Harwich Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Herewiche

In the civil parish of Harwich.
In the historic county of Essex (Modern Authority of Essex, 1974 county of Essex).

The murage tolls granted by Richard II (1377-99) were intended both for wall-building and the erection of a castle at the north-east corner of the town. Following a protest by Ipswich the murage grant was revoked, but the castle seems to have been built anyway, for Henry V (1399-1413) granted permission to the town to levy tolls for its repair. The sixteenth and C17 maps depict the castle as a tower on the north-eastern corner of the town wall. Given the status of Harwich as base for formation of medieval fleets this tower probably had a function as a storehouse and administrative centre and was more than just a large town wall tower.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Nothing visible remains.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1405 March 15.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TM22993287

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 3377, 18705

• Web site links
  • http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/ArchRev/rev97_8/essex.htm
• Books
  • Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton)
    Weaver, L.T., 1975, The Harwich Story
• Journal Articles
  • Trollope, C., 1983, ‘The defences of Harwich' Fort 11 p5-30
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1405-8) p3