Dovercourt, United Kingdom

Harwich grew up from the 12th century within the parish of Dovercourt, standing on a peninsula at its eastern end. Harwich had a chapel of ease by 1177 but remained a small settlement until the mid-13th century. Harwich was given the right to hold a market in 1253 and the town developed significantly after that as a market town and port, and was granted its first borough charter in 1318. Harwich was deemed to be a separate parish from Dovercourt 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.

Harwich 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.

In 1845 a property developer called John Bagshaw bought land in the area then known as Lower Dovercourt, immediately west of Harwich and to the east of Upper Dovercourt. He developed plans to develop a new resort overlooking the sea with the help of W.H. Lindsey, a London architect. He started the project in 1845 by building a mansion, Cliff House, for himself and his family and actively promoted the railway link to the Harwich area; Dovercourt railway station opened with the line to Harwich in 1854. When a chalybeate spring was discovered in the grounds of Cliff House, Bagshaw extended the property to incorporate a spa, library, pump room, and conservatory. He next developed Orwell Terrace where his son Robert John Bagshaw, like his father an MP for Harwich, moved into Banksea House in 1857. However the development project, which included Marine Parade and the Cliff Estate, caused Bagshaw financial difficulties and he was declared bankrupt in 1859. Although Cliffe House was demolished in 1909 and the Spa in 1920, most of his other developments still stand.

From at least 1604, the borough of Harwich had covered the two parishes of Dovercourt and Harwich St Nicholas. In 1925 the two civil parishes were merged into a single parish of Harwich matching the borough. At the 1921 census (the last before the abolition of the civil parish), Dovercourt had a population of 7,695.

Both Upper Dovercourt and Lower Dovercourt were being described as suburbs of Harwich by the early 20th century. Lower Dovercourt came to be known as Dovercourt and it now has the main town centre for the Harwich built up area; there are today few retail facilities in the old town of Harwich.

In 1939 Warner's Holiday Camp, in Low Road, was used for refugee children arriving in the UK in the Kindertransport mission. This was carried out under the direction of Anna Essinger and aided by several of the staff from Bunce Court School, In the 1980s Warner's was used as the set for the filming of BBC sitcom Hi-de-Hi!. The site, with the original 1930s chalets, was transformed into Maplin’s. It is now a housing estate known as Hightrees.

In the 1400s All Saints Church in Main Road drew thousands of pilgrims after the wooden cross (or rood) on its rood screen became a shrine. "It acquired a miraculous reputation and was said to have spoken on some occasions" said the historian John Ashdown-Hill. The 1600 version of the play Grim, the Collier of Croydon says: "And now the rood of Dovercourt did speak, Confirming his opinions to true."

The accounts of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, show that he donated money to the shrine "including clothing in 1482 used to dress the image of Christ on the rood", according to Ashdown-Hill.

The 1981 edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable says that John Foxe reported that the crowd in the church was so great "no man could shut the door". It adds that the word "Dovercourt" can mean "a confused gabble, a babel [sic]".

In 1532 four young Protestants from Dedham, Essex and East Bergholt rode to Dovercourt. According to Foxe, they were intrigued by the rood's miraculous reputation and wanted to see whether it could defend itself. They took down the rood and burnt it. Three of the men were caught and hanged. The site of the burning is commemorated by the road name Holyrood on a nearby 1960s housing estate.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable notes that the females of Dovercourt had a reputation for being "scolds and chattering women". This is possibly connected with the Dovercourt shrine, above. The book cites Lines in the Belfry of St Peter's, Shaftesbury, as saying: "When bells ring round and their order be, They do denote how neighbours should agree; But when they claim, the harsh sound spoils the sport, And 'tis like women keeping Dovercourt."