Mayflower Line Tourist Information

Manningtree and Mistley lie next to each other at the gateway to Constable Country. From the waterfront, noted for its colony of swans, there are very pleasant views across the estuary to Suffolk. The Swan fountain at Mistley represents one surviving example of local landowner Richard Rigby’s attempt to develop Mistley into a fashionable Spa.

All Saints Church, Wrabness: This beautiful Norman church has been built in the locally traditional material, septaria. It is a beautiful little church with a fascinating history, looking out across the river from high on a hill. The church bell tower fell off in the 17th century and the bell was temporarily moved to a wooden bell house on the ground…. It is still there to this day and you can see it in the graveyard!

The Nature Reserve: A special nature reserve, because it only exists because of the close-knit village community fighting for its existence. The villagers got together to buy the land to prevent a prison being built there, and if you visit, you will be extremely grateful that this beautiful riverside site was saved. There are excellent paths throughout the site and plenty of wildlife.

Harwich and Dovercourt — Harwich still retains a flavour of the Medieval seafaring township it once was and is extremely popular today as a vantage point for watching the substantial shipping movements in the Harbour and across the water at Felixstowe. The famous Elizabethan seafarers Hawkins, Frobisher and Drake sailed from Harwich on various expeditions. In 1561 Queen Elizabeth I visited the town which she described as ‘a pretty place and wants for nothing’. Christopher Newport — leader of the Godspeed expedition, which founded Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 — and Christopher Jones — master of the Mayflower — lived in Harwich. Christopher Jones’ house is found just off the Quay in Kings Head Street. King Charles II took his first pleasure cruise from Harwich, and when the famous diarist Samuel Pepys was MP for the town Harwich was the headquarters of the King’s Navy. Other notable visitors include Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton who stayed at The Three Cups in Church Street. The Old Town contains a wealth of historic buildings, dominated by the high and low lighthouses, the ancient Treadwheel Crane, the Guildhall and the Electric Palace cinema (1911), which is one of the earliest purpose-built cinemas in the country. Dovercourt is the adjoining holiday resort and shopping centre with attractive cliffs and beach.

The Redoubt Fort, built to repel Napoleonic forces is one of the best preserved forts in the area.
The National Vintage Wireless and Television Museum is housed in the High Lighthouse, whilst the Low Lighthouse has specialist displays on the Royal and Merchant navies.
A restored Victorian boathouse is now home to the Harwich Life Boat Museum

There are shopping centres in Old Harwich, Dovercourt (centred on junction of Kingsway and High Street) and Upper Dovercourt junction of Fronks Road and Main Road). There are Fiveways (Co-op) and Somerfield supermarkets in Dovercourt and a Safeway on the Dovercourt by-pass.

Dovercourt sea-front features a sandy beach that runs for 2 miles from Earlams Beach to Beacon Hill. Facilities are centred around the swimming pool and boating lake in Low Road. The bay and estuary provide excellent wind-surfing and dinghy sailing conditions and there are many facilities in the area for visiting yachtsman (see the Harwich Haven Authority web-site). New overnight moorings on the Ha’penny Pier are now complete. The Ha’penny Pier is on Harwich’s old quay, so the moorings allow easy access to the Old Town for visiting yachtsmen. Alternative moorings can be found on the other side of the river at Shotley or Levington. (A water taxi operates between Harwich and Shotley.)