22 and 22A Church Street

Although two residential properties today the buildings at 22 and 22A Church Street are perhaps best known in Harwich as the Dukes Head, a public house that closed in 1971.

The oldest parts of the buildings we see today were built in the late 15th century when 22 and 22A were were part of the same mansion that possibly also included 20 and 21. A substantial early cellar runs under both buildings and is built of stone rubble and some tile.

The old part of the buildings fronted Church Street and were two storeys with jetty and an impressive ten foot high ground floor. If they originally formed a hall and cross wing range then 22 and 22A would have been a long wall jettied hall and 20 and 21 possibly a parlour or shop.

The position of the building was once on the western edge of the original medieval market area so we could speculate that the original building was a grand merchant’s residence, designed to impress, and, like many buildings in Harwich it could have had a combined commercial and residential use.

The buildings were upgraded in the 17th century with a new ceiling for the first floor which also created attic rooms in a third storey.

At some point in the 19th century, when the building was a public house, it underwent another phase of development which added more pub features, such as a hand-cranked cask lift in the cellar, canted corner door, windows and signage and largely created the frontage we see today.

The buildings were listed Grade II in 1964.

There are currently no clues as to the original owner of the grand 15th century building.

In fact the first fix we get on the building is when it is operating as the Duke’s Head in 1761 and it was the venue for a travelling art exhibition. Admission was 1s for Gentlemen and Ladies and 6d for servants.

In December 1788 the Duke’s Head is offered for sale and we see that the premises are leased to Charles Cox who is in partnership with John Cobbold running the Harwich Brewery and a number of pubs in the town. Cox leases the pub for £20 per annum but the sale includes a package of connected properties down Currants Lane with an annuity of £30 per annum payable to Elizabeth Searoot – which may give a clue to the previous chain of ownership.

The Harwich Brewery part of the Cobbold brewing business followed down a different branch of the family to the main operation at Ipswich and at some stage the Duke’s Head was acquired by Thomas Cobbold who owned and ran things at Harwich. We know this because when he sold up and retired in 1837 the Duke’s Head is advertised as a freehold property in the tied estate.

The sale in 1837 seems to have resulted in the Duke’s Head being bought by the main Cobbold family brewing operation and it stayed in company hands until its closure as a public house in 1971 – having become Tolly Cobbold in 1957 when the two Ipswich brewers merged.

After more than two hundred years as a pub and having seen more that twenty four landlords come and go the buildings reverted to residential use in 1971.

22 and 22A Church Street were surveyed and interpreted as part of the Harwich Architectural Survey Project which was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

An interpretation of the buildings by Brenda and Elphin Watkin is available for download here.