Description
Harwich, a municipal borough, sea-port town, watering-place, and parish in Essex. The town stands at the NE extremity of the county, and at the terminus of a branch of the G.E.R., on a point of land projecting northward into the mouth of the conjoint estuary of the Stour and the Orwell, 1 1/2 mile by water WNW from Landguard Fort, 12 E miles from Manningtree, and 71 1/2 from London. It appears to have been of Roman origin, but it derived its present name-originally Hare-wieh or Here-wich, signifying the " castle of an army " -from a Saxon or a Danish camp. A quondam road into it had vestiges of an ancient stone pavement, bore the Roman appellation of " the Street," and passed remains of a Roman. camp, with a rampart from 10 to 15 feet high, and a fosse 45 feet wide and 4 deep, extending from the S side of the town to Beacon Hill Field. Roman relics also have been found to the W at Dovercourt, and a second Roman rampart ran from that of the Roman camp to the top of Beacon Hill. A battle was fought in the adjacent waters, at the month of the Stonr, in 885, between the fleet of King Alfred and sixteen Danish ships, when the latter were defeated and all captured. A town called Orwell stood then, or soon afterwards, on ground about 5 miles distant, which became eroded by the sea, and is now represented by a shoal called the West Eocks; and, on the decay of that town after the Norman invasion, Harwich rose into importance. Queen Isabella and Prince Edward, in 1326, landed here from Hainault with 2750 soldiers, and marched hence to Bristol to make war against the King. Edward III., in 1338, embarked here, with 500 ships, on his first expedition against France. The French, in the following year, with 11 galleys, appeared before the town and made an unsuccessful attempt to fire it. Edward III., in 1340, when 400 French ships had assembled at Sluys to intercept an English expedition, set sail from Harwich against them, with the result of achieving a remarkable victory over them in a great sea battle. Henry VIII. was here in 1543, Elizabeth in 1561, and Charles II. in 1666. A Spanish fleet appeared off the harbour, in 1625, causing considerable alarm; and some of the naval engagements between the English and the Dutch, in the time of Charles II., took place at such near distances as to be visible to spectators on the cliffs. The town was fortified against the Dutch in 1666, and remains of the works then formed were plainly seen at an extraordinary ebb-tide in 1784. William III., George I., and George II. sailed from Harwich on their respective tours to the continent. Frederick, Prince of Wales, was here in 1728; the Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, on her way to be married to George III., landed here in 1761; and the corpse of Queen Caroline, on its way to be interred at Brunswick, was taken on board a frigate here in 1821.
The site of the town is low, with well-defined shore and pleasant environs. The esplanade, or green, extending towards tlie Beacon Hill and the Stone Quay, near the lighthouses, afford pleasant sea-walks. The Beacon Hill divides Harwich Haven from Walton Bay toward the Naze, rises to a considerable height, and commands a very fine view. The Beacon Cliff, on the seaward face of the hill, makes a very steep descent, had formerly a signal-house and a semaphore which, with a great portion of the cliff itself, have been submerged; consists largely of London clay, charged with fossils; has a height of 60 feet, and at one time suffered much from erosion by the sea-which wore away 80 feet of it between 1756 and 1804, and 350 feet between 1804 and 1841. A tract called the Vicar's Field has disappeared since 1807; and part of a battery built at the beginning of the century, on a spot then considerably distant from the shore, was swept away in 1829. An inroad by the sea was threatened also at Lower Dovercourt, and would have been disastrous to the town, but has ceased to be dreaded. The clay of Beacon Cliff, when exposed to the air, gradually hardens into a kind of stone, and this was used as the building material of Orford and Framlingham Castles, and was used for some time also for paving. A petrifying spring formerly flowed at the N skirt of the Beacon. The town consists of three main streets, and some smaller ones and lanes. It was formerly enclosed by a wall, with four principal and three subordinate gates, and it had a castle, blockhouses, and an admiralty-house, but all these have disappeared. The town-hall is used for petty sessions and for county courts. The coastguard station was built in 1858, and is a fine suite of houses in the form of a square. There is a custom-house, and there are extensive bonding warehouses belonging to the G.E.R. Company. The public hall, erected in 1886, is a building of red brick which will seat 500 persons. The church of St Nicholas was built originally in 1210 by Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, as a chapel of ease to Dovercourt; was rebuilt on a much larger scale in 1821, is a brick edifice in the Pointed Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles and spire, and contains the grave of Sir W. Clarke, secretary-at-war, killed in action at sea in 1666. There is a mission room at Newtown, and a mission church at Parkeston. There are also a Roman Catholic church, a small building of brick erected in 1869, and Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and two Wesleyan chapels. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; net yearly value, £120 with residence.
