| Summary : 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 (see TM59SE4). |