Harwich Town
Dovercourt
Harwich International
Wrabness
Mistley
Manningtree
Colchester
The Mayflower Line
The Mayflower line runs from Manningtree, which is the usual terminus for the branch trains, connecting with services to London and Ipswich. The branch follows the path of the estuary of the River Stour to Harwich. The train stops at Mistley, a small riverside town noted for its large number of swans which gather on the river bank in an area of outstanding natural beauty on the south bank.
The train calls at Wrabness where you can walk past the community shop and join footpaths which runs past the house which Grayson Perrys designed and is one of the houses, for living architecture.
Trains go onwards to the next stop of Harwich International, which is a focused interchange for ferries and large cruise ships making their way around the world. There are even occasional non-stop trains to Harwich International from London Liverpool Street. The branch line then takes travellers to next stop of Dovercourt, a small busy town with a regular Friday Market, and a short walk to the sea front.
The final stop is Harwich Town where you can wander down to the pier and watch the boats and catch the ferry www.harwichharbourferry.com which takes you across to Felixstowe or Shotley. For more information about Historic Harwich and Dovercourt please download the Tourist Guide below. Or visit www.historicharwich.co.uk.
Explore experience and enjoy days on the Mayflower Line
Working with Acorn Village
Terri has been working with Morag a resident at Acorn Village watch this fantastic video below.
Morag has been involved with ESSCRP for about five years, she has undertaken rail safety training, travels by train across her local area and absolutely loves trains. Morag has been involved with the art projects at Manningtree station, helps with our events trains including: sea shanty, bucket and spade and music trains. At Manningtree station Morag plants and waters the tubs and helps other adopters at their stations. Promoting ESSCRP train events by delivering leaflets and changing posters are other essential tasks that Morag loves. By watching the video you will out more about the volunteering Morag is involved in. Morag is an inspiration and if you visit stations along the Mayflower line you may well see Morag or hear her asking ”is it time for coffee yet”?
Watch the video of this fantastic line
Lots to see, places of historical value and beautiful countryside.
Mayflower400
There a number of interesting videos to watch through the Virtual Voyages Mayflower 400 website. The most recent is a film in the ‘Re-informed’ digital series which enables viewers to discover what life was like before the Mayflower passengers arrived in America and how the Native American people lived their lives before they were changed forever by colonisation.
It explores the culture of the Wampanoag people, whose land the Mayflower passengers settled on, and looks at their day-to-day lives including how they built a typical Wampanoag home – known as a Wetu.
The Making of the Wetu’ film speaks to Darius Coombs, one of the designers of a specially-commissioned Wetu that is hoped to travel to the UK in 2021 and go on display in the grounds of Bassetlaw Museum in Nottinghamshire – close to the homes of Mayflower passengers such as the Bradford and Brewster families.
