| Harwich | |
|---|---|
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  Harwich Location withinEssex | |
| Population | 18,794 (Parish, 2021)[1] 20,215 (Built up area, 2021)[2] |
| OS grid reference | TM243313 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HARWICH |
| Postcode district | CO12 |
| Dialling code | 01255 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°56′02″N1°15′58″E / 51.934°N 1.266°E /51.934; 1.266 | |
Harwich/ˈhærɪtʃ/ is a port town andcivil parish in theTendring district ofEssex, England. It is one of theHaven ports on theNorth Sea coast. Nearby places includeFelixstowe to the north-east,Ipswich to the north-west,Colchester to the south-west andClacton-on-Sea to the south. It is the northernmost coastal town in Essex.
Its position on the estuaries of theStour andOrwell rivers, with its usefulness to mariners as one of the safest ports between theThames and theHumber, led to a long period of civil and military maritime significance. The town became a naval base in 1657 and was heavily fortified,[3] withHarwich Redoubt,Beacon Hill Battery, andBath Side Battery.
TheMayflower, which carried EnglishPuritans toNorth America, was registered with Harwich as its home port, and Harwich is the presumed birthplace ofMayflower captainChristopher Jones.
The historic core of the town stands at the end of a peninsula. The built up area now extends westwards from the peninsula to includedDovercourt, which has been administered as part of Harwich since at least the 17th century. There are few retail facilities in the historic core of Harwich today, and Dovercourt now has the main retail town centre for the built up area. The main port facilities ofHarwich International Port are now atParkeston, about 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream on the Stour from the old town's quays.
At the2021 census, the population of the parish of Harwich (which includes Dovercourt) was 18,794, and the population of the built up area as defined by theOffice for National Statistics (which extends beyond Harwich parish to also include parts of the neighbouring parishes ofLittle Oakley andRamsey and Parkeston) was 20,215.
The town's name means "military settlement", from Old Englishhere-wic.[4]
Roman remains have been found in the area.[5] In 885 the River Stour north of the town was the location for the two battles.
Harwich was anciently part of themanor andparish of Dovercourt. The original village of Dovercourt was at what is now known as Upper Dovercourt, a little way inland. In 1177, achapel of ease was recorded at Harwich, which was probably a very small settlement at that time. It was not until theDuke of Norfolk aslord of the manor obtained the right to hold a market at Harwich in 1253 that the town began to develop more significantly. Harwich was granted its firstcharter making it aborough in 1318.[6] The town was deemed to be a separate parish forcivil purposes by the 16th century, but remained part of the ecclesiastical parish of Dovercourt until 1871, when its chapel of St Nicholas was upgraded to being a parish church.[7]
The town was the target of an abortive raid by French forces underAntonio Doria on 24 March 1339 during theHundred Years' War.[8]
The town is known to have been granted several borough charters in medieval times, but the earliest surviving charter was issued in 1604. This charter confirms that the borough covered the whole area of the two parishes of Harwich St Nicholas and Dovercourt; it is not clear whether Dovercourt was added to the borough by virtue of that charter or whether Dovercourt was already included in the borough under the earlier lost charters.[9]
Because of its strategic position, Harwich was the target for theinvasion of Britain byWilliam of Orange on 11 November 1688. However, unfavourable winds forced his fleet to sail into theEnglish Channel instead and eventually land atTorbay. Due to the involvement of theSchomberg family in the invasion, Charles Louis Schomberg was made Marquess of Harwich.
