=anglia25jul12>Lowestoft Air Show to end after cash blow, ITV Anglia, 25 July 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2013.</ref><ref name=bbc14mar14>Lowestoft Air Festival will "definitely" not take place again, BBC news website, 14 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.</ref>
Near the town centre is Lowestoft Maritime Museum, open from late April to late October, which has exhibits of maritime artefacts, an extensive collection of ship models and medals, marine art, fishing and the fishing industry, activities with the Royal Navy in WWII, and shipwrights' and coopers' tools.
RedevelopmentEdit
Lowestoft is among the more socially deprived areas in Suffolk, with Kirkley the county's most deprived ward, ranking 173rd most deprived in England out of 32,486.<ref name=wavprofile/> The area attracted European Union redevelopment funding. The Waveney Sunrise Scheme invested £14.7 million, funding transport improvements and tourist facilities such as fountains on Royal Plain, as stimulants.<ref name="fountains">Fountain fun, BBC Suffolk, 2005. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref><ref name="sccsunrise">Lowestoft Sunrise Scheme Template:Webarchive, Suffolk County Council. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> Regeneration company 1st East, which focused on the Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth areas, closed in 2011.<ref name="bbc27jan11">Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft regeneration firm 1st East shuts, BBC news website, 27 January 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref>
Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft Enterprise Zone was announced in 2011 and launched in April 2012.<ref name=edp12jan12>Dickson A (2012) Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft enterprise zone interest from around the world Template:Webarchive, Eastern Daily Press, 12 January 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2015.</ref> The zone, developed by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, has six redevelopment sites across Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. The bid for the zone in 2011 envisaged creating 13,500 jobs by 2036.<ref name="edp17aug11">Dickson.A (2011) Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft enterprise zone given the green light Template:Webarchive, Eastern Daily Press, 17 August 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011.</ref> It involved the Norfolk and Suffolk Energy Alliance and focused on developing the energy sector initially using tax incentives, simplified planning regulations and the provision of improved broadband internet services.<ref name="edp17aug11"/> The sites in Lowestoft are Mobbs Way, Riverside Road and South Lowestoft Industrial Estate.<ref name=edp12jan12/>
Associated British Ports, the operator of the Port of Lowestoft, published their Lowestoft Masterplan, which aims to regenerate the harbour and take advantage of renewable energy, including the new Lowestoft Eastern Energy Facility (LEEF) on the former SLP land at the outer harbour amongst other projects.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The harbour is a focus of redevelopment proposals for Lowestoft through the Lake Lothing and Outer Harbour Area Action Plan, submitted in February 2011.<ref name="aap">An introduction to the Area Action Plan for Central Lowestoft Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref> The plan focuses on the redevelopment of brownfield sites in and around the harbour area to create jobs, particularly in the renewable energy and retailing sectors.<ref name=scctran11/><ref name="aapwhat">What is the Area Action Plan? Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref><ref name="edp14oct10">Mace. H (2010) Vision for future of Lowestoft harbour, Eastern Daily Press, 14 October 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.</ref>
Culture and communityEdit
The town has three theatres: the Marina, the Players (Lowestoft) and The Seagull. The 800-seat Marina, operated as a charitable trust, was restored and refurbished in 2012 and its cinema upgraded to digital in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has played regularly at the Marina Theatre since 2005.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Lowestoft Museum, which holds a collection of Lowestoft Porcelain and artifacts describing the town's history, is in Nicholas Everett Park in Oulton Broad.<ref name="edplow"/> There are some small museums in Sparrow's Nest Park in the north of the town, including the Lowestoft War Memorial Museum, the Maritime Museum and the Royal Naval Patrol Service Museum. The Heritage Workshop Centre is also located there.<ref name="lowj11feb11">'Memories of beach village in Lowestoft', Lowestoft Journal, 11 February 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.</ref> The Mincarlo, the last surviving sidewinder trawler of the Lowestoft fishing fleet, can be visited at Lowestoft Harbour. The East Anglia Transport Museum holds a collection of buses, trams and trolleybuses in Carlton Colville.
