Lowestoft (ˈləʊ(ɪ)stɒft,_ˈləʊstəf ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich, and the main town in its district. The estimated population in the built-up area exceeds 70,000. Its development grew with the fishing industry and as a seaside resort with wide sandy beaches. As fishing declined, oil and gas exploitation in the North Sea in the 1960s took over. While these too have declined, Lowestoft is becoming a regional centre of the renewable energy industry.
Some of the earliest signs of settlement in Britain have been found here. Flint tools discovered in the Pakefield cliffs of south Lowestoft in 2005 allow human habitation of the area to be traced back 700,000 years.
Habitation occurred in the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages and in the Roman and Saxon times. Several finds have been made at a Saxon cemetery at Bloodmoor Hill in south Lowestoft. The place name derives from a Norse personal name, Hlothver, and toft, an Old Norse word for homestead. It has been spelt historically as Lothnwistoft, Lothuwistoft, Lestoffe, Laistoe, Loystoft and Laystoft.
The 1086 Domesday Book gives Lothuwistoft village some 16 households in three families, with ten smallholders and three slaves. The manor formed part of the king's holding in the Hundred of Lothingland, worth about four geld in tax income. Roger Bigod was the tenant in chief. The lost village of Akethorpe may have lain close by.
In the Middle Ages, Lowestoft became an important fishing town that came to challenge its neighbour, Great Yarmouth. The trade, particularly for herring, continued as the town's main identity into the 20th century.
The naval Battle of Lowestoft in June 1665 was the first in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Held off the coast, it was a victory for the English.
Lowestoft Porcelain Factory, in 1757–1802, was in production for longer than any English soft-paste porcelain manufacturer other than Royal Worcester and Royal Crown Derby, producing domestic pots, teapots and jugs.