Autumn on The Grit - Lowestoft’s long-lost fishing village comes to life
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- Dean Parkin, who co-wrote the book of 'The Grit' with Jack Rose, shares stories, photos, archive audio and film about Lowestoft's long-lost fishing village in its busy autumn months.
In the early 1900s Lowestoft's fishing village - known locally as The Grit - was the most easterly community in the country. It was home to 2,500 people, three schools, churches, shops and 13 pubs. By the 1960s the village had declined and autumn 1967 saw the demolition of many houses, pubs and streets to make way for a new industrial estate.
In its heyday, however, autumn was the liveliest time of year on The Grit. The village was buzzing with the herring fishing and its population doubled with the arrival of the Scots fisher girls and fishing fleets.
'On 12th October 1913, 10 million herring were caught. One boat netted £3,240. In today's money that's £340,000. In ONE DAY made by ONE BOAT at Lowestoft in 1913.'
from 'Pearls from The Grit'
Autumn is also when the local children - who had spent the summer with the north beach as their playground - returned to one of the three schools in the village.
"On our way to school we would run and kick the herring barrels so the brine would go all over the boy running behind us! After that, if you got to school at Mariners Score, sat near the stoves and got hot, you would really stink of fish!"
Ronnie James from 'The Grit' book
Dean Parkin - writer/narrator of the ‘Pearls from The Grit’ theatre show - mixes stories, photos, archive audio & video to create a unique and entertaining film picture show of autumn in the most easterly fishing village. With incidental music composed & performed by Maurice Horhut.
I was a trawlerman at Lowestoft in the 1960's, I remember that, when the 'Animals' came out with, 'The House of the Rising Sun', ALL such public Houses with that name, gave out FREE beer to their customers, I must say that a FREE beer taste better than one that requires payment for.
The video at 0.32 Sec's came back to me in an instant, though the village was in a more derelect condition if my memory serves me correct.
I also remember the net drying grounds, but so much of Lowestoft has been lost & replaced with redevelopment.
When ashore for 48 hours, I would stay at the R.N.M.D.S.F in Waveney Road where a shower & sleep occupied most of my time ashore as one of the 'two day millionaire's' in the fishing industry.
I note that the company I then worked for are still in operation, a shadow of it's former self.
I also note from a recent video, that the Suffolk Hotel had gone the way of many buildings around the harbour.
I think that the Royal Hotel has disappeared too?
When fishing villages disappear for whatever reason, it erases it's history, but not the memories.
For that reason, people should never throw away or dispose of historical photographs that are precious reminders of the history of a particular place - including the folks that made the place tick.
My family are from Lowestoft. My great grand-father lived in the beach village. His name was Arthur Taylor Jenner. I have the book you wrote and love it a lot. This was an excellent film and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you so much. Keep up the research :)
Wow that’s brilliant! My great grandfather was from Lowestoft and and was a marine engineer ,my grandfather was from Glasgow and grew up in a children’s home,and we never really knew how this happened-now it’s obvious that my great grandmother must have been Scottish fisher girl. To confuse matters even further I was born and brought up in Hertfordshire because my Scottish grandparents moved here in the 1930’s for work opportunities.
My surname is Spurgeon so definitely has links to Lowestoft-anyone local will know Spurgeon’s score.
Thank you so much for the video
A great pity this was demolished as it would have been a great living history attraction.
fascinating. but quite sad to see all the cottages and the alms houses demolished! My partners family lived in one of the scores.
Wonderful film Dean, somehow I missed this last year.
Lovely to hear my Dad get a mention at 8:05 and brilliant to see the colouring of his Scots Girls photo on their tea break.
what a brilliant piece of history, just read the book and this just completes the story
Lovely film, thanks.
A great piece of work, I can remember some of the old streets and houses shown and The Rising Sun pub, we lived in Old Nelson Street
really enjoyed this....
My one claim to fame with regard to the beach village was having an underage half of beer with my dad in the Rising Sun. Sadly, though the last pub to go, I think, it was, together with so much more, razed soon afterwards.
Clearly, the words ‘preservation’ and ‘foresight’ were not in the vocabulary of the the planning authorities at the time. Even a partial preservation would have been quite an attraction these days. We don’t know what we’ve got ‘til it’s gone, to quote Joni Michell.
Many thanks for putting this video together its amazing to see how life in Lowie used to be
Thank you, it was fascinating..I've just returned from Nairn (Moray Firth) where they preserved their 'Fishertown' cottages and have a wonderful museum with no end of the herring fishing archive. In the last few years a simply beautiful bronze statue of one of the fishergirls has been erected. So many lives concerned with herring fishing, livelihoods,..they worked SO hard.The Scottish children collected fir cones for the smokehouses, earning sixpence for a basket of brown ones and ninepence for the green. Does anyone know what happened to all the fish guts???I'll definitely get the book.All so interesting, many thanks, Annie in Pakefield🏥
Thas bouiful
This documentary clearly shows how hard life was for the vast majority of people in all walks of working class life. We've definitely got it much easier today.
Sigh ... the late sixties was a travesty in so many towns ... a mad scramble for modernisation by pulling down anything that had a human element. It's not a surprise that those unusual towns who kept their older "slum" buildings are now the ones doing well with respect to having visitors boost their local economies, while anything built in the late '60s is now crumbling and looks horrible.