Lowestoft retains several narrow lanes with steps running steeply seawards, known locally as "scores". They were used by fishermen and smugglers and now feature in an annual charity race.<ref name="edplow"/><ref name="scoresrace">Lowestoft Scores Race, East Anglia's Children's Hospices, 2 March 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref> The borough church, dedicated to St Margaret, is a Grade I listed building.<ref name="suffchurch">St Margaret, Lowestoft, Suffolk Churches site. Retrieved 24 April 2011.</ref><ref name="listchurch">Church of St Margaret, Lowestoft, British listed buildings. Retrieved 24 April 2011.</ref> In the town centre is Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, a Grade II listed building in the Arts and Crafts style and the most easterly Catholic church in the British Isles.<ref>Our Lady Star of the Sea, Waveney from British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 20 July 2018</ref><ref>Our Lady Star of the Sea, Lowestoft from SuffolkChurches.co.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2018</ref>
Lowestoft's town-centre library contains a local-history section and a branch of the Suffolk Record Office.<ref name="sro">Suffolk Record Office, Lowestoft Branch, National Archives. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref> Lowestoft Hospital closed in 2016. Services are now provided by the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston.<ref>Retrieved 27 March 2019.</ref> The main burial grounds for the town are Lowestoft Cemetery and Kirkley Cemetery. The town is twinned with the town of Plaisir in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France to the west of Paris.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
LandmarksEdit
Ness PointEdit
Ness Point, the most easterly location in the United Kingdom, is located in the town close to a 126-metre wind turbine, known locally as Gulliver.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At the time it was completed it was the country's tallest.<ref name="gulliver">Suffolk's first turbine, BBC Suffolk, 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref>
At the most easterly point is a large compass rose, the Euroscope, set in the ground to give the direction and distance to various cities in Europe.<ref name="ness">The mess that is Ness, BBC Suffolk, 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2011.</ref>
Sparrows NestEdit
Belle Vue Park (Sparrows Nest) is the site of the Royal Naval Patrol Service memorial. The central depot for the service was in Lowestoft when it was mobilised in August 1939, on a site known as Sparrow's Nest, adjacent to the memorial. The memorial has the names of the 2,385 members of the service who died in World War II.<ref name="memorialist" /> Prior to this, it was the site of the "North Battery", which stood on the cliff and was constructed in around 1782. It was a four sided bastion set back from the cliff edge, housing four 18-pounder canon, with a guardhouse and magazine to the rear. All traces are now gone, minus two cannons with are now mounted around the memorial.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
LighthouseEdit
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Lowestoft Lighthouse, built in 1874 to the north of the town centre, stands 16 metres high at 37 metres above sea level, with a range of Template:Convert. It was automated in 1975.<ref name="trinityhouse">Lowestoft Template:Webarchive, Trinity House. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref> It is the United Kingdom's most easterly lighthouse.
The first two lighthouses in Lowestoft were built in 1609 on the foreshore and candlelit, to warn of the dangerous sandbanks around the coast. These were the first constructed by Trinity House. The Low Light was discontinued in 1706 after sea encroachment, but re-established in 1730 in a form that could be easily moved in response to further changes to the Stamford Channel and shoreline. It was discontinued in August 1923. The High Light tower was rebuilt as the present lighthouse in 1874<ref name="lightlist"/> with the intention of displaying an electric light, but when opened paraffin oil was used instead; not until 1936 was it electrified. The lighthouse, with two cottages originally for lighthouse keepers, is a Grade II listed building.<ref name="lightlist">High Lighthouse Including North Cottage and South Cottage, Waveney, British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 23 October 2012.</ref>
