The New Hand-Book to Lowestoft and Its Environs

by Anonymous

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.

From Blundeston the visiter may approach Somerleyton. Here, the principal object of interest is the Hall, the seat of S. M. Peto, Esq., M.P. It stands in a park of no very great extent, but well planted, possessing a stately avenue of lime trees which, in summer are surpassingly beautiful. Fuller in his Worthies, vol. ii. uses these words, “Sommerley Hall, nigh Yarmouth, well answering the name thereof: for here sommer is to be seen in the depth of winter, in the pleasant walks beset on both sides with firr trees, green all the year long; besides other curiosities.” This Hall was the seat of Sir John Wentworth during the civil wars; his name and place of abode occur in the histories of that period. Mr. Peto has made very extensive alterations and improvements both in the house and grounds; he has also erected a neat and commodious Chapel and a Gothic School room in this parish.

The mere, called “the wicker well,” belonging to Cammant Money, Esq., is a small lake in this parish; its banks are fringed with shrubs interwoven with tall and graceful trees, producing on the whole a very pleasing effect.

At no great distance from Somerleyton is Herringfleet, the Church of which is an interesting structure, unquestionably Norman.

St. Olave’s in Herringfleet was formerly a priory of black canons, founded by Roger Fitz-Ozbert, of Sommerley, to the honor of St. Mary, and St. Olave the king and the martyr, in the beginning of the reign of Henry III. The remains of this priory were chiefly taken down in 1784, but some parts of it are still left near the bridge, which superseded a ferry that existed here at a very remote period, which “before the reign of Edward I., was kept by one Sireck, a fisherman, who received for his trouble, bread, herrings, and such like things, to the value of twenty shillings a year;” it descended to several generations of the family. In the reign of Henry V. permission was given to Jeffery Pollerin of Yarmouth, to build a bridge ‘over the water between Norfolk and Suffolk,’ which, however, was not built. The old bridge and causeway over Haddiscoe dam were constructed in the reign of Henry VII., at the sole expense of Dame Margaret, the wife of Sir James Hobart: this bridge was repaired about the year 1770, but was steep, narrow, and obstructive to the navigation of the river: it has lately given place to a beautifully designed Iron Bow Suspension Bridge, of curious mechanism, which is in every sense an ornament to the neighbourhood.