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Harwich Dockyard

HarwichRoyal Navy dockyards in EnglandUse British English from December 2017
Harwich treadwheel crane
Harwich treadwheel crane

Harwich Dockyard (also known as The King's Yard, Harwich) was a Royal Navy Dockyard at Harwich in Essex, active in the 17th and early 18th century (after which it continued to operate under private ownership). Owing to its position on the East Coast of England, the yard was of strategic importance during the Anglo-Dutch Wars; however, due to a lack of deep-water access and the difficulty of setting off from Harwich against an easterly wind, its usefulness was somewhat limited and its facilities remained small-scale compared to the other Royal Dockyards over the same period. Nonetheless, it remained actively involved in repairing and refitting the nation's warships, as well as building them: of the eighty ships built for the Royal Navy in Britain between 1660 and 1688, fourteen were built at Harwich Dockyard. (Naval vessels had occasionally been built at Harwich in earlier times, but by private shipbuilders on or around the Town Quay).After the Royal Navy withdrew from the yard in 1713, shipbuilding continued on the site under private ownership; over the course of the next century, through to the end of the Napoleonic Wars, just under forty more warships were built there.The present-day name for the site of the former Dockyard is 'Harwich Navyard'; for the past 50 years it has been run as a commercial port, however in 2018 plans were announced for it to be transformed into space for more than 300 homes.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Harwich Dockyard (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Harwich Dockyard
Saint Helen's Green, Essex

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Wikipedia: Harwich DockyardContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.94452 ° E 1.2901 °
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Saint Helen's Green
CO12 3NH Essex
England, United Kingdom
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Harwich treadwheel crane
Harwich treadwheel crane
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Electric Palace Cinema, Harwich
Electric Palace Cinema, Harwich

The Electric Palace cinema, Harwich, is one of the oldest purpose-built cinemas to survive complete with its silent screen, original projection room and ornamental frontage still intact. It was designed by the architect Harold Ridley Hooper of Ipswich, Suffolk and opened on 29 November 1911. Other interesting features include an open plan entrance lobby complete with paybox, and a small stage plus dressing rooms although the latter are now unusable. The original Crossley gas engine, which provided, in conjunction with a 100 V DC generator, the electricity for the "Electric" Palace until 1925 is also still present. Unfortunately it is neither practical to restore, or remove, this engine. The cinema closed in 1956 after being damaged in the 1953 East Coast floods, but re-opened in 1981, retaining the original screen, projection room and frontage as well as much of the original interior. It is now a community cinema and until 2006, when a Wednesday screening programme was introduced, films were shown at weekends only. The building also hosts regular jazz and folk concerts. The cinema is a Grade II* listed building and in 2009 was removed from the Buildings at Risk Register maintained by English Heritage following structural refurbishment, the completion of which, was celebrated on 15 July 2009.In November 2006, British actor Clive Owen became patron of the cinema and at his first official visit he helped launch an appeal to raise funds to repair this historic building. In May 2021 the Electric Palace was used as a location for Downton Abbey: A New Era