Index

Harwich & Dovercourt

Harwich still retains a strong flavour of the medieval seafaring township it once was and is extremely popular today as a vantage point for watching the substantial shipping movements in the harbour and across the water at Felixstowe. The famous Elizabethan seafarers Hawkins, Frobisher and Drake sailed from Harwich on various expeditions and in 1561 Queen Elizabeth I visited the town which she described as a "pretty place and wants for nothing."

Christopher Newport, leader of the Godspeed expedition which founded Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and Christopher Jones, master of the Mayflower, lived in Harwich, so too did the latter’s Kinsman, John Alden, who together sailed with the Pilgrim Fathers to the Americas in 1620. Christopher Jones house is found just off the quay in Kings Head Street. Later King Charles took his first pleasure cruise from Harwich and when the famous diarist Samuel Pepys was a regular visitor when he was MP for the town. Harwich was then a Royal Dockyard where many famous ships were built for the King’s Navy.

Other notable visitors included Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton who stayed at "The Three Cups" in Church Street. The Old Town contains a wealth of historic buildings being dominated by the High and Low Lighthouses, the ancient Treadwheel Crane, the Guildhall and the Electric Palace Cinema, one of the earliest purpose built cinemas in the country built in 1911. The Ha’penny pier visitor centre offers free adice on what to see, where to eat and how much it might cost. Dovercourt is the adjoining holiday resort and shopping centre with attractive cliffs and beach. A particular historic feature being the iron lighthouses or "Leading Lights" located just off lower Marine Parade. The popular TV comedy series "Hi-De-Hi" was filmed here. There is a modern leisure centre with a swimming pool and a variety of facilities.