Pakefield Lighthouse, the second remaining lighthouse, can be found on the coast south of Lowestoft, between Pakefield and the village of Kessingland. Originally constructed in 1831 and decommissioned in 1864, Pakefield lighthouse is now looked after by volunteers from Pakefield Coastwatch, who operate it as a coastal surveillance station.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Lifeboat stationEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Lowestoft Lifeboat Station, at the mouth of the outer harbour at the South Pier, is one of Britain's oldest, founded in 1801 and open to visitors throughout the year.<ref name=rnli>Lowestoft Lifeboat Station, Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Retrieved 15 March 2014.</ref> The lifeboat is Patsy Knight, a Shannon class lifeboat which replaced the Tyne class boat Spirit of Lowestoft in 2014. A former Lowestoft lifeboat was used during the Dunkirk evacuation of British forces from France in 1940.<ref name=rnli/> The South Broads Lifeboat Station, an inland RNLI station, operated at Oulton Broad in 2001–2011.<ref name=rnliob>South Broads RNLI lifeboat station to close, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 14 November 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2014.</ref>
Town HallEdit
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Lowestoft Town Hall stands in the High Street. Various forms of local government have met or been based on this site since its establishment as a Town House and Chapel in 1570. In 1698 a new Town House was built, incorporating a corn cross on the ground floor with the meeting chamber and chapel above. This in turn was replaced by the present building, designed by architect J. L. Clemence in 1857.<ref name=halllist>Town Hall, Lowestoft, British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 30 August 2015.</ref> The building houses the town clock and the curfew bell, which dates from 1644 and is rung each evening at 8 p. m.<ref>Welcome to Lowestoft Town Hall Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council. Retrieved 30 August 2015.</ref> The building is a Grade II listed building.<ref name=wdc2015hall>The future of Lowestoft Town Hall Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council website, April 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.</ref>
In 2012, Waveney District Council announced that it planned to leave the town hall and share Suffolk County Council's offices in Riverside Road. This occurred in 2015.<ref name=wdc2015hall/>
Gull Wing BridgeEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Gull Wing Bridge is a rolling bascule bridge that spans Lake Lothing in the town of Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, and is the largest bridge of its kind in the world to date.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="gullwingsize">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The bridge's surface consists of a two-lane single carriageway with pedestrian and cycle footpaths on both sides. The bridge maintains a speed limit of Template:Cvt for road traffic.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The bascule span of the bridge, which opens up southwards when required,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> lies around Template:Convert above water level during high tides,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> with the space between the two main spans in the water being around Template:Convert - safety features fitted to the span walls limit shipping with a maximum width of Template:Convert to be able to pass through its channel.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref> The Northern Approach Viaduct (NAV) has ground clearance of around Template:Convert over the railway line to Template:Rws station for trains.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref> Road access in the south is via Waveney Drive, while in the north it is via Peto Way and Denmark Road.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
TransportEdit
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Lowestoft railway station, originally Lowestoft Central, is centrally placed within walking distance of the beach and the town centre. It provides services to Ipswich on the East Suffolk Line and to Norwich on the Wherry Line.<ref name="eastsuff">East Suffolk Line Template:Webarchive. Plans for through trains to London Liverpool Street were announced in 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref><ref name="wherry">The Wherry Lines. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref> Both lines were originally part of the Great Eastern Railway and are operated by Greater Anglia. The suburb of Oulton Broad has two stations: Template:Rws lies on the line to Template:Rws, while Template:Rws is on the line to Template:Stnlnk.
Template:Rws, originally operated by the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway, closed in 1970 with the Lowestoft to Great Yarmouth line. The site is now taken by the residential Beeching Drive.
Buses in Lowestoft are mainly operated by First Eastern Counties, with Lowestoft bus station as the hub. They link the town with Norwich and Great Yarmouth and provide services within the town and to surrounding villages.
The main A12 road to London passes through Carlton Colville, Pakefield and Kirkley in the southern area of Lowestoft, ending at the town's harbour Bascule Bridge. It connects there to the A47 road, which runs around the centre of town, before exiting along Great Yarmouth Road, crossing the county border into Norfolk.
