Suffolk walk: Benjamin Britten history around Lowestoft

In the spirit of September’s heritage theme, I’m heading up the A12 for a walk at Lowestoft with Ruth Wharrier.

Ruth is an artist and teacher, who hails originally from the north-east of England, but for the past decade has made her home just a couple of hundred yards from the beach at Pakefield.

I first got to know her because of her great talent for creating beautiful paintings of flowers and plants in the tradition of the great botanical artists.

But today’s catch-up is about something entirely different.

As Ruth has got to know her adopted town, she’s become increasingly interested in it as the birthplace of one of the 20th century’s most famous composers, Benjamin Britten.

Rewind to December 2020.

Ruth’s friend, broadcaster Zeb Soanes, is marooned in the Victoria Hotel in the Kirkley area of Lowestoft.

He’s returned to his home town to spend Christmas with his parents… but they have Covid.

He can’t go back to London because his partner also has Covid.

His only option is to while away the time at the hotel. Luckily, Ruth is only a short stroll away so they meet for daily walks - suitably distanced, of course.

‘We’d stop, sit on a bench for a chat, have a moan,’ says Ruth.

One day, they stop right outside Britten House, the elegant Edwardian house in Kirkley that was the composer’s birthplace and family home.

Why, Ruth asks her Lowestoft-raised friend, does the town not celebrate its famous son?

Beyond a plaque on the house (now a smart guest house) there’s little to tell you that this was the place that nurtured a musical genius.

Zeb has no explanation, but they ponder what a tribute to Britten might be.

Of course - a statue!

On the clifftop, perhaps, in front of the house, overlooking the vast North Sea, sharing the view to the horizon that so inspired him.

But not just any statue.

Rather than the adult Britten at the height of his powers, this statue would celebrate Britten as the Lowestoft boy who went on to achieve great things.

It would bring joy to all and inspire future generations of Lowestoft children to follow their ambitions.

A project was born - and quickly gathered pace, fully supported by the Britten family and a host of influential people, nationally and locally.

Sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley was commissioned and fundraising began in earnest.

There’s still a little way to go but, all being well, the statue could be in place sometime next year.

Passion project, labour of love, call it what you will, but Ruth has poured her heart and soul into gathering support for Britten as a Boy, and freely admits it’s been a considerable distraction from the serious task of earning a living.

But she believes so strongly in the statue as something more than a symbol; hoping its tangible presence will be a constant reminder of what’s possible. And it could be the catalyst for other initiatives, such as a children’s music festival, an event Britten himself was working on right up to the time he died.

The project has already prompted other activities - interactive quizzes for parents and children during lockdowns, concerts… and a walk.

Benjamin Britten: A walk in his young footsteps is a 360° virtual walk around his Lowestoft neighbourhood, researched by Ruth and local historian Ivan Bunn, narrated by Zeb Soanes, filmed by Sam Markwell Photography and funded by Historic England.

The Walk

1. So, on a beautiful, sunny day we set out from Ruth’s home and stroll to the start of the circular walk, in front of 21 Kirkley Cliff Road, once called Sand Cliffe, where Britten was born on November 22, 1913, the feast day of Saint Cecilia, patron saint of music. How auspicious. Britten was the youngest of four children. His father, Robert Britten, was a dentist and his mother, Edith, was a talented amateur musician. Ben’s bedroom was at the top of the house. The panoramic views of the sea made a deep and long-lasting impression on his life and work.

The Brittens' home Sand Cliffe, 21 Kirkley Cliff Road. (Image: Courtesy of The Red House archive) 2. Britten’s first experience of school was with Miss Ethel Astle at Southolme pre-preparatory school, just up the road at 52 Kirkley Cliff Road. From the age of eight he attended South Lodge Preparatory School for boys, conveniently located a short walk north along Kirkley Cliff Road, opposite the Claremont Pier. It’s not there anymore, but by all accounts young Benjamin enjoyed sports, particularly cricket and tennis which stayed with him throughout his life. Music was not taught at South Lodge so Britten had weekly piano lessons with Miss Ethel and in 1924 also began viola lessons with Audrey Alston, who encouraged his mother to take him to see live performances.

