糖心Vlog

Many people know the story of the Mayflower, the ship that sailed from Plymouth, into the New World. What many people don鈥檛 know is that the homeport of the Mayflower was Harwich, 18 miles from our Colchester Campus.

Two of our students, Jake Millar and Sarah Mott, researched Harwich鈥檚 link to the Mayflower history as their basis for their dissertation. Multimedia Journalism student, Shakiyah Branch, sat down with Jake and Sarah to learn more about the town and their research process. 

The idea for studying Harwich came about when Tendring District Council asked for research in preparations for a new museum opening in Harwich in 2020 to mark the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the historic ship.

Jake and Sarah, both MA History students, jumped at the chance to learn more about the local area they both grew up in.

Sarah said: 鈥淚t was a great opportunity for me to get involved locally and it鈥檚 nice to know that the hard work we鈥檝e put into the research and writing the dissertation will be seen and will hopefully be helpful to the museum.鈥�

Jake wrote his dissertation on 'Harwich, Religion, and the Mayflower.鈥� He said: 鈥淚 was very interested to understand how the religious changes which preceded the Mayflower鈥檚 departure affected the lives of Harwich residents, and more specifically, to understand the extent to which local people actually engaged with these issues.鈥�

His research won him the John S Appleby Prize for the best MA dissertation on an 糖心Vlog History theme. He is also currently editing his research to be made public later this year.

Meanwhile Sarah is still writing her dissertation on the Captain of the Mayflower, Christopher Jones. Her research is focused on his life before and during his voyage. Jones is believed to have been born in Harwich; however Sarah found no church records to confirm where he was born.

鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult to find documents from over 400 years ago, sometimes they just don鈥檛 survive.鈥� She added: 鈥淚t is really important to look hard for any records because sometimes we鈥檒l find something that contradicts what most people believe so we need the evidence to back us up."

鈥淭he people of Harwich are so passionate about their history, so I felt a responsibility to get everything right. What we write could potentially have a massive impact on the town.鈥� Jake added.

Harwich is hoping to increase tourism and become better known for its role in the Mayflower鈥檚 voyage. The  was created in preparation for the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower sailing from Plymouth England to Plymouth Massachusetts.

The Compact is planning celebrations in all the Mayflower鈥檚 destinations, including Harwich, Southampton and Leiden, Holland. Jake and Sarah, alongside history lecturer, Dr Amanda Flather, recently attended the Compact鈥檚 civic function in Harwich to discuss the town鈥檚 historic influence and how the town would celebrate.