The Gatehouse website record for Lowestoft Coastal Batteries

In the civil parish of Lowestoft. In the historic county of Suffolk (Modern Authority of Suffolk, 1974 county of Suffolk).

The earliest references to artillery defences at Lowestoft are to three batteries built in the reign of Henry VIII in 1540. These were simple earthworks revetted with gabions and boards, armed with three or four guns each, and sited at the south end of the town to cover the Stanford Channel, on the Ness to defend the anchorage, and the third a little way to the north. When the Duke of Norfolk arrived in 1545, he was little impressed by their state of readiness,, nor by their siting, which was too far from the town. The latter point was demonstrated in 1549 when some members of Kett's Rebellion captured six guns, dragging them off to train on the town. They were beaten off and the guns recaptured. The batteries were improveed in 1588, that on the Ness being the principle battery. This was destroyed by the sea after the Civil War, rebuilt, but again succumbed to the sea after 1715. the defences of Lowestoft were not improved until 1781

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TM555937

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 1394907
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

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