Place Categories: Entertainment and Outdoors
Built in 1667 on the site of the Naval Yard, now Navyard. It was moved to its present site on Harwich Green in about 1932. It stands on a slight eminence where once stood Queen’s Mount Battery for the defence of Harwich.
The crane was worked by men walking in the interior of the wheels (as opposed to jail treadmills where the operators walked on the outer surface). Two wheels produce balanced action. Each wheel is 16ft (5.8 m) diameter, 3ft 10 ins (1.4 m) wide and made of oak. The wheels are spaced 4ft (1.5 m) apart on a common axle 13½ ins (34 cms) diameter. The jib has a projection of 17ft 10ins (6.5 m). It is described as a ‘House Crane’ in official records to distinguish it from the unenclosed type. Originally it had a boarded roof but pantiles were later substituted.
For more information visit the Harwich Society page at www.harwich-society.co.uk/maritime-heritage-trail/treadwheel-crane/
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