LESTOFFE, Laystoft, Laistoe, or, as it was more anciently called Lothnwistoft, is supposed by some to have derived its name from Lothbroch, the noble Dane, on his arriving in this island about the year 864, and from wista, {23} a half-hide of land; but I apprehend, erroneously, as it is doubtful whether these several appellations be of any earlier date than the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In the charter granted by Edward III. for uniting Kirkley road to the haven of Yarmouth, we find it expressed Loystoft and Lowystofte; probably, therefore, the present mode of expression, Lowestoft, may be only the former ones modernized by subsequent writers. Perhaps, at this distant period, it may be difficult to ascertain with certainty, the true etymology of its name, though possibly it may be no improbable conjecture to suppose its being derived, in some measure, from the fairs and market being held formerly below the cliff, and from the town being situated upon the most eastern point of land in England. In the preceding section an ample description is given of the numerous revolutions which the northern part of the island of Lothingland experienced from the various incursions of the sea, from the earliest period which history can furnish us with, down to the present time; and it is equally evident that the more southern part of it, particularly that whereon Lowestoft is situated, has been subject to as large a share of the same vicissitudes. In those early ages, when the Romans were in possession of Britain, it is highly probable that the sea, by its frequent irruptions had not only approached, but actually formed those cliffs, upon whose summits the town of Lowestoft is situated. During those early periods, when the rivers which form the northern and southern boundaries of the island discharged themselves into the ocean with an extensive and rapid current, it appears that the incursions of that boisterous element upon the extremities of the island had made its utmost progress; but with respect to the intermediate parts of it, the case was somewhat different; for it is evident from the ancient maps of the coast and from authentic records which we find interspersed in topographical history, that those intermediate parts of the island protruded themselves much farther towards the east than either the northern or southern boundaries of it did, or either as they do at this present time.