In 1868 Lowestoft was described as a parish, market and seaport town, in the hundred of Mutford, county Suffolk, 10 miles S. of Yarmouth, 39 N.E. of Ipswich, and 113 from London by the turnpike road, or 117 by the Great Eastern railway, which has a branch line to this town. It is situated on the easternmost point of the county, overlooking the German Ocean, and is a packet station, a much frequented watering-place, and a principal seat of the herring fishery. Until recently the town was little better than an insignificant fishing village. It was anciently called Lothwinstoft and Laystoft.

In 1349 the great plague, which devastated the continent of Europe, raged here with such malignity that not more than one-tenth of the inhabitants escaped the contagion. It suffered much, also, from the plague in 1603, and was nearly destroyed by fire in 1645.