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====== 9 Castlegate Street ======

No. 9 is the end of a terrace of five houses in Castlegate Street. Deconstructing the street name tells us that it once led to the gate into the castle that stood in the north east corner of the old town but it is difficult to reconstruct what that might have looked like in its Tudor heyday or two hundred years later when these houses were built in the mid 17th century.

The houses are two storeys with attics and of brick construction with exposed pine beams to ground and first floors and roof structure.

No. 9, in common with the other units in the terrace, has a 20th century full-height rear extension which joins onto the rear of the house.

No. 9 has an unusual feature in that the eastern ground floor wall incorporates a large section of an old stone rubble wall. It is strongly suspected that this remnant is part of the old town wall or a structure associated with the castle gate but more research is needed to plot the extent and composition of old stonework in the town.

===== Occupants =====

Castlegate Street was written as "Castle Gate Street" in the 18th and 19th centuries and had properties on its northern side. In the 1871 census we find one side numbered but not the other. In 1881 each house has a number but it is difficult to map it to the street layout today.

In general we see that the street is full of typical port occupations and trades and the residents are squeezed into houses and buildings built in yards behind them.

In 1891 both sides are still built up and numbers and we see a good fit with what is on the ground today. At no. 9 we find Henry Mills, his wife Harriett and grandson James. Henry is from Harwich, Harriett is from Bawdsey in Suffolk and James was born in Paddington, London. Henry Mills is 65 and although he gives his occupation as mariner he is noted as “neither employer or employed”.

In 1901 we find Alfred Scott his wife Phillis and Alfred’s stepdaughter Ruby Green living at no. 9. Alfred is aged 30 and a journeyman baker, originally from Sudbury in Suffolk. It is tempting to guess that Alfred was working next door at 6 Kings Quay Street, which was a bakery run by Henry Gould.

In 1911 9 Castlegate Street seems to be unoccupied because the census enumerator jumps from 8 to 10. As the 1900s progress houses on the north side of Castlegate Street are being demolished and on the Ordnance Survey map of 1955 we find that the north side is completely clear as it remains today.

===== Harwich Architectural Survey =====

The building at 9 Castlegate Street was surveyed and interpreted as part of the Harwich Architectural Survey Project which was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

An interpretation of 9 Castlegate Street by Brenda and Elphin Watkin is available for {{ :9_castlegate_street_building_survey.pdf |download here}}.
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