London Road, Kirkley, thriving with shops including Devereux & Sons Ltd grocers. (Image: Courtesy of Ivan Bunn) 3. A quick detour onto London Road, Kirkley’s shopping district, once home to Robert Britten’s tailor Frederick W Masterson, a teashop where Lowestoft’s suffragettes held regular meetings, John Devereux & Sons Ltd grocers, and The Bath House, where gentlemen - including Britten’s father - enjoyed therapeutic salt baths, cold or warmed, for a small fee.

Edith Britten and her children. She's holding Benjamin. (Image: Courtesy of The Red House archive) 4. A little further along to Marine Parade, where Robert and Edith Britten first lived - at number 46 - when they moved to Lowestoft from Ipswich in 1905. Robert had come to the town to join a dental practice, but as the family grew, they moved to Sand-Cliffe in 1908 where he set up a his own practice within the house.

St John's Church, where Britten made his first public performance. (Image: Courtesy of Ivan Bunn) 5. Next stop is the site of the Victorian Gothic St John’s Church, where Edith Britten played the piano, sang in the church choir and took her children to Sunday school and worship. The church is also where young Benjamin made his first public performance.

6. Strolling on to Lowestoft’s war memorial, a poignant reminder of how Lowestoft was on the front in World War One. For the Britten family, war was a very real threat. The Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft, often referred to as the Lowestoft Raid, was a naval battle fought during April 1916 between the German Empire and the British Empire in the North Sea.

The Britten family were directly affected by the bombardment and Benjamin’s sister, Beth, wrote about the experience. Robert Britten had decided that the family would be better staying together in Lowestoft during the war, where his work was, so he had the cellar of the house fortified and turned into a bomb shelter, equipped with comfortable chairs, warm clothes and emergency rations. It had a water supply as it was the place where the washing was done on Mondays. When the bombardment came in the early hours of April 25, 1916 the family were hustled down to the cellar. Most of the German shells went over the house, although one fell in the field opposite the house and a large piece pierced the front wall under the dining room window. ‘By a miracle the windows were not broken,’ wrote Beth. ‘The crater from the shell was enormous.’

Maggies at work with the herring catch. (Image: Courtesy of Ruth Wharrier) 7. The walk then meanders around the harbour, now full of smart yachts, but when Britten was a boy in the 1920s Lowestoft harbour was full of fishing vessels - steam drifters, trawlers and sailing Smacks.

During herring season in the autumn, it was said that the harbour was so full of boats that the fishermen could walk across them from one side of the harbour to the other. Millions of herring were landed at Lowestoft to be gutted, pickled and exported to places like Germany and Russia. The gutting and pickling was usually done by the Scottish fisher girls known locally as Maggies. They stayed in lodgings at the Beach Village, at the Denes in north Lowestoft, where Edith helped to run a canteen for them.

Punch and Judy on the beach at Kirkley. (Image: Courtesy of Ivan Bunn) 8, 9 The last leg of the walk takes you along the Esplanade, passing Children’s Corner, a special part of the beach where there was always a Punch and Judy show. This part of the town boasted some magnificent hotels, including the Hotel Victoria built in 1897, opposite the Brittens’ home and still a hotel today. The Empire Hotel, built in 1900, is now the site of a local primary school. To the north is the Hatfield Hotel, built in the 1850’s and still a hotel. On what is now the Royal Green, the Royal Hotel once stood, opened in 1847 as part of entrepreneur Samuel Morton Peto’s grand plan for Lowestoft. In its heyday it was one of the biggest and best seaside hotels in the country. A stroll past Triton carrying the Horn of Plenty (10), then through Wellington Gardens (11) takes you to Claremont Pier, the end of the walk, where the statue will be installed between the Britten’s house and the pier.

From his bedroom window Benjamin would have gazed out over the bustling seafront and seen the Belle pleasure steamers and large boats arriving at the pie, bringing hundreds of holiday makers from other coastal towns and London. It was originally 600 feet (182.88 metres) long, extended to 760 feet (231.65 metres) in 1913. At the pier entrance was the Blue Lagoon tea rooms, and in 1928 a concert hall was built with seating for 900 people.

Now what budding young musician wouldn’t be inspired with that on his doorstep?

Claremont Pier, Lowestoft, as seen from Britten's bedroom window. (Image: Courtesy of Ivan Bunn) For more on the walk, Britten as a Boy visit brittenasaboy.com