John Louth Clemence (1822,

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

– 1911,

Mutford Mutford is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk District of the English county of Suffolk. The village is south-west of Lowestoft and south-east of Beccles in a rural area. The parish borders Barnby, Carlton Colville, Gisleham, Ru ...

, Suffolk) was an English architect, active in Suffolk, particularly

Early life

Clemence learnt his trade from 1839 to 1843 in the London offices of C.R. Cockerell. He then worked for Sir Morton Peto and the Lucas Brothers, who were Lowestoft-based building contractors.

Architectural practice

Clemence practised in his own right from 1854. He designed the church of St John the Baptist, Lowestoft in 1853, which was demolished in 1978 and replaced by Levington House, a block of flats. As a child, the composer

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

visited with his mother. They lived about a mile away in

Kirkley Kirkley is an area of the town of Lowestoft in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located south of the centre of Lowestoft and the town's harbour and Lake Lothing. Kirkley was originally an independent village b ...

, and his mother was the organist, so it is probable that he also played the organ. All that survives is the organ, which in 1979 was installed at nearby St Andrew, Gorleston. That organ is a 1904 instrument by the Norwich organ builders

Norman and Beard Norman and Beard were a pipe organ manufacturer based in Norwich from 1887 to 1916. History The origins of the company are from a business founded in Diss in 1870 by Ernest William Norman (1851–1927). In 1876 he moved to Norwich where he wen ...

; when it was installed it was rebuilt by Wood Wordsworth & Co of Leeds. He also designed the Grade II listed Lowestoft Town Hall, which was built on the High Street in 1857. Clemence designed several buildings in

Kirkley Cemetery Kirkley Cemetery is a burial ground in the Kirkley area of Lowestoft in Suffolk. Located on London Road South, the cemetery is maintained by Waveney District Council and is open for traditional and Green Burials. The cemetery contains 59 war b ...

; the

Lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

, South Western and North Eastern Chapels which were all listed in 1998 as Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s. These were built in 1880.

List of works

* St. Michael's Church, Geldeston,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

* Church of St. John the Baptist,

* Lowestoft Town Hall, Lowestoft, Suffolk

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clemence, John Louth 1822 births 1911 deaths Architects from Suffolk People from Lowestoft