Harwich

Harwich /ˈhærɪtʃ/ is a port town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on-Sea to the south. It is the northernmost coastal town in Essex.

Its position on the estuaries of the Stour and Orwell rivers, with its usefulness to mariners as one of the safest ports between the Thames and the Humber, led to a long period of civil and military maritime significance. The town became a naval base in 1657 and was heavily fortified, with Harwich Redoubt, Beacon Hill Battery, and Bath Side Battery.

The Mayflower, which carried English Puritans to North America, was registered with Harwich as its home port, and Harwich is the presumed birthplace of Mayflower captain Christopher 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 included Dovercourt, 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 of Harwich International Port are now at Parkeston, about 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream on the Stour from the old town's quays.

At the 2021 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 the Office for National Statistics (which extends beyond Harwich parish to also include parts of the neighbouring parishes of Little Oakley and Ramsey and Parkeston) was 20,215.