Introduction+(clha)

Lowestoft is the most easterly of all settlements in the British Isles. It may not always have been so, however, owing to the considerable amount of sea erosion that has taken place down the years along the East Anglian coastline. This has removed whole parishes which once existed there. The town is actually sited on an island, known as Lothingland, which is bounded by the sea and by a local river system. In recent years field-walking and surface archaeology have both revealed a great deal of Neolithic and Bronze Age activity, while during the Roman period the locality was an important part of what became known as "The Saxon Shore". The most impressive reminder of these days is the large fortress of Gariannonum, which stands in the parish of Burgh Castle, about nine miles N.N.W. of Lowestoft.