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	Lowestoft Lighthouses - Carlton Colville Transport Museum - Port - Piers All images link to larger copies which will open in a new window/tab
	This page shows images of the port of Lowestoft, its lighthouses, piers and the Carlton Colville transport museum featuring trams, trolleybuses and a narrow gauge railway.

In 1831, two short 500 ft piers were built at Lowestoft either side of the harbour entrance. They were known as the Inner North and Inner South Piers. In 1846 the South Pier was modified to be 1320 ft long as part of harbour development. Additions included reading rooms in 1853/4 and a bandstand and jetty in 1884.The reading room was destroyed by fire in 1885, replaced by a new pavilion in 1889-91. In 1928 the pier was strengthened with concrete additions. The pavilion was destroyed in the Second World War. A modern new pavilion was opened in 1956. A leisure centre was opened in the mid 1970s. The pavilion was demolished to make way for a marina which was not built. The seaward end of the pier was closed in 1987, but re-opened in 1993 after repairs by Waveney District Council.

Lowestoft Claremont Pier was built by the Coast Development Company in 1902-3, who also built the piers at Southwold and Felixstowe. They were all functional piers built to allow Belle Steamers (owned by the company) to disembark visitors, primarily from London.

Designed by D. Fox the wooden pier was originally 600ft (181.8m) in length and 36ft (10.9m) wide. Built midway along the Esplanade, Lowestoft Claremont Pier boasted a promenade that was said to "equal the best in many resorts". In 1912-13 the T-shaped pier head was extended and redeveloped to facilitate a new pavilion, and the original wooden piles were renewed using green-heart timber. This extension now gave Lowestoft Claremont Pier an overall length of 760ft (230.3m).

In 1912-13 a T-shaped head was added, along with a pavilion. Steamer services ceased with the Second World War, and the pier was breached. In 1948 the pier was abandoned, but was bought in 1949 by George Studd who proceeded to repair it. In 1962, a length of 40 ft at the end was destroyed in a storm.

In 2012 the pavilion was in good condition but access to the remaining open pier deck was prohibited.

In 1609 Trinity House responded to petitions from ship owners and merchants who had lost cargoes and vessels on the dangerous sandbanks and shoals around the East coast. The proposal was to erect two towers, a high and low light, 'for the direction of ships which crept by night in the dangerous passage betwixt Lowestoft and Winterton'. Two lighthouses were established on the low lying foreshore known as Lowestoft-ness, the illuminant being tallow candles. When the two lights were in line they led vessels through the Stamford Channel, an inshore passage used by small vessels, which no longer exists. The lighthouses were rebuilt in 1628 and again in 1676 when the rear light was erected upon the cliff as the light was no longer solely used by vessels feeling their way along the coast, but also by those approaching from far out to sea. The new High Lighthouse, which cost £300, was a substantial building of brick and stone and in order to improve the light the candles were replaced by a coal fire.

In 1706, owing to encroachment by the sea, the Low Light was discontinued. For years afterwards the shipmasters complained of the difficulty in navigating the Stamford Channel during the night time, and eventually, in 1730 it was re-established, as an oil light, burning whale oil in an open flame lamp. The new Low Light was designed to be easily moveable either on account of the encroachment of the sea or a change in the direction of the Stamford Channel.

In 1777 Trinity House experimented with reflector lights at Lowestoft. The coal fire in the high light was replaced by a new glass lantern 7ft high and 6ft in diameter. Inside this was erected a large cylinder covered with 4,000 small mirrors. These reflected the light from oil lamps arranged in a circle around them. The 'spangle light' as it was known was said to have a range of 20 miles, and was welcomed by all who saw it. However, the development of lighthouse optics at this period was making vast strides and by 1796 the spangle light had been abandoned and Argand lamps and silvered parabolic reflectors were installed at a cost of £1,000.

Following experiments with electric lighting at South Foreland Lighthouse, in 1870 the decision was taken to electrify the Lowestoft High Light. The existing tower was not considered strong enough to take the weight of the new equipment and a new tower which still stands today was built at a cost of £2,350. However before the tower was ready to receive the electrical apparatus paraffin oil became available as an illuminant, and it immediately proved itself to be so economical and efficient that it was adopted for use in the new lighthouse in preference to electricity. At the same time a new optical system was fitted having a revolving lens, and the light, which up to then had always been fixed, was made to flash at half-minute intervals. The rebuilding was completed in 1874.

By the early 1920's the Low Light had ceased to fulfil any useful function due to the disappearance of the Stamford Channel and was finally extinguished in August, 1923. The High Light was automated in 1975 and modernised in early 1997. (www.trinityhouse.co.uk)

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