Forresters

Forresters is a former public house located on Church Street in Harwich, dating from the mid to late 16th century. The building is timber-framed and rendered, topped with a gabled clay plain tile roof.

It stands two storeys high with attics and features a long wall jetty at the front. The street-facing elevation includes one wide, shallow double-hung sash window with small panes and one two-light casement window with small panes and a moulded surround on the first floor. The ground floor has a three-light 19th-century window with short flanking pilasters, a 19th-century door with two arch-headed panes (which has been relocated), and a double-hung sash window with small panes and a moulded surround. The roof has an off-centre ridgeline stack and a small gabled dormer with a two-light casement window.

At the rear, there is a part two-storey and part single-storey extension that was retained from its time as a public house. The building features four bays of timber-framing, mainly made of elm, with the southern bays creating a large chamber on both the ground and first floors, showcasing flat chamfered and stopped spine beams and bridging joists. The central wall posts are jowlless and lack a tiebeam, while the southern end of the structure has been truncated. There is a narrow stack bay with jowled posts and an open truss on the north-western side, and the narrow northern bay likely served as a service room on the ground floor. The roof contains one poorly-shaped crown post and side purlins, with indications of wind bracing.

Inside, the main ground floor room features a corner cupboard from the 18th century with a half-domed interior, Tuscan pilasters, and serpentine shelves, which were sourced from elsewhere in Harwich. Additionally, there is a brick-vaulted cellar in the rear extension, known as a 'rain back'.