Why is Gulliver named Gulliver?

Ness Point is the most easterly point in Britain, but it’s also the home of another record-breaker, the towering turbine that’s come to be known as Gulliver.

An engraving illustrating Gulliver towering over the Lilliputians.

But where did this colossal monument to green energy get its name? As anyone familiar with Jonathan Swift’s novel Gulliver’s Travels, or of its many film adaptations will tell you, Gulliver is the name of a shipwrecked man who wakes up on the shore of the island of Lilliput, a mysterious place inhabited by tiny, two-inch high people known as Lilliputians.

In the novel’s most iconic scene, Gulliver has been tied down by thousands of tiny, threadlike ropes, only to rise effortlessly and stand over the inhabitants of Lilliput. it is this image that seems to have inspired the name of our very own towering giant.

The name was chosen by the people of Lowestoft in a contest held before the turbine’s opening, and has stuck fast, just like the turbine itself, which is now a beloved part of the town’s skyline.

So if you’ve been wondering why exactly Gulliver is called Gulliver, now you know!