Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Lowestoft

From 1867, the Catholic community in Lowestoft was served by a Jesuit mission from St Mary's Church, Great Yarmouth. The small Catholic population worshipped in rooms hired in three different buildings in Lowestoft until a permanent chapel was established in a net loft in 1881, when the diocesan parish was founded under the leadership of Apostolic Missionary, Fr. Geoffrey Brennan. However, the chapel became too small to accommodate the increasing congregation, and under a new priest Fr. Alexander Scott, fundraising was started in order that a larger location could be bought.[4]

Construction of the church began in August 1900 when the foundation stone was laid. The architects were from the local area, George Baines and F. W. Richards. They designed the church to be in the Arts and Crafts style. George Baines was born in 1852 and started work in Great Yarmouth. Although, most of the churches he designed were for the Baptists, he also designed churches for the denominations.[5] F. W. Richards had his practice on Stanley Street, Lowestoft and also designed the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Oulton Broad, Suffolk.[6] On 5 June 1902, the church was opened and it hosted its first Mass.[4]

On 13th March 1976 the Diocese of Northampton split into two dioceses, continuing in the west as Northampton and in the east as a new Diocese of East Anglia with Lowestoft still the easternmost parish in the land.

In 2017, the church received £25,400 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, this was to help repair the exterior of the church building.[7]