Wikipedia
Kessingland is a large village in the Waveney District of the English county of Suffolk. It is located around south of Lowestoft. It is of interest to archaeologists as Palaeolithic and Neolithic implements have been found here; the remains of an ancient forest lie buried on the seabed.
There has been a settlement here since Palaeolithic times. Between the Hundred River and Latmer Dam was once a large estuary which was used by the Vikings and Romans. The sea provided the village with its main livelihood, and at one time the village paid a rent of 22,000 herrings to their Lords, which then made it more important than nearby Lowestoft.
The Domesday Book entry reads 'Kessingalanda / gelanda: King's land, kept by Roger Bigot; Earl Hugh and Hugh FitzNorman from him; Hugh de Montfort Mill (100 herrings). 43 pigs.' Roger Bigod or Bigot was a Norman Knight who came to England in the Norman Conquest.
The village comprised two separate communities: the "beach" and the "street" and it was not until the 1960s that more housing united the village into a single community. The population is little over 4,000 - though this can double due to the holiday-makers in the many chalets and holiday villages in the area.
The Suffolk Coast and Heaths area was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1970 and the Suffolk Coasts and Heath Project runs many conservation projects.
St Edmund's church is one of the finest in the region. With an imposing tower it was built c. 1436 for the Franscicans of London. The tower, built like many coastal Churches to act as a beacon by ships out at sea, constitutes the majority of the medieval structure, the rest having been rebuilt in the ensuing centuries. Renovations continue to the contemporary era with a new window by Nicola Kantorowicz being added in 2007.