Parkeston, Essex

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Parkeston
latitude= 51.9407
longitude= 1.2531
os_grid_reference= TM236319
population =
shire_district= Tendring
shire_county = Essex
region= East of England
constituency_westminster= Harwich
post_town= HARWICH
postcode_district= CO12
postcode_area=CO
dial_code= 01255

Parkeston is a North Sea port town in Essex, England, near Dovercourt and Harwich. It was built in the 1800s on reclaimed land that once was known as Ray Island.Parkeston was named after Charles Parkes of the Great Eastern Railway. Most of the terraced housing in Parkeston was built for railway employees. It is known locally as "Spike island" or "Cinder city".

The Quay at Parkeston was built by the GER as a rail depot for exports/imports from the European mainland, and the railway line was re-routed. The original railway embankment, known locally as "the hangings" still exist. Passenger ferry service operating through Harwich International Port (formerly Parkeston Quay) has since been developed.

History

*1883: Parkeston Quay was officially opened by Charles H. Parkes, Chairman of the Great Eastern Railway Company.
*1903: Service between Parkeston Quay and the Hook of Holland began.
*1914–1918: The 8th and 9th submarine flotillas of the Royal Navy were based at Parkeston Quay, including all of the E-Class submarines. Between 1916 and 1917 four submarines sank as a result of collisions outside the harbour; E4, E41, C16 and E36. Although the first three craft were salvaged only 15 crew survivedPaul Akermann, "Encyclopedia of British Submarines 1901-1955"] .
*1917: Section II of the wartime Board of Invention and Research established a research station at the Quay under Sir WH Bragg and Sir E Rutherford to investigate the use of ASDIC and electro-magnetism to detect submarines [Burns, Warwick & Rees, "Radar Development to 1945" Institution of Electrical Engineers, 1988, ISBN 0863411398] .
*1918: 113 submarines of the German fleet surrendered to the Royal Navy Submarine Service at Parkeston Quay on 20th November, a day before the High Seas Fleet surrendered at Scapa Floe.
*1939: Parkeston Quay was again requisitioned by the Admiralty for naval purposes, during which time it was known as HMS "Badger", until 1945.
*1946: The quay suffered extensive damage in air raids during the Second World War.
*1964: The Carless refinery opened next to the port.
*1967: MS "Winston Churchill" was introduced to the Harwich – Esbjerg route.
*1968: Sisterships "Koningin Emma" and "Prinses Beatrix" served the Harwich - Hook of Holland route from the end of the Second World War until 1968, when they were scrapped. This same year saw the route convert to a freight/passenger service with the introduction of the "Koningin Juliana".
*1974: The 130-metre ro-ro ship "St Edmund" came into service and remained on the Hook route until being requisitioned by the UK Ministry of Defence in 1982 during the Falklands conflict.
*1978: After a launch in London, MS "Dana Anglia" entered service on Esbjerg route.
*1983: The "St Nicholas", the largest superferry on the North Sea at that time, commenced service from Harwich.
*1986: More than 2 million Passengers passed through the port for the first time.
*1987: The "Koningin Beatrix", with capacity for up to 2,100 passengers, joined the Hook route.
*1989: Last call of the MS "Braemar" and end of the summer service to Kristiansand, Norway, which had been operated by Fred Olsen Lines since 1967.
*1992: Construction of No.2 linkspan was completed, in readiness for vessels of 200 metres loa.
*1994: The number of trade vehicles moving through the port peaked at nearly 270,000.
*1997: A £12 million development was completed to accommodate the "Stena Discovery" fast ferry.
*1998: Harwich International Port became part of Hutchison Ports (UK) Ltd.
*1999: On 29 August three cruise ships berthed here simultaneously.
*2002: Stena launched a new freight route to Rotterdam in September, providing three crossings per day. The port acquired a new access road and freight entrance.
*2002: The "Dana Anglia" and "Admiral of Scandinavia" were replaced by modern ro-pax vessels

Notes