Exploring the Lowestoft of the Neslens

We got up to catch the train to downtown Lowestoft- a short 4 minute train ride, but worth every penny – avoiding the traffic and the parking in a British town. We quickly found the library and the Town Records office which housed a large family history section. The librarian, a large woman with thick, bright green eyeshadow, was at the desk. She was a great resource. She quickly pointed us to the directories, the tithe apportionment books and we were off on our search for the Neslen's in Lowestoft.

We not only found maps and property records, but also found the church records on births, baptisms, marriages and burials – and a listing of the gravestone inscriptions in the Church of St. Margaret. It turns out that for most of his life, Samuel Neslen was a member of the Church of St. Margaret (the church of England). Later in life, he converted to Wesleyan Methodism and was a preacher at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Lowestoft. Then he met the Mormons! Kerry found a small pamphlet written by a Mr. Larter detailing the history of the Mormon Church in Lowestoft.

With some basic information in hand, we took off on foot to find what was left of the houses and churches. We found that Chapel Street and Bell Lane (now Crown Street) where the Neslen's lived appeared to have been demolished. With no addresses, we weren't able to determine if the remaining houses could have been one of theirs, although they were of the right vintage.

We found that the Wesleyan Methodist Church had been demolished and a new building housing the elderly had been put up in it's place. The architect tried to keep the lines of the old building but ultimately, it's still a 1960's building.

We found Rant Score, where the Mormon's held their first services. The "scores" were streets cut into the limestone hills leading down to the sea. The original "church" was in a stable on Rant Score.

The old part of Lowestoft on High Street is still intact and many of the old buildings remain. It was eerie to imagine Susannah and C.V. walking these same streets.

It was time to head back to the hotel after a successful day. We stopped at the George Borrow Pub, an old railway pub. We were immediately befriended by "Scottish Curly" Dressed in an old white t-shirt with a huge gut, he was having a pint in the pub/hotel. He visited Oulton Broad four times a year – coming from his house in Scotland. We heard tales of his life in the army as a parachuter. Catching about 70% of what he said (that Scottish accent is deadly), we made our escape, stopped at the local Indian take-away and got dinner for the room.