Lothu Wistoft is the name recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 for the place we now call Lowestoft — a Norse coastal settlement that translates roughly to "Hlothver's homestead by the water". The Lothu Wistoft Project is a hands-on investigation into how people on the Suffolk coast actually lived, worked and made things a thousand years ago. Drawing on the integrated Anglo-Saxon and Norse culture of the Danelaw, we smith, we build, we process plant fibres, we make functional tools from first principles — exploring the technology within the same material constraints this landscape provides. The name comes from the Norse roots of the place we're standing in. So does the curiosity.
Many of the tools we use today haven't fundamentally changed in a thousand years. A rasp, a file, a drill bit — the materials may be different but the principle is identical to what a Norse or Anglo-Saxon craftsman would have recognised and picked up without hesitation. Where we use modern versions of these tools, we do so knowing the technology itself hasn't moved on — only the manufacturing has. As the project grows, the aim is always to produce these tools through the forge. But in the meantime, using them feels less like a compromise and more like a continuity.
Notice: We are aware of our Domain name misspelling, please be patient with us while we correct this in the future