A second road from the town centre, the A1044, links the town to Oulton Broad, via its second road crossing over Lake Lothing, and connects with the A146 that runs between Lowestoft, Beccles and Norwich.<ref name=scctran11/> Both bridges can be raised if vessels need to pass through the harbour and Lake Lothing, though this can cause congestion in the town and routes can become gridlocked.<ref name=scctran11/><ref name="bbc12sep07">Grant could help cut congestion, BBC news website, 12 September 2007. Retrieved 2011-04-09.</ref><ref name="highways">Faber Maunsell Limited (2009) A12 Lowestoft study: Lake Lothing third crossing feasibility study Template:Webarchive (online). Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref> Template:As of a third crossing of Lowestoft Harbour is under construction. A southern relief road was built to divert traffic from the seafront,<ref name="sccsunrise"/><ref name=bbc27jun06>Seaside town relief road opened, BBC news website, 27 June 2006. Retrieved 2013-01-26.</ref> while a proposed pedestrian and cycle bridge is planned as an alternative crossing alongside the Bascule Bridge.<ref name="bbc13oct11">Lowestoft's £6.25m for transport but no third road bridge, BBC Suffolk news website, 13 October 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2013.</ref>
Lowestoft's cycle network has routes that link areas to the town centre. About 12 per cent of residents cycle to work. The town is seen as "ideally suited" to cycling due to its relatively small size and flat landscape.<ref name=scctran11/> Suffolk County Council aims to promote cycling by working with employers and schools and by funding a town-centre pedestrian and cycle bridge.<ref name=scctran11/>
EducationEdit
Lowestoft has several primary and high schools, including four 11–16 high schools: Benjamin Britten Academy, Ormiston Denes Academy, East Point Academy and Pakefield High School.<ref name="sccschools">A to Z of schools by village/town, Suffolk County Council. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref> After reorganisation, all eight middle schools in the town closed in 2011 and Pakefield High School opened.<ref name="sccsor">School organisation review: Lowestoft, Suffolk County Council. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref> Post-16 education is provided at Lowestoft Sixth Form College, which opened in September 2011 as part of the reorganisation, and at East Coast College (Lowestoft Campus), which offers a range of academic and vocational courses.
East Coast College (Lowestoft Campus) provides some higher education courses through an affiliation to the University of Suffolk.<ref name="ucslowestoft">UCS Lowestoft Template:Webarchive, University College Suffolk. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref> Degrees were initially validated by the University of East Anglia and the University of Essex<ref name="ucsvalid">Validating Universities Template:Webarchive, University Campus Suffolk. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref> but are now validated by the University of Suffolk. The college also has courses in boat building and some to support the offshore and maritime industries that are major employers in the town.<ref name="maritimecourses">Colleges of Further Education Template:Webarchive, British Marine Federation. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref> Other adult education courses are run by the County Council from a base at the town library.<ref name="adulted">An introduction to community learning and skills development, Suffolk County Council. Retrieved 30 April 2011.</ref>
Sport and leisureEdit
Lowestoft's sport clubs and facilities include Lowestoft Town Football Club at Crown Meadow and Kirkley & Pakefield Football Club at Walmer Road. Lowestoft Cricket Club plays at the Denes Oval sports ground.<ref name="wdcdenessg">Denes Oval sport ground Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref> Other sport clubs include Waveney Gymnastics club<ref name="gym">Waveney Gymnastics Club. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref> and Rookery Park Golf Club.<ref name="rookery">Rookery Park Golf Club Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref>
Nicknamed 'The Waves', Lowestoft Ladies football team won the Women's FA Cup in 1982. They beat Cleveland Spartans 2-0 at Loftus Road with Linda Curl and Angela Poppy scoring the goals. Unfortunately due to their geographical location, they were refused entry into several leagues and the club disbanded shortly afterwards.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Lowestoft and Yarmouth rugby football club<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> also has its Gunton Park home based in Lowestoft. Founded in 1879, it is one of the oldest rugby union clubs in England.
East Coast Hockey Club<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is the town's field hockey side formed in 2019 as a result of a merger between Lowestoft Railway Hockey Club and Lowestoft Ladies Hockey Club. They play their home matches at East Point Academy.
