Lowestoft in olden times

by Francis Davy Longe

It was in 1644, the year after Cromwell’s visit, that Lowestoft suffered the greatest calamity with which the town was ever afflicted, before or since. On the 10th March in that year, we are told, by Mr. Rous,—

“There happened in this towne a most violent and dreadful fire which consumed and burnt down soe many houses above and beneath the cliffe, as could not be rebuilt according to the judgement of knowing artificers who viewed it for above ten thousand pounds.”

It appears from the account of a survey of the losses incurred by the different owners, that the totals comprised £4,145 10. on dwelling houses, on fish-houses £3,085 0. 0. and on goods £3,066 12. 4. [90a]

The number of houses burnt was stated afterwards to have been 140. [90b] According to a survey made in 1642 the yearly value of the houses and tenements in the Parish was put at £412 6. 8., and the value of land at £447 11. 8., making a total of £859 18. 4. As the valuation of the houses and fish-houses burnt was £7,000, a sum which at as low a rate as 5 per cent would represent an annual value of £350, the property burnt would appear to have been much the larger part in value of all the houses and tenements in the town.

Considering how simple the construction of even the better class of houses was at this time, the value put upon the dwelling houses burnt, would seem to imply that they included many of the best houses on the cliff, where the owners of the fish-houses at the bottom resided: though the fire does not seem to have reached the house, which still exists at the top of Wilde’s Score.

The losses of the owners on fish-houses ranged from £25 to £450. Mr. Josiah Wilde’s loss was £400 on fish-houses. Doubtless this included the large fish-house at the bottom of Wilde’s Score. Many of these fish-houses had probably been built in the early times of the Edwards and the Henrys. In a statement made some 20 years afterwards these fish-houses, then restored, are referred to as “monuments” proving the antiquity of the trades of the town.

In 1649 another valuation was made, in pursuance of an order of the Parliament. According to this valuation the value of property in the parish had been much reduced since 1641. The yearly value of all the lands and tenements in the parish was put then at £655. Doubtless this reduction was mainly due to the loss of property caused by the fire. But assuming that the value of the house property at this period was very small; and the annual value of land still less, it is impossible to reconcile these statements of the yearly value of the whole parish, with the valuation of the property destroyed by the fire. The explanation of the discrepancy would seem to be that the valuation of their property by our old townspeople to furnish a basis for taxation, was on a very different principle to that on which it was valued for the purpose of supporting a claim for exemption. Probably houses had no marketable or ascertainable value either for sale or letting at this time, and the estimate of either their capital or annual value would be of a very speculative character.

Value of Moveable Goods.

The value of the “goods” lost by the fire is put at £3,066. This amount of property was owned by some 60 out of the three or four hundred householders which the town contained. The loss of Mr. Josiah Wilde was put at £280; the loss of Mr. Robert Bits at £370. As the small sum of £2 is given as the value of the goods lost by some of the smaller sufferers, we must regard the valuation of goods destroyed as sufficiently trustworthy to give an idea of the value of the stock in trade and furniture possessed by the merchants and tradesmen of the town at this period. A comparison of this valuation with the £790 returned as the value of the “movabyll goods” possessed by our townspeople in 1524, shews how largely the wealth of our merchants had increased since that time, notwithstanding the decay of their fisheries, and the other adverse circumstances against which they had been struggling, and how great had been the increase in the furniture and other commodities of life, which was noticed by Holinshed as commencing in Elizabeth’s time.

But even so the inhabitants generally must have been very poor and badly housed compared with the present day.