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Harwich
Harwich maps
Historic maps of Harwich and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Harwich maps
Harwich area books
Displaying 1 of 18 books about Harwich and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Harwich
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Harwich.
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I Know That Car
Born in Harwich in 1940, I have many fond memories of Church Street both as a schoolchild and as a teenager. The car parked on the left of the picture is an Alvis estate car which had the exceptionally nice wooden side panelling. It is parked outside David Wills, the baker, and did in fact belong to Mr Thomas Wills, who I always called "Mr Tom". It was used for the daily bread and cake run to his sister's shop, who was always known as Miss Florrie, at Tollgate, opposite Ernie Gant's farm. Mind you this was in the day's when bread really tasted like bread...
Childhood Visit
In 1953, while we were staying in a caravan park at Felixstowe in the summer holidays, just to the landward side of the level crossing, we went to Harwich and visited David Wills baker's shop as David Wills was my mother's half uncle. Incidentally we had stayed in a caravan the previous year too at Felixstowe, and what I remember especially was that the flower beds which had been full of flowers in 1952 were bare in 1953 as the salt from the flood had killed all the flowers.
Little Oakley (The Dolly Houses)
Just before I left school in July 1948 I with my mother, cousin Isabel, and aunt Hannah travelled down from Gateshead to visit my aunt Susie and uncle Don who lived in the dolly houses in Little Oakley. I recall there were a number of prefab houses nearby. I haven't been back since however several years ago I wrote about this visit to the Harwich local newspaper (Harwich and Manningtree) and I received replies from several residents. My uncle Don worked as a blacksmith's striker and in his spare time was an excellent painter. He and his workmate partner the blacksmith, who was a very good photographer their photo appeared in the local paper in 1964. I had two cousins I never met. Peggy and Teddy. Teddy was in the Merchant Navy and Peggy married and lived in Stone in Staffordshire. My cousin Isabel is now living in Molesey in Surrey.
Les May - lsmy59@aol.com
My Family
My father's family moved to Harwich in the early 1900's to cottages below Upper Dovercourt Church and lived there for many years. I was born in 1950 when my parents lived in Ramsey then we moved to Valley Road. I still have family in the Harwich/Dovercourt area. I come down to the area for holidays and stay at one of the caravan sites. Since I moved I have come back on holiday and seen some big changes: the road from Parkestone roundabout to Harwich and the shopping area off Barthside mud/the building onto the low road to Tollgate.
Essex memories
Palm Court
I remember walking along the promenade to the Pavilion. To continue our walk we had to go through the Pavilion. If my memory is correct it had a glass roof and front window and there were some palms and what seemed to a six-year-old huge greenhouse plants. I thought it was a most glamorous place. I remember the words Palm Court. Was it ever called Palm Court?
Ruth Wright (nee Ashman)
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 if the building was still standing.
Ruth Wright