The town's main leisure centre, the Waterlane Leisure Centre, was redeveloped at a cost of £8 million in 2010–2011.<ref name="bbc27aug09">Lowestoft leisure centre's £6.5m facelift under way, BBC news website, 27 August 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref><ref name=edp27may13>Lowestoft leisure centre was saved from financial brink, Eastern Daily Press, 27 May 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.</ref> Facilities include a gym and climbing wall as well as a 25-metre swimming pool with a movable floor.<ref name="bbc27aug09"/><ref name="sentinel">Waterlane leisure centre Template:Webarchive, Sentinel Leisure Trust. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref> Lowestoft has a number of parks and recreation grounds.<ref name="wdcparks">Parks and open spaces Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council. Retrieved 9 April 2011.</ref>
The Broads national park extends to Lowestoft on Oulton Broad. Water activities and boat tours can be taken here. Powerboat racing takes place throughout the summer, mainly on Thursday evenings.<ref name=powerboats>Power Boat Racing, Report by Head of Safety Management, Broads Authority, 20 January 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2013.</ref> Fixtures are organised by the Lowestoft and Oulton Broad Motor Boat Club and can attract up to 1500 spectators.<ref name=powerboats/><ref name=bbc21jun13>Oulton Broad speedboat engine thefts leads to race cancellation, BBC Suffolk news website, 21 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.</ref> The Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club has its club house in Lowestoft harbour.<ref name=rnsyc>Official Website Club website. Retrieved 21 June 2013.</ref>
Notable peopleEdit
The Elizabethan pamphleteer Thomas Nashe, a father of modern journalism and a primary source for the literary milieux of William Shakespeare, was born in Lowestoft in 1567.<ref>Nicholl, Charles. A Cup of News: The Life of Thomas Nashe. Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1984, p. 11.</ref> Robert Potter, poet and translator of Greek drama, was Vicar of Lowestoft until 1804. The 19th-century writer and traveller George Borrow lived at Oulton Broad for many years and wrote most of his books there. Lieutenant General Sir Edwin Alderson also lived at Oulton Broad, on a houseboat, and died in 1927 at the since-demolished Royal Hotel in Lowestoft, where he had been staying for his last month.<ref name="lj17dec27">General's Death – Sir Edwin Alderson's Lowestoft Yachting Associations, Lowestoft Journal, 17 December 1927.</ref>
Admiral Sir John Ashby, who commanded HMS Victory at the Battles of Barfleur and La Hogue in 1692, grew up in Suffolk and is buried in Lowestoft. A memorial is sited in St Margaret's Church. Admiral Sir Thomas Allin, a commander at the Battle of Lowestoft on 13 June 1665 was awarded a knighthood on 24 June and appointed an Admiral of the Blue squadron. He lived in a family house in High Street until his victories enabled him to move to a grander country residence, Somerleyton Hall.Template:Citation needed Vice Admiral James Dacres fought in wars against America in the 19th century and was born in the town. Claud Castleton of the Australian Army and Victoria Cross recipient was born in KirkleyTemplate:Citation needed and Captain Thomas Crisp, Royal Navy officer and Victoria Cross recipient, was born in the town – one of the town's main roads is named after him. Robert William Hook, coxswain at the RNLI in Lowestoft from 1853 to 1883 and who has been credited with saving more than 600 lives in his career, with Lowestoft RNLI and with private companies. He was born in Lowestoft, lived and worked there all his life, and is buried in Lowestoft Cemetery.
Sir Samuel Morton Peto, bought Somerleyton Hall in 1843 and has one of the town's main roads named after him. He was influential in developing the town's railway links and harbour. Sir Christopher Cockerell, inventor of the hovercraft, lived at Oulton Broad, and tested craft in Somerleyton at Fritton Lake. The astronomer Fiammetta Wilson was born in the town in 1864, with a birth name of Helen Francis Worthington. Economist Sir Dennis Holme Robertson was born in Lowestoft in 1890. He was educated on a scholarship at Eton, and read Classics and Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge before teaching at Cambridge University, working closely with Keynes. The philanthropist Howard Hollingsworth, co-founder of Bourne & Hollingsworth Department Store, visited Lowestoft in 1908 and later bought and renovated the burnt-out Briar Clyffe House and grounds on Gunton Cliff.<ref name="local2006">26 January 2006, "Howard Hollingsworth, Lowestoft's first Freeman" – by Colin Dixon, Lowestoft Archaeological and Local History Society, 26 January 2006. Retrieved 14 July 2013.</ref> He became a Lowestoft benefactor, and on the death of his friend Nicholas Everitt, bought his estate at Oulton Broad and gave it to Lowestoft for a public park.<ref name=na>Evidences to title to the North Cove Hall Estate, National Archives. Retrieved 14 July 2013.</ref> He was made the first Freeman of the Borough of Lowestoft in 1929.<ref name=local2006/> Roland Aubrey Leighton, fiancé of Vera Brittain, immortalised in her WW1 autobiography Testament of Youth, lived with his family at Heather Cliff on Gunton Cliff.
