History of Harwich

History of Harwich >> White's Directory 1848

White's Directory of Essex 1848

Church Street, Harwich
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Harwich is an ancient borough, market town, seaport and bathing-place, locally situated at the north east extremity of Tendring Hundred, on the narrowest point of land which juts into the ocean, on the south side of the confluence of the estuaries of the rivers Stour and Orwell, 19 miles East North East of Colchester, 11 miles East of Manningtree, 12 miles South East of Ipswich, and 72 miles North East by East from London. It is in the two parishes of St. Nicholas and Dover Court; the former comprising the town, at the extremity of the point of land, and having 3,016 inhabitants, but only ninety acres of land; and the latter extending west and south along the south shore of the estuary of the Stour and the sea beach, and having 813 inhabitants, and 1,970 acres; making the total extent of the borough 2,060 acres, and its population 3,829 souls, in 1841. Harwich is said to have risen into importance on the decay of a town named Orwell, which stood 5 miles east of the present shore, where there is now a shoal called West Rocks, on which ruins of buildings are still visible at low water. The harbour is extensive, forming a bay on the south side of the Stour and the west side of the town; and it is now being deepened and improved with breakwaters etc., by Government, so as to render it a safe harbour of refuge, for vessels of the largest burthen, often driven here in stormy weather. Many years ago, it is stated that about 100 sail of warships, and from 300 to 400 colliers, have been seen riding out a storm here in safety, at one time. Landguard Fort, on the Suffolk side of the estuary of the two rivers, was erected in the reign of James I., and completely commands the entrance to the harbours of Harwich and Ipswich. This fort is a very strong fortification, on a small neck of land, so situated as to become an island at high water, nearly a mile from the shore. It was enlarged in the early part of the present century, and is supplied with fresh water brought from Walton, about three miles distant. it is now mounted with ten 32 pounders, on revolving frames; and on the outworks are 20 guns of various calibres. The battery between the two towers has room for seven 24 pounders, and in the fort are two brass six-pounders and a large store of ammunition, and a garrison consisting of a captain, lieutenant, and 80 men of the royal artillery. Lieut-Col. C.A. West is lieutenant governor of this strong fort, and tradition says that the Stour anciently passed on the north,side of it, and discharged its waters into the sea, about Hollesley bay.

The remains of an old channel are still called fleets, and the ground which the fort stands upon juts out into the sea further south and east than the point on which Harwich stands, thus contracting the the entrance, but making the channel deep, and the harbour more secure in stormy weather. In order to guard vessels from a sand-bank called the Andrews, which forms a bar across the entrance from the Fort into the rolling-ground, where there is a good anchorage, there were formerly a blazing fire of coals, and 6 candles, weighing 1lb. each, kept burning during the night, in a large room with a glazed front over the principle gate at the south end of the town. In the time of Charles II., this purpose was more completely effected by two lighthouses, erected under letters patent, and furnished with lamps of a peculiar construction. One of them called the Low Light House, stands near the sea beach, and still retains its original form. It rises to a height of 45 feet, and has three patent lamps. The other, called the High Light House, stands at the south-west entrance to the town, and was rebuilt with grey brick, in 1818, but since then it has been much improved. It forms a handsome octagonal tower, ninety-five feet in height, crowned by an elegant lantern, lighted by nine patent lamps with brilliantly polished reflectors. In the centre storey, an additional light, of one lamp, was fixed in 1848. On the summit of the cliff, south of the town, is a Martello Tower, said to be the largest in England, and having walls eight feet thick, faced with granite, and bomb proof. It is of a circular form, and is mounted with ten 24 pounders, on a revolving frame, so as to be pointed in any direction, while the men who work them are preserved from danger by a high parapet. It is now garrisoned by a captain and 80 men of the line, and a sergeant and two men of the artillery. Near the High Lighthouse is the Royal Ordnance Depot, where guns and ammunition are kept, for the towers and batteries on the coast, of which there are many between Harwich and the estuary of the Colne, and the Blackwater. Beacon Cliff which commands a view of the town, the harbour, and the ocean, had formerly a signal-house and a telegraph. From it to the town is a pleasant walk, called the Esplanade, a broad causeway formed of cement, or artificial stone, manufactured from materials found in the cliffs, which rise in some places to fifty feet, and are constantly giving way to the inroads of the sea, like those at Walton-on-the-Naze.

The prosperity of Harwich has very much declined since the peace of 1815, but it has latterly begun to rise in importance, both as a port and a bathing-place, and will, in a few years, have a Railway, extending along the south side of the Stour to the Easter Union Line, at Manningtree, for which an act of parliament has been obtained. During the war with France, it was in a very flourishing condition, owing to the influx of strangers who entered and quitted the kingdom at this place; to the convenience of its spacious harbour; to its large Government dockyard etc.; and to the extensive garrison kept up here, and at Landguard Fort. Some of these advantages remained whilst the Government packets to Holland, Germany, and Sweden were stationed here, but after their removal a great diminution of trade took place. Some advantage is derived from the fact of its being the only harbour between Yarmouth roads and the mouth of the Thames, that is capable of affording refuge, in gales of wind from the eastward, to vessels navigating the eastern coast. As already noticed, Government are now greatly improving it as a harbour of refuge, and it has been proposed to extend and fortify the pier. In 1833 the number of vessels belonging to port was 96, with a tonnage of 5,513 tons. The gross receipt of customs duty in 1838, was £1,575.18s.5d., and in 1839, £1,630.19s. A considerable amount of traffic is maintained by wherries, with Manningtree and Ipswich. Shipbuilding and repairing is carried on by John Bagshaw, Esq,. M.P., who rents the Government dockyard, where a patent slip has been erected, and where many 74-gun ships, and smaller vessels, were built for the royal navy during the late war. In 1778 there were 78 fishing vessels here, averaging 40 tons each, but in 1883 there were only ten. Fine oysters, lobsters, and other fish, are caught here; and sometimes as many as from 200 to 300 boats may been seen dredging for cement stones, in shoals of the ocean opposite the town. These stones sell at from 6s. to 8s. per ton, and great quantities are burnt, and manufactured here into Roman cement.

Paddle Steamer, Harwich
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The market for flesh, fish, poultry, vegetables etc., is held every Tuesday and Friday, and fairs for toys, pedlery, and pleasure are held on May 1st. and Oct.18th. The Ipswich and London steam packets call here; and the town is much frequented in summer as a bathing-place, and has excellent accommodation for visitors. There are three Bathing Machines on the beach, and a commodious suit of Baths, forming a neat cemented building, standing in a large reservoir of sea water, which is changed ever tide, and a supplied with fresh water every hour, by a contrivance on the principle of a natural syphon. These Baths belong to J. Bagshaw, Esq.; and near them is the Jetty, and rooms of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club, which holds an annual Regatta on the coast, and has for its commodore Sir C.H. Ibbotson. Here are also News and Billiard Rooms, a Museum, Assembly Rooms, and other places of amusement and recreation.

The name of Harwich is supposed to be derived from the Saxon words Here, an army, and Wic, a castle or fortification; and hence it is supposed that a Saxon army was stationed here to prevent the descent of invaders. It is also probable that the Romans had a considerable station near the town, and the remains of an ancient camp, of great extent, may still be traced, southward from the town to Beaconhill field, in which is a tumulus. On one side, the rampart, or vallum, is, in several places, from 10 to 12 feet high; and the ditch, now chiefly filled up, was 6 feet deep and 40 feet wide. Another earthwork extends from this on the top of the hill, and the road leading to it bears the name of street, and has in various parts of it considerable remains of a stone pavement, proving it to have been a military way of the Romans; and several of their coins have been found in it. A tesselated pavement was discovered many years ago, near this road, in a farm belonging to Dover Court Vicarage; and a wall, pulled down about the same time, was found to be composed of Roman materials. The earliest historical record relating to this neighbourhood, occurs in the Saxon Chronicle, where a battle is mentioned to have been fought at the mouth of the Stour, between the fleet of King Alfred and sixteen Danish ships, in the year 885. The Danes were completely defeated, and every sail taken; but the English were soon after worsted in a second engagement with a more powerful fleet of the enemy. Harwich did not obtain any importance as a town till after the Norman Conquest. Its first considerable increase arose from, the decay of Orwell, which is said to have been overwhelmed by the sea. Edward II, through the influence of his brother, Thomas de Brotherton, then lord of the manor, made it a borough corporate and market town by charter in 1318; but it is said to have been a borough by prescription long before that period. Other charters were granted to it by Edward III., Richard II., Henry IV., V., and VI., James I., and Charles II.

The Pier, Harwich
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The charter of James was the basis of the municipal constitution previous to the passing of the Municipal Reform Act of 1835. Under that charter, the corporate body consisted of a mayor, 8 aldermen and 24 capital burgesses, with a recorder, high-steward, town clerk, and other officers. The mayor was greeted by the capital burgesses, out of the aldermen; the aldermen by the capital burgesses, and the capital burgesses by themselves, and most of the freemen were non-resident. This select body was also entrusted by the charters with the choice of two discreet and honest men, to the burgesses of the Parliament for the borough; and the honesty and discretion they sought was found for many years among the members of the government, who, in return, found lucrative places for many members of the corporation. They held quarter sessions and a court of pleas every Tuesday, for the recovery of debts not exceeding £100. A court of admiralty was instituted at an early period, but fell into disuse about the end of last century. The municipal commissioners state, in their report on the borough in 1833, that the loss of this court was a subject of regret among those interested in the shipping of the port, as disputes could be settled in it at much less cost than in other courts; but more than half of the harbour is subject to the jurisdiction of Ipswich. The borough is now governed by a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors, with a commission of the peace, embracing nine or ten magistrates; a town clerk, high steward, and other officers. The income of the borough in 1839 was £621.16s.6d., chiefly arising from land, buildings, market tolls, and port dues. The Corporation Property comprises a farm and lands in Beaumont, Tendring, and Thorpe, purchased in 1715, and let for about £150; a farm at Great Holland let for about £100; and various houses, stores, shops, and other tenements in the borough, built at various periods on the waste, and now let for upwards of £100 per annum. In 1814, the corporation expended £1200 in building a new farm-house at Beaumont, £800 in building the National School, and £300 in erecting a new Look-out House.

The mayor and magistrates hold petty sessions every Tuesday, at the Guildhall, an old brick building, in which is the police station, with a lock-up for the temporary confinement of prisoners, who, if convicted are sent to Colchester; the old bridewell being now disused and offered for sale. The Local Acts are as follows :-one passed in 1821, for completing the rebuilding of St. Nicholas' church; one passed in 1824, for amending the said act; and another passed in 1819, for paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, and otherwise improving the town, and supplying it with water. The workhouse (now a brewery,) was sold in 1836, after the borough had been joined to Tendring. A COUNTY COURT is held monthly at the Guildhall, for the borough and 16 neighbouring parishes in Tendring Hundred, and for this district Edward Chapman, Esq., is clerk; and Mr. James Pain, bailiff.

Harwich returned two members to Parliament before the reign of Edward III., when the privilege was suspended; but it was restored by the charter of James I. The right of voting previous to the passing of the Parliamentary Reform Act, in 1832, was in the mayor, alderman, and capital burgesses, and the greatest number of electors polled within 30 years previous to 1831 was 20. In 1837, the number of registered voters was 167, of whom 12 freemen. At the general election in 1847, John Bagshaw and John Attwood, Esqrs., were elected as the representatives of this borough; but the latter gentleman was ousted for bribery, in March, 1848, when Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Bart., was elected in his place. A petition has been presented against the return of the latter, alleging bribery and government interference, by sending the cutters to sea with voters on board. Mr. Bagshaw is also high steward of the borough, and is a liberal, in favour of the ballot. He was formerly an East India merchant, at the head of the firm Bagshaw and Co., of Calcutta.

The Town which occupies neatly all the narrow tongue of land from the harbour to the sea beach, has only one entrance by land, and consists of three main streets, with several lanes branching out on either side. It was formerly encompassed by a wall, and had four gates, named St. Helen's port, Barton's, or Water-gate, St. Austin's­gate, and Castle-gate; and also three small gates or posterns. It had a castle and an admiralty house; and the Dukes of Norfolk had a large house near St. Austin's-gate, and their arms were to be seen in the hall window till 1676, when they were taken down. The town wall was built of the clay-like substance found at the bottom of the cliffs, which, on exposure to the air, gradually hardens to a species of stone, with which the streets are paved.

The ancient PARISH CHURCH, dedicated to St. Nicholas and founded as a chapel of ease to Dover Court, by Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, about 1210, being in a dilapidated condition, was taken down in 1821, and the present magnificent fabric erected on its site, at the cost of nearly £20.000. It is built chiefly of white brick, but the butttresses and steeple are of stone. It measures in length 100, and in breadth 60 feet, and the tower contains eight good bells, and is crowned by a handsome spire. The interior is elegantly fitted up, and has 1500 sittings, and a fine toned Organ. In the chancel are several neat monuments, one in memory of Sir William Clarke, who was killed in a sea­fight with the Dutch, in 1666, and whose body, after being tossed about on the ocean several days, was washed into this haven.

Harwich
print published 1834

The benefice is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Dover Court. The Rev. S. N. Bull, M.A., is the vicar; the Rev. Richard Bull, M.A., curate; Francis Hiblett, clerk; and Miss E. Freshfield, organist. The Church Land, for repairs, etc., consists or a farm of 52 acres, at Tendring, let for £80, and purchased in 1720, for £24l, derived chiefly from the sale of a house at the Town-gate, which was left by William King, in 1627, and taken down in 1714, by the Commissioners for fortifying the town. In the town are three dissenting meeting houses. The Independent Chapel belongs to a congregation which was formed in the 17th century, and has been about 50 years under its present minister, the Rev. W. Hordle. The Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1827, in lieu of the old one, now belonging to the Baptists. Schools are attached to most of the places of worship, and here is a Mechanics' Institution, established in 1847, and having about 130 members.