A football club will celebrate its landmark 150th anniversary next year after discovering it is two years older than fans previously thought.  

It was believed Harwich and Parkeston FC was formed in 1877, making it Essex's second oldest football club after Saffron Walden Town. 

But new research has revealed the club's origins date back to 1875. 

Copies of the Harwich and Dovercourt Newsman – a newspaper which began prior to the Standard - have been unearthed.

They show Harwich FC, as it was then known, was formed after a meeting at the Three Cups Hotel, in Church Street, in October 1875. 

The date has also been confirmed with help from the National Football Museum.

The museum's archive in Preston is home to copies of the Football Annual - the sport's bible in the late 19th Century. 

Its 1876 edition has an entry for Harwich FC, showing it was formed in 1875. 

The entry states the club originally played on Barrack Field, with the Queen’s Head, on the Main Road site which is now the Orwell Place car park, used as the team dressing rooms.

Given all the evidence, current club chairman Tony Armstrong says it is only right to officially change the formation date.

He said: “Our historians have put in a lot of work to finally nail down the details of how this great club initially began.

“We think it is now without doubt that the 1877 date is wrong and so we are officially changing it, by informing the FA.”

With the 150th anniversary now looming, the club, which changed its name to Harwich and Parkeston in 1889, is aiming to attract top opponents to its Royal Oak ground for a special game in 2025.

Several other ideas are also being mulled over as the Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties League club considers how to celebrate the occasion.

Promotion this season would be an ideal start – the modern-day Harwich side are currently top of Division One North and tomorrow (Saturday September 21) play host to Rayleigh Town in an FA Vase tie.

Kick-off is at 3pm.