Gillingwater's History of Lowestoft / a reprint: with a chapter of more recent events

by Edmund Gillingwater

I should now proceed to give an account of the several benefactions which have been given to this parish by charitable and well-disposed persons, such as a large donation in land, for repairing and ornamenting the church and assisting the poor; an alms house for the residence of four poor people; and also the very liberal donations for instituting two grammar schools in this town, exclusive of several other benefactions of lesser importance, which I shall pass over in this place, referring the reader to Section V., where they are more particularly enumerated and described.

Lowestoft being part of the ancient demesne of the Crown, has, in consequence thereof, been entitled to many privileges; though many of them, through the various vicissitudes which all human affairs are subject to, are now become useless, and almost forgotten; such as paying toll, stallage, frontage, etc., and an exemption from contributing to the charges of the knights of the shire during their attendance in Parliament; which privileges, with several others which are particularly mentioned in the following writ of exemption, were, some centuries since, esteemed as valuable ones, however they may be regarded now. But there is one privilege which the town is entitled to by virtue of this writ, which is of too advantageous a nature to be passed over unnoticed, namely, that of being exempted from serving on juries, either at the assizes or quarter sessions, being subject to those juries only as are empanelled by the lord of the manor, coroner, etc. This privilege the town enjoys to this day, and is the only one out of the many specified in the writ, from which the town at this present time receives any real benefit; though, possibly, were they duly attended to, they might not at this distant period be found altogether unprofitable.

The above-mentioned privileges, which were granted to the town of Lowestoft, as part of the Crown, appear, by the said writ, to have been confirmed in the fifteenth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and were again renewed in the fourth year of Charles I.—and is now allowed by the sheriff of this county—as is evident from the writ itself.

A writ of exemption granted to the town of Lowestoft, the 15th of Queen Elizabeth, 1573, and renewed the 4th Charles I., 1604:

Charles, by the grace of God, of England Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.—We have seen the enrollments of certain letters executory, bearing date the twenty-seventh day of May, in the fifteenth year of the reign of our dearly beloved sister, the lady Elizabeth, late Queen of England, made and granted to the men and tenants of the town of Lothnwistoft, in the half-hundred of Ludingland, in the county of Suffolk, enrolled in the rolls of chancery, and remaining there on record, in these words: ‘The Queen, to all sheriffs, mayors, bailiffs, constables, officers, and others, her liege people, as well within liberties as without, to whom these presents shall come, greeting.—Whereas, according to the custom in our kingdom of England, hitherto obtained and approved, the men and tenants in ancient demesne of the crown of England, should and ought to be free from toll, stollage, chiminage, pontage, pannage piccage, murrage, lastage, and passage, throughout the whole kingdom aforesaid, according to the custom aforesaid, concerning men and tenants in ancient demense of the crown of England, who always hitherto, time out of mind, have been wont to be free from contributing towards the expenses of the knights coming to the Parliament of our ancestors, formerly kings of England, for the community of the county; also, according to the same custom, the men and tenants of the manors which are in ancient demesne of the Crown aforesaid, upon account of the lands and tenements which they hold in the same demesne, ought not to be returned to the assizes upon juries or any recognizances, except only in such cases as are to be transacted in the courts of such manors: [29] and forasmuch as the town of Lothnwistoft, in the half-hundred of Ludingland, is in ancient demesne of the Crown, as it appears by a certificate sent to us by the treasurer, chancellor of our exchequer, from thence into our court of chancery aforesaid. We enjoin and command you, and everyone of you, to permit all the men and tenants in the town aforesaid, to be free from toll, and the rest of the premises, and every one of them, throughout our whole kingdom aforesaid, from the expense of the knights of the shire aforesaid; and, also, not to return the men and tenants of the said town to the assizes, upon juries or any recognizances, except only in such cases as are to be transacted in the courts of such towns. In testimony whereof, etc., witness the Queen, at Westminster, the twenty-seventh day of May, in the fifteenth year of her reign.’ And we thought fit, by these presents, to exemplify the tenor of the enrollments of the premises aforesaid, at the request of Robert Mellinge, Esq., in witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent. Witness Ourself, at Westminster, the twenty-sixth day of February, in the fourth year of our reign.

The town of Lowestoft appears to have experienced, at different times, a large proportion of the many miseries and distresses arising from those dreadful calamities, pestilence, fire, war, storms, and tempests, which mankind are frequently exposed to.

The great plague which made such dreadful ravages in Europe in 1346, was brought into England in 1348. In the following year it raged with great fury at Yarmouth, where there died in one year 7000 persons; and, most probably, Lowestoft had its share of the calamity, as it was so general, that not above the tenth part of the inhabitants escaped.

In 1547 the plague raged with such violence in this town, that it cost in some weeks, for distressed people, three pounds per week, exclusive of the weekly collections, amounting in the whole to fifty pounds at the least. This weekly collection was a voluntary contribution of the humane and charitable; for the poor were not provided for by Act of Parliament till the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The town did not receive, on this occasion, any assistance of consequence, either from the country, or from the town lands. It was customary in these times, when there was no poors’ rates, and a town was distressed with any grievous calamity, for the neighbouring towns to give their assistance.

In 1579, the plague raged so violently in this part of England, that at Yarmouth there died, between the month of May and the Michaelmas following, above 2,000 persons. In consequence whereof, the Mayor of Newcastle, on the 22nd September, in that year, sent a letter to the bailiffs of Yarmouth, forbidding their going to that place for coals; and, probably, the plague at this time was at Lowestoft. In 1579 twice the number of people died in Lowestoft, than in 1578. In 1585 there was a great sickness in this town; for it appears by the register, that in the month of August only, in that year, there were buried 36 persons; and in the whole year, the number amounted to 134. The burials, on an average, for the preceding seven years, were annually about 44.

But the greatest sickness which the town ever experienced, was that in the year 1603; in which year 280 persons were buried in this parish during only the space of five months; and in the whole year, 316.