Dovercourt, Essex

More Growing up in Dovercourt

I was born in Dovercourt in 1946, and lived there until 1957. My father, too, worked on Parkeston Quay, but moved to New England depot in Peterborough in 1956 - mother and I followed once I had taken my 11-Plus exam. My mother was from Waddesdon Road, opposite the old school which had by then become the library. My father met... [more]

New vicar for Dovercourt

My father was inducted as the new vicar on 31st December 1949 at All Saints Church. I was just nine at the time but I retain some dim memories of a packed church! My dad stayed at Dovercourt until his retirement in 1976. I have many memories of Dovercourt for that period. I loved the West beach where I often used... [more]

The Convent in Orwell Road

I was brought up in a Convent in Orwell Road between the years 1947 and 1954. The Convent was vacated in the summer of 1954 and moved to Hastings a year after the sea wall broke which demolished the old school in Harwich.
When I visited the convent again in 1980 it was still there, only standing derelict. I wondered... [more]

Growing up in Dovercourt

I have been trying to remember the exact dates when we lived in Dovercourt but I think it was something like 1953-57, while my father worked for the railway at Parkeston Quay. We first rented a place in Shaftesbury Avenue and then bought a house in Main Road. I was interested to see Martin Johnson's post because I was... [more]

Essex Pocket Album

Dovercourt is the seaside neighbour of Harwich, and for many years now has been its shopping centre; Dovercourt was mentioned in Domesday, but Harwich not until the 12th century.The development of the town owes much to John Bagshaw, MP, who died bankrupt in 1800. This bustling view, with Woolworth's on the left, looks towards Kingsway.

East Anglia

John Bagshaw, an East India merchant and, from 1847, MP for Harwich, saw the potential of Dovercourt as a resort. His plans initially centred on a spa house, which opened in 1854 but did not last. There are least three signs for Hovis in this picture. Opposite the Co-op (which displays two of them) is George Smith's shop, 'growers of flowers... [more]

Essex - A Second Selection Photographic Memories

The pinnacle belongs to the Dovercourt & Harwich Co-operative Society. Built in 1902, it housed their store, as well as a billiards room, a reading room, and a concert hall. Nearer to the camera is the gas showroom (with its 'Mr Therm' logo on the fascia), and level with the four-legged litter-bin is Doris Fryatt's sweet-shop.