The borough, which was created by Edward IL in 1318, consists of the parishes of Harwich and Dovercourt. It sent two members to Parliament in the time of Edward III., but then suffered a suspension of the franchise. Later it sent two members from the time of James I. till 1867, when the representation was reduced to one, and by the provisions of the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, the borough was deprived of its separate representation and merged in the county. The town is now governed by a corporation consisting of a mayor, four aldermen, eleven town councillors, and a high steward. The corporation act also as the urban sanitary authority. The town has a head post office, a bank, and several good hotels, including the Great Eastern Hotel, the property of the railway company, which was opened in 1865, and is one of the largest on the Essex coast. Markets are held on Tuesdays and Fridays, and there were formerly two fairs. In earlier times Harwich depended for its prosperity on its being the packet station to Holland, Germany, and Sweden-on great transit of passengers going to the continent, or coming from it, especially during the French war on a Government dockyard establishment, together with the presence of large garrisons here and at Landguard-and on its having the only roadstead capable of affording some shelter between Yarmouth and the Thames. After 1815, owing to quicker communication from other ports, the removal of the Government works and garrison, and the extension of the harbour at Lowestoft, the prosperity of the town very greatly declined. About the middle of the century, however, in consequence of the opening of the railway and the improvements made in the harbour, it began to find some compensation for its losses. In 1844 a grant of £50,000 was made by Parliament, which was followed by additional grants in subsequent years, for forming a breakwater from Beacon Cliff to divert the current towards Landgnard Point, for so dredging the shoals at the harbour's entrance as to admit first-class vessels, for building a wall at the base of the cliff to prevent the further encroachment of the sea, and for making a walk upwards of a mile long from the end of the breakwater to the esplanade. About, £20, 000 also were expended by the corporation, prior to 1862, ia making large enclosures of land from the harbour, forming quays along the entire N front of the town, and constructing a pier there approachable by vessels at all states of the tide. Further improvements have been made since, the most important being the formation of Parkeston Quay by the G.E.R., which was opened for traffic in 1883, and which with the loop-line and station cost about £500, 000. This quay, which was formed by the company for the purpose of developing their important continental traffic, and on which there is a lighthouse, is situated 2 1/2 miles np the Stour, is 1800 feet long, and affords berths for seven vessels, while seven more can be moored in the river. There are two large warehouses on the quay, and the company have also erected a comfortable hotel for the accommodation of continental passengers who may desire to break their journey. The G.E.R. Company have a fleet of fifteen steamers sailing from Harwich, and regular sailings are also maintained by the General Steam Navigation Company, and the United Steamship Company of Denmark, to Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and the Hook of Holland. The number of vessels registered as belonging to the port in 1894 was 120 (13, 816 tons). The entries and clearances average 4000 (800, 000 tons) per annum. The customs revenue in 1893 was, £84, 115. Boats run daily to Ipswich and Felixstowe, and in the summer season regularly to London, Walton-on-the-Naze, and Clacton-on-Sea. Numerous vessels are engaged in fishing, and during certain seasons of the year immense quantities of shrimps are nightly despatched by railway to London. There are two lighthouses at Dovercourt, outside Harwich harbour, to direct vessels past the Andrews, a sandband or bar reaching from Landguard Fort to the Rolling Grounds, where there is good anchorage. There are also two lighthouses at Landgnard and one at Shotley. A man-of-war and two or three gunboats are usually stationed at Harwich as coastguard Naval Reserve. The Royal Harwich Yacht Club, which was founded in 1843, is a most successful local association, having over 250 members with about 150 yachts. It holds an annual regatta, at which prizes are given by the club. DOVERCOURT, which may perhaps be designated as a supplementary watering-place to Harwich, and of which it forms a populous suburb, will be found described under a separate heading. The area of the parish of Harwich is 88 acres of land and 536 of water and foreshore; population, 5475. The area of Dovercourt is 1438 acres of land and 739 of water and foreshore; population, 2727. Area of the whole borough, 1526 acres; population, 8202.
Harwich Parliamentary Division, or North-Eastern Essex, was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 55, 623. The division includes the following:- Tendering-Alresford, Ardleigh, Beaumont-cum-Moze, Bent-ley (Great), Bentley (Little), Bradfield, Bromley (Great), Bromley (Little), Clacton (Great), Clacton (Little), Elmstead, Prating, Frinton, Holland (Great), Holland (Little), Rirby, Lawford, Manningtree, Mistley, Oakley (Great), Oakley (Little), Ramsey, St Osyth, Tendring, Thorpe, Thorrington, Walton, Weeley, Wix, Wrabness; Winstree and Lexden (part of)-Abberton, Bergholt (West), Birch, Boxted, Brightlingsea, Chapel, Colne Wakes, Copford, Dedham, Donyland (East), Fingringhoe, Fordham, Hocklesley (Great), Hocklesley (Little), Langham, Langenhoe, Layer (Bretton), Layer-de-la-Haye, Layer (Marney), Mersea (East), Mersea (West), Mount Bures, Peldon, Salcot, Stanway, Virley, Wigborough (Great), Wigborough (Little), Wyvenhoe, Wormingford; Harwich, municipal borough; Colchester, municipal borough.
