9 Market Street

No. 9 once stood at the end of Market Street next to the old town wall which roughly followed the line of what is Kings Quay Street today. In those days Market Street would probably have been more of a narrow lane but if you walked along it you could exit the walled town through Barton’s Gate and end up in the outer part of town eastward – a name that lives on today.

The building at 9 Market Street has been altered and repurposed over the years and it’s beginnings are shrouded in mystery because it shows signs of timber re-use. Some parts of the frame look to date from around 1500 and one explanation may be that the building does date from that period but later structural alterations have moved or brought in some timbers. It could also have been built in the late 16th century using parts of an older house.

Although the house would not have been as prestigious as those adjacent to the quays in the north of the town it could potentially have commanded a view over the town wall and out to sea and provided easy access to the town’s eastern seaboard where boats could be landed.

Certainly the building we see today has a three bay 15th or 16th century oak frame that was raised and re-fronted in the early 19th century. Like most properties in Market Street the premises became a shop in Victorian times before returning to residential use in the 20th century.

In 1861 Alfred Parsons, his wife Sarah and their five young children are living at 9 Market Street. Alfred is a watchmaker and jeweller and originally from nearby Manningtree. The Parsons family would go on to become noted Harwich watchmakers with shops in Kings Quay Street and Church Street.

In 1871 we find Ann Knight as head of household. She is listed as a mariner’s wife and her husband, John Knight, is at sea during the census as master of the 56 ton spritsail barge Havelock. Living with Ann is her nineteen year old niece, Mercy Knight Coker, who is listed as “living in fancy shop”. Later that year Mercy married ships carpenter Richard Edward Manhood and in 1874 and 1878 the Post Office Directory lists him as a pork butcher of 9 Market Street. Later in 1878 Richard hangs up his butcher’s apron and he moves next door with Mercy to 8 Market Street where they become the new landlord and landlady of the Kings Head.

In 1881 William Cooper, his wife Agnes and their three young sons are at no. 9. William is listed as a “salesman, tailor and cutter” and originally hails from Rowhedge near Colchester.

In 1891 we find William and Agnes Cooper still at no. 9 with an expanded family of 8 children and a domestic servant. William is now simply listed as “tailor”.

1901 we find 9 Market Street unoccupied and the Cooper family are back living in William’s native Rowhedge with William listed as a “master tailor with a shop on the High Street. Meanwhile back in Market Street no. 11, across the road from no. 9, appears to be occupied solely by William and Agnes’s eldest son William H. Cooper, who is aged 24 and listed as a “tailors assistant”.

In 1911 we once again find William and Agnes Cooper at 9 Market Street and the census return shows that they have eleven children – 5 of which are still living with them. The youngest two children are still at school whilst Ethel and Florence are working as a cashier (in a grocery shop) and a confectioners assistant respectively. Percy Cooper, who is 25, is working as a “tailors cutter” in the family business whilst his father is a “tailor maker”.

In 1927 Charles Alfred Archer of 9 Market Street, a tobacconist and confectioner, is recorded as being bankrupt.

The building at 9 Market 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 the timber framing at 9 Market Street by Brenda and Elphin Watkin is available for download here.