Lowestoft originally was a small fishing and farming town situated on top of a cliff in the northern part of Suffolk. As it had no harbour the fishing and boat building industries had to used the facilities offered by the north beach.

The Main Street consisted of merchants houses, shops, schools, and public houses. Just off the High Street there were breweries, small industries and cottages. Some of the cottages such as those in Chapel Street were occupied by farm labourers before the town began to be developed to the west.