Editing Lowestoft (section)

==History==
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) [http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba86/feat1.shtml '700,000 years old: found in Pakefield'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719132907/http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba86/feat1.shtml |date=19 July 2012 }}, ''British Archaeology'', January/February 2006. Retrieved 24 December 2008.</ref>

Habitation occurred in the [[Neolithic]], [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and [[Iron Age|Iron]] ages and in the [[Roman Britain|Roman]] and [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxon]] times. Several finds have been made at a Saxon cemetery at Bloodmoor Hill in south Lowestoft.<ref name="cau">Cambridge Archaeological Unit [http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/archcom/projects/summarys/html98_9/cc2313.htm A Roman and Saxon settlement at Bloodmoor Hill, Pakefield, Lowestoft] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606000317/http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/archcom/projects/summarys/html98_9/cc2313.htm |date=6 June 2011}}. Retrieved 28 November 2009.</ref><ref name="wavlandscapehist">[http://www.waveney.gov.uk/site/scripts/download.php?fileID=742 'Human influences'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719115702/http://www.waveney.gov.uk/site/scripts/download.php?fileID=742 |date=19 July 2011}}, ''Waveney District landscape character assessment'' pp. 27–29, Waveney District Council, April 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2011.</ref> The place name derives from a [[Norsemen|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.{{ISBN|0-19-280074-4}}</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">[http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TM5593/lowestoft/ Lowestoft] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012010412/http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TM5593/lowestoft/ |date=12 October 2012}}, Domesday Map. Retrieved 20 April 2011.</ref> The manor formed part of [[William the Conqueror|the king's]] holding in the [[Mutford and Lothingland Hundred|Hundred of Lothingland]], worth about four [[Money|geld]] in tax income.<ref name="ddmap"/><ref name="ddbook">[http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/suffolk4.html#lowestoft Lowestoft], Domesday Book online. Retrieved 20 April 2011.</ref> [[Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk|Roger Bigod]] was the tenant in chief.<ref name="ddbook"/> The lost village of [[Akethorpe]] may have lain close by.<ref name="ddmapake">[http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TM5493/akethorpe/ Akethorpe] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100810144206/http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TM5493/Akethorpe/ |date=10 August 2010}}, 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">[http://www.poppyland.co.uk/index.php?s=LOWESTOFT 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 {{convert|40|mi|km}} off the coast, it was a victory for the English.<ref name="battlepic">[http://www.nmmprints.com/image/356789/willem-van-de-velde-the-elder-the-battle-of-lowestoft-3-june-1665-after-the-blowing-up-of-the-eendracht Battle of Lowestoft: notes] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008115219/http://www.nmmprints.com/image/356789/willem-van-de-velde-the-elder-the-battle-of-lowestoft-3-june-1665-after-the-blowing-up-of-the-eendracht |date=8 October 2011}}, 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">[http://www.edp24.co.uk/norfolk-life/village-guide/lowestoft_1_213647 Lowestoft] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610221151/http://www.edp24.co.uk/norfolk-life/village-guide/lowestoft_1_213647 |date=10 June 2011}}, ''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.

[[File:Lowestoft.JPG|thumb|alt=Lowestoft's Yacht Basin in 1929|Lowestoft's Yacht Basin in 1929]]
[[Samuel Morton Peto|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, Norfolk|Reedham]] and the city of Norwich.<ref name="lmmport">[http://www.lowestoftmaritimemuseum.org.uk/portoflowestoft.htm Port of Lowestoft] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722063950/http://www.lowestoftmaritimemuseum.org.uk/portoflowestoft.htm |date=22 July 2011}}, 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 resort|seaside holiday resort]]; much of Peto's seaside resort in south Lowestoft still exists, including the [[Listed building|Grade II listed]] Kirkley Cliff and Wellington Esplanade terraces.<ref name="poppy"/><ref name="lmmport"/>

During [[World War I]], Lowestoft was [[Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft|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 ''[[Armed trawler Ethel & Millie|Ethel & Millie]]'' and ''[[Armed trawler Nelson|Nelson]]'' used to combat [[German Empire|German]] [[U-boat]] actions in the North Sea such as [[Action of 15 August 1917|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">[http://www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/prime_target_for_bombers_1_506586 Prime target for bombers], ''Lowestoft Journal'', 27 May 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2011.</ref><ref name="hoseasonobit">[https://www.theguardian.com/global/2009/dec/07/james-hoseason-obituary 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">[http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-485848-naval-war-memorial-lowestoft Naval War Memorial, Lowestoft], British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 24 April 2011.</ref>