The composer Benjamin Britten was born in Lowestoft in 1913. He has been called "without a doubt the greatest English classical composer of the last century"<ref name="britten">Kennedy.M (2002) Makeshift studio listed, The Guardian, 17 October 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2011.</ref> and "the only person of real celebrity to have emerged from darkest Lowestoft."<ref name="darkness">M. Foreman (2004) Lowestoft's Dark stars, The Guardian, 19 February 2004. Retrieved 28 April 2011.</ref> The Benjamin Britten High School and a small town shopping centre are named after him. The artist Mark Burrell (born in Lowestoft in 1957) has a studio in the town and often features Lowestoft's landmarks and local people in his paintings. He is a leading member of the North Sea Magical Realists.
The children's author and illustrator Michael Foreman, born in 1938, spent his childhood in Pakefield, where his mother kept a grocer's shop.<ref name="darkness"/> He went to Pakefield Primary School, and played on Hilly Green – stories of which are recorded in his book War Boy. The author and illustrator James Mayhew lived in the town and studied at Lowestoft School of Art. Photographer George Davison was also born in Lowestoft. Jayne-Marie Barker, author of the Inspector Allen mysteries, grew up at Oulton Broad and has used Lowestoft as an inspiration for her books.<ref name=lowjournal28sep12>Oulton Broad author to make Lowestoft appearance, Lowestoft Journal, 28 September 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2014.</ref> Author Mark Dawson was born in the town.Template:Citation needed
The comedian and actor Karl Theobald was born in Lowestoft, as were BBC Radio 4 newsreader and television presenter Zeb Soanes and DJ and BBC radio presenter Tim Westwood. Historian and author Ivan Bunn was born in Kirkley and still resides in Lowestoft. Three founder members of The Darkness rock band were educated in Kirkley (Namely Justin Hawkins, his brother Dan Hawkins and Ed Graham.) Some of their songs feature local landmarks or stories such as "Black Shuck".<ref name="darkness"/> Lil' Chris featured in Channel 4's Rock School, filmed at Kirkley high school (now East Point Academy) and went on to a musical career. Leanne Mitchell, winner of the first The Voice UK series, lives in the town.<ref name=lj1jun12>Oulton Broad singer Leanne Mitchell faces final stage fight in BBC One show The Voice, Lowestoft Journal, 1 June 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2016.</ref>
Sports people associated with Lowestoft include the England football captain Terry Butcher, who was educated there, and Peter Wright, a Darts World Champion who spent formative years there. Others include former Ipswich Town goalkeeper Laurie Sivell, Norwich City defenders Paul Haylock and Daryl Sutch, former football player and manager Richard Money, New York Mets pitcher Les Rohr and Olympic Bronze medal-winning middleweight boxer Anthony Ogogo.
Freedom of the TownEdit
The following individuals, military units, organisations and groups have received the Freedom of the Town of Lowestoft.
IndividualsEdit
- Benjamin Britten: 28 July 1951. (Borough of Lowestoft)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- John Wylson: 25 June 2021
- Christopher Brooks: 25 June 2021, formally conferred at a ceremony on 27 November 2021.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Organisations and groupsEdit
- The Excelsior: 25 June 2021.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- The Royal British Legion (Lowestoft and District Branch): 17 November 2021.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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- Lowestoft Town Council
- Nation on Film – the rise and fall of the fishing industry on England's east coast, BBC website.
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