Interesting Facts About Great Dunmow

History of Great Dunmow

The name is common Brittonic with “Dover” coming from “dwfr”, which is “water” in modern Welsh; the origin of “court” is unknown but possibly meant “land cut off by”. Dovercourt was recorded as ‘Douorcortae’ in the year 1000.

Dovercourt appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, when it was a manor.[3] The Domesday Book records that a Saxon lord called Wulwin or Ulwin had been lord of the manor in 1066; by 1086 the estate was in possession of Aubrey de Vere and remained part of the barony of his descendants, the Earls of Oxford, until the 16th century. It formed part of the dowry of Juliana de Vere when she married Hugh Bigod in the mid-12th century, and the sub-tenancy passed to the Bigod earls of Norfolk who held it as one knight’s fee of the Veres. Countess Juliana’s son Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk founded a chapel at Harwich and granted it to Colne Priory, Essex, a Vere foundation.

General Info

Dovercourt is an area of Harwich in the Tendring district of Essex, England. Dovercourt has been administered as part of Harwich since at least the 17th century and forms part of the Harwich built up area. It is sometimes described as a suburb of Harwich and sometimes as a separate town. The area around Dovercourt High Street now serves as the main town centre of the Harwich built up area; there are few retail facilities in the old town of Harwich. Dovercourt is also a seaside resort, with beaches onto Dovercourt Bay on its southern side. It is served by Dovercourt railway station.