Anglo+Saxon+Period

"North Sea Raiders Come To Stay"

In some ways, the town's history may really be said to have begun in the mid-9th century, because while a settlement doubtless existed prior to this, the name Lowestoft is an Anglo-Danish one. The final syllable, "toft", is a Scandinavian word meaning a homestead and this fits in with the general pattern of the North Sea raiders' expeditions of the time. They came to plunder, stayed to work the land and eventually intermarried with their Angle cousins. No doubt fishing was carried out as well, with the netting of herring, sprats and mackerel and with cod and various flatfish being taken on line and hook. There is nothing in documents to say that this was so, but the sea's wild harvest was there for the taking and no man has ever ignored a nearby source of easily-gathered food.