Lowestoft in olden times

by Francis Davy Longe

In Gisleham he had two small farms, from one of which he got 2s. 6d. and 200 herrings, and from the other 5s. and 300 herrings.

In Carlton he had one farm from which he got 3s. as rent and 400 herrings, and from another 5s. and 300 herrings.

In Kirkley he had a farm from which he got 3s. and 200 herrings.

He also got herring rents from farms in Worlingham, Weston, Wangford, and some other places which I cannot identify.

This Norman Baron doubtless desired to encourage the herring fishery, and so imposed these herring rents on his tenants who occupied farms near the coast, where herrings could easily be obtained. Had he possessed any land in Lowestoft I have no doubt that we should read in Domesday of herring rents being paid from this parish. The large number demanded from the four freemen in Kessingland is good evidence, I think, of the herring fishery being carried on there at this time to a considerable extent. Kessingland was a large village at this time, with a haven in the little river which now separates it from Benacre. Although Domesday makes no mention of any fishermen, or fishing trade, in the returns for these parishes, the herring rents are conclusive evidence that herrings were caught off this coast it large quantities at this time. Sea-fishing was probably carried on also by the inhabitants of Pakefield and Kirkley at this time.

Kirkley does not appear to have ever been more than a small village, although it gave its name to the Roads off this coast.

Carlton was a large and populous village at this time, and appears to have been so from early Saxon times. It is supposed that the name is taken from the large number of “Ceorls,” or “Karls,”—as we should now say “Working-class people”—who lived there. Lake Lothing would furnish them with an easy passage to and from the sea, and when landed at Carlton the fish would be on the old Roman road leading to Beccles, Norwich, and Bury. Doubtless the herrings which Hugh de Montfort got from his farms in this parish were caught by fishermen living there. Fishing in small boats, by what we should now call “longshore-men,” had probably been carried on from these sea-side villages for hundreds of years before Domesday.

But at this time the herring fishery had become established at Yarmouth, and the celebrated Free Fair was already held there during the autumn season. In the account of Gorleston we have noticed that 24 men belonging to that manor were said to be fishermen living away at Yarmouth. As there were as many as 70 burgesses in Yarmouth in the time of King Edward, and the town paid a large rent to the king, we may be quite safe in regarding Yarmouth as doing a large business in the herring trade even in late Saxon times.

Live Stock on the Farms.

Although the returns from the different estates in our neighbourhood are compiled on the same system in Domesday Book, they vary very much in respect of the details given, particularly in respect of the live stock on the manors and farms reported. This is no more than what we should expect.