Highly polished sharks’ teeth can be found readily on Harwich and Dovercourt beaches. Other recent finds include many different types of fish, reptiles (including turtles), crocodiles, bird bones and occasional mammals.

Small spiced bread cakes, known as ‘Kitchels’ are local to the area and have been used to mark the start of the Harwich mayor’s term for over 400 years. After the ceremony, the new mayor throws the buns to the town’s children from the balcony of the historic Guildhall.

Over 60 years old, the LV18 moored at the Ha’Penny Pier is one of the few remaining lightships. The boat was home to offshore pirate radio in the 1960s and 70s, and starred in the 2009 film, The Boat That Rocked.

One of the oldest surviving purpose built cinemas in existence, the Electric Palace Cinema is still going strong, celebrating its centenary in 2011. 

Sir Thomas Lipton, Tea millionaire, owned a shop in Market Street.

Dovercourt was recorded in the Doomsday Book and was then a very small village with a population of about 120. The inhabitants were peasants who farmed the land around a cluster of wooden huts.

The Pier Hotel on Harwich quay has been open since September 1860.

Christopher Jones, Captain of the Mayflower, was born in Harwich in about 1570. Jones married Sarah Twitt in December 1593 and had one child. However Sarah died very young and he married again in St Nicholas Church in November 1603.