WriterDaniel Defoe devotes a few pages to the town inA tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain. Visiting in 1722, he noted its formidablefort andharbour "of a vast extent".[10] The town, he recounts, was also known for an unusualchalybeate spring rising on Beacon Hill (apromontory to the north-east of the town), which "petrified"clay, allowing it to be used to pave Harwich's streets and build its walls. The locals also claimed that "the same spring is said to turn wood into iron", but Defoe put this down to the presence of "copperas" in the water. Regarding the atmosphere of the town, he states: "Harwich is a town of hurry and business, not much of gaiety and pleasure; yet the inhabitants seem warm in their nests and some of them are very wealthy".[10]
In the late 19th century and early 20th century the hamlet of Lower Dovercourt, lying on the western edge of Harwich between the town and the older village of Upper Dovercourt, was significantly developed. Both Upper Dovercourt and Lower Dovercourt were being described as suburbs of Harwich by the early 20th century.[11] Lying next toDovercourt railway station, Lower Dovercourt came to be known as Dovercourt and it now has the main town centre for the Harwich built up area; there are today few retail facilities in the old town of Harwich.[12]
Harwich played an important part in the Napoleonic and more especially the two world wars. Of particular note:
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1793–1815: Post Office Station for communication with Europe, one of embarkation and evacuation bases for expeditions to Holland in 1799, 1809, and 1813/14; base for capturing enemy privateers. The dockyard built many ships for the Navy, includingHMSConqueror which captured the FrenchAdmiral Villeneuve at theBattle of Trafalgar. The Redoubt and the now-demolished Ordnance Building date from that era.
1914–1918: Base for theRoyal Navy'sHarwich Force light cruisers and destroyers under Commodore Tyrwhitt, and for British submarines. In November 1918, the GermanU-boat fleet surrendered to the Royal Navy in the harbour.
1939–1945: One of main East Coast minesweeping and destroyer bases, at one period base for British and French submarines; assembled fleets for Dutch andDunkirk evacuations and follow-up toD-Day; unusually, a target forItalian bombers during theBattle of Britain.
Harwich Dockyard was established as aNaval Dockyard in 1652. It ceased to operate as a Royal Dockyard in 1713 (though a Royal Navy presence was maintained until 1829). During the various wars with France and Holland, through to 1815, the dockyard was responsible for both building and repairing numerous warships.HMSConqueror, a 74-gun ship completed in 1801, captured the French admiral Villeneuve at Trafalgar. The yard was then a semi-private concern, with the actual shipbuilding contracted to Joseph Graham, who was sometimes mayor of the town.[13] DuringWorld War II parts of Harwich were again requisitioned for naval use and ships were based atHMSBadger;Badger was decommissioned in 1946, but theRoyal Naval Auxiliary Service maintained a headquarters on the site until 1992.[14]
In 1665, not long after the establishment of the Dockyard, a pair of lighthouses were set up on the Town Green to serve asleading lights for ships entering the harbour. Completely rebuilt in 1818, both towers are still standing (though they ceased functioning as lighthouses in 1863, when they were replaced by a new pair of lights atDovercourt).
The Royal Navy no longer has a presence in Harwich butHarwich International Port at nearbyParkeston continues to offer regularferry services to theHook of Holland (Hoek van Holland) in theNetherlands.Many operations of thePort of Felixstowe and ofTrinity House, the lighthouse authority, are managed from Harwich.
TheMayflower railway line serves Harwich and there are three operational passenger stations:Harwich International,Dovercourt andHarwich Town. The line also allows freight trains to access the Port.
The port is famous for the phrase "Harwich for the Continent", seen on road signs and inLondon and North Eastern Railway (LNER) advertisements.[15][16]
From 1924 to 1987 (with a break during the Second World War), atrain ferry service operated between Harwich andZeebrugge. The train ferrylinkspan still exists today and the rails leading from the former goods yard of Harwich Town railway station are still in position across the road, although the line is blocked by the Trinity House buoy store.
Despite, or perhaps because of, its small size Harwich is highly regarded in terms of architectural heritage, and the whole of the older part of the town, excluding Navyard Wharf, is aconservation area.[17]
The regular street plan with principal thoroughfares connected by numerous small alleys indicates the town'smedieval origins, although many buildings of this period are hidden behind 18th century facades.
