Welcome to the Parish of
Kessingland
on England's East Coast ©
Please feel free to view Kessinglands Emergency Planning Documents by clicking here
A finding of some historical documents in the council dating back to 1883! to find out more click here
Situated on the A12, 4 miles south of Lowestoft and 7 miles north of Southwold in the County of Suffolk, Kessingland is a former fishing village with unsuspected depths of historical 'treasure'. The Doomsday Book identifies it as Rodenhall, an important town back in 1086. Both Palaeolithic and Neolithic implements have been unearthed here and the remains of an ancient forest lie buried on the seabed. The 'Portu of Kessinglande' disappeared from recorded history in the 14th century, then the estuary stretched right up to the Latymer Dam on the A12. Today the marshland has taken over after shingle beds silted up the estuary. The Romans used the harbour and Viking raiders came ashore to winter at Frostenden. At the time of the Norman Conquest 22,000 herrings a year were exacted in taxation from Kessingland's fisheries. With the loss of the harbour, decay set in and the population dwindled, the plague took away a seventh of its people and Kessingland was in a state of decline. Its great church was also in ruins until rebuilt in the 16th century and dedicated to St.Edmund
Pakefield's former lighthouse was moved to Kessingland Cliffs in 1850, where it remained until early this century. The sea has always taken its toll and in 1834 Sea Row was swept into the sea; the old Coastguard Station suffered a similar fate, but a row of Coastguard Cottages survived and still stand today in Coastguard Lane. Besides the damage done in 1834, flooding and coastal erosion has taken away the Lifeboat shed and other buildings, built up the beach in some areas and eroded it in others.
Henry Rider Haggard, having achieved success as a writer bought a property on the cliffs and renamed it Kessingland Grange. He then experimented with grasses to stop the sea encroaching, eventually planting maram grass successfully. A Mr George Staunton also concerned about sea erosion planted lupin plants along the cliffs and shingle. Kessingland was known as Lupinland. The Lupins and Maram grass still continue to do their job today.
The village was for many years split into two parts 'the Street' and the 'Beach', the rivalry between the farmers and those with commercial interests on 'the Street' and the fisherman of 'the Beach' was intense. In the 1960's a new estate was built effectively joining the two areas of the village together.
Today Kessingland relies on the area's tourism trade. The population almost doubles in the holiday season with the arrival of holidaymakers visiting the holiday camps and caravan sites situated in and around Kessingland. There is also a Wildlife Park situated on the southern edge of the village.
Located just off the A12 Kessingland is easy to find, so therefore come and enjoy this part of East Anglia.
Kessingland Parish Council is not responsible fot the content of external internet sites connected to these pages © Kessingland Parish Council 2004All material published on this website belongs to Kessingland Parish Council, anyone wishing to copy or extract any of the information contained on the website must first of all obtain permission of the website administrators