Maritime Museum

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Lowestoft Maritime Museum was established in 1958 by the Lowestoft and East Suffolk Maritime Society, a registered charity. It is maintained and manned by its members on a voluntary basis and  the premises are grant aided by Waveney District Council. His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh opened a major extension in 1978 and just two years later  a further extension was added. This year marks the completion of another major new extension funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The museum stands in an idyllic setting below the ‘Highlight’, Lowestoft’s landmark lighthouse, see buildings bottom centre above. The fine column designed by F H Crossley FRIBA, can be seen top right, built by the Imperial War Graves Commission, it commemorates the loss at sea of 2,385 officers and men of the Royal Navy Patrol Service. The Highlight can trace its origins back to Samuel Pepys and the Brotherhood of Trinity House; it is said that the loom of its twin 500 watt lanterns can be seen at  20 miles (32km) in clear weather. The entrance to the museum is through a Scheduled Building that used to be the Park Keeper’s cottage in the grounds of Sparrows Nest Park, the whole of which was taken over by the Royal Navy and for the duration of WW2, it became HMS Europa. The picture below shows the builders completing the groundwork of the latest extension in January 2009. It doubles the area available for exhibits and includes a school room to support the strong educational connections developed over forty years of continuous expansion.