The extant medieval structures are largely private homes. The house featured in the image of Kings Head St to the left is unique in the town and is an example of a sailmaker's house, thought to have been built circa 1600. Notable public buildings include theparish church of St. Nicholas[18] of 1820–1822 (architect: M G Thompson of Dedham[19]), in a restrainedGothic style, with many original furnishings, including a somewhat alteredorgan in the west end gallery. There is also theHarwich Guildhall of 1769, the only Grade Ilisted building in Harwich.[20]
The Pier Hotel of 1860 and the building that was the Great Eastern Hotel of 1864 can both been seen on the quayside, both reflecting the town's new importance to travellers following the arrival of theGreat Eastern Main Line fromColchester in 1854. In 1923, The Great Eastern Hotel was closed[21] by the newly formed LNER, as theGreat Eastern Railway had opened a new hotel with the same name at the new passenger port at Parkeston Quay, causing a decline in numbers. The hotel became the Harwich Town Hall, which included the Magistrates Court and, following changes in local government, was sold and divided into apartments.
Also of interest are the High Lighthouse (1818), the unusual Treadwheel Crane (late 17th century), the Old Custom Houses on West Street, a number ofVictorian shopfronts and theElectric Palace Cinema (1911), one of the oldest purpose-built cinemas to survive complete with its ornamental frontage and original projection room still intact and operational.
There is little notable building from the later parts of the 20th century, but major recent additions include thelifeboat station and two new structures forTrinity House. The Trinity House office building, next door to the Old Custom Houses, was completed in 2005. All three additions are influenced by thehigh-tech style.
There are three tiers of local government covering Harwich, atparish (town),district andcounty level: Harwich Town Council,Tendring District Council, andEssex County Council. The town council is based atHarwich Guildhall at 11 Church Street.[22]
The town was granted its first borough charter in 1318. It was administered by aportreeve until 1604 when a new charter formallyincorporated the borough and established a council led by amayor. From 1604 the borough also served as a constituency for parliamentary elections, as theHarwich parliamentary borough.[9][23]
The borough was reformed to become amunicipal borough in 1836 under theMunicipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country.[24] From at least the 1604 charter, the borough had covered the two parishes of Harwich St Nicholas and Dovercourt. In 1925 the two parishes were merged into a single parish of Harwich matching the borough.[25]
The borough of Harwich was abolished in 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972, when the area became part of the new Tendring district.[26][27] Asuccessor parish called Harwich was created as part of the 1974 reforms, covering the area of the abolished borough, with its parish council taking the name Harwich Town Council.[28]
A Harwich International Shanty Festival was set up in 2006 to organise and co-ordinate an annual sea shanty festival in October. Through concerts, 'singarounds', pub sessions, talks and workshops, the seafaring history and heritage of Harwich is celebrated by local people and international groups. This unique event for Essex attracts audiences countrywide and beyond.[29] The festival is one of the biggest shanty festivals in the country.[30]
Harwich has also historically hosted a number of notable inhabitants, linked with Harwich's maritime past.[31]
Harwich is home toHarwich & Parkeston F.C.; Harwich and Dovercourt RFC; Harwich Rangers FC; Sunday Shrimpers; Harwich & Dovercourt Sailing Club; Harwich, Dovercourt & Parkeston Swimming Club; Harwich & Dovercourt Rugby Union Football Club; Harwich & Dovercourt Cricket Club; and Harwich Runners who with support from Harwich Swimming Club host the annual Harwich Triathlons.[citation needed]
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC East andITV Anglia. Television signals are received from theSudbury transmitting station and the local relay transmitter.[49]
The town is served by bothBBC Essex andBBC Radio Suffolk. Other radio stations includingHeart East,Greatest Hits Radio Essex,Actual Radio,Nation Radio Suffolk andRadio Mi Amigo, a community based station which broadcast from The Harwich Quay.[50]
The town is served by the local newspaper,Harwich and Manningtree Standard which publishes on Fridays.[51]
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Harwich travel guide from Wikivoyage
Media related toHarwich at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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