Harwich

Harwich, a municipal borough, seaport, and market-town of Essex, is situated on a promontory at the influx of the confluent Stour and Orwell to the sea, 71 miles by rail NE. of London. Southward of Harwich is the watering-place of Dovercourt, with a sea-wall 2 miles long. The chief industries are shipbuilding, fishing, and the manufacture of cement. Steamers run daily to Ipswich, and there are regular lines of packets to Antwerp, Rotterdam, London, &c. The harbour is capacious, safe, and commodious, having been much improved since 1844. It is defended by a battery, and, on the Suffolk side, by Landguard Fort, which dates from the reign of James I. So great have been the encroachments made by the sea on the promontory on which Harwich stands that two jetties or groins, 1350 and 1000 feet long respectively, were undertaken in 1863 to break the force of the waves, and these have proved very successful. From the 14th century till 1867 Harwich returned two members, and from then till 1885 one. Pop. (1851) 4451; (1881) 7842; (1891) 8191.