Harwich

History

The town's name means "military settlement", from Old English here-wic. Roman remains have been found in the area. In 885 the River Stour north of the town was the location for two battles. Harwich was anciently part of the manor and parish of Dovercourt. The original village of Dovercourt was at what is now known as Upper Dovercourt, a little way inland. In 1177, a chapel of ease was recorded at Harwich, which was probably a very small settlement at that time. It was not until the Duke of Norfolk as lord 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 first charter making it a borough in 1318. The town was deemed to be a separate parish for civil 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. The town was the target of an abortive raid by French forces under Antonio Doria on 24 March 1339 during the Hundred Years' War. 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. Because of its strategic position, Harwich was the target for the invasion of Britain by William of Orange on 11 November 1688. However, unfavourable winds forced his fleet to sail into the English Channel instead and eventually land at Torbay. Due to the involvement of the Schomberg family in the…