The+Cliffhanger

Foreword

This book is one unit of the materials produced by the Suffolk team involved in the C.E.T. County Links experiment. We took as our theme the subject of change in the Suffolk maritime environment and my own individual contribution is a study of the development of Lowestoft in the light of changes in the fishing industry and related matters. The project as a whole aimed at producing a pack of materials for use in middle schools, but it is hoped that the various items will have a wider appeal than the merely "educational" aspect.

I should like to thank my co-participants in the scheme, Jeff Lake and Peter Quinn, for the strong community of interest that has carried us through the whole exercise right from the very beginning, when none of us had much idea of where it would eventually lead us. Derick Last and Linda Davis of the Ely Resource Centre provided valuable assistance in encouraging and shaping the enterprise. It has been very pleasant for me to meet up with the former again after a gap of more years than he or I would care to specify. Thanks, also, to Eric Swainson, director of the North Suffolk Teachers Centre, who has always provided a convenient and congenial local base at which to hold our meetings. As far as the actual text is concerned, my understanding of the late Mediaeval Period has been greatly enhanced by Peter Northeast, whose work on transcribing Suffolk wills has revealed much information relating to fishing. Finally, I must record my indebtedness to Frances Nerini, who has assisted the whole project greatly with her design expertise and who has produced such excellent and evocative illustrations for this particular publication.

// David Butcher // // earo 1983 //

Introduction Anglo-Saxon Period Norman Period Mediaeval Period Tudor and Stuart Period Eighteenth Century Nineteenth Century Twentieth Century