04/04/2025
BIRCH CHURCH - The Vision - Preserving the Past, Enriching the Present, Inspiring the Future
We are delighted to announce that, following the results of the recent local community consultation survey (thank you to all for completing this), together with a visit to Birch Church, by our architect, we now have an exciting vision for the project at Birch Church going forward!
Our architect, Paul Bowman, from Designsplus Architects, together with structural engineer, Ed Morton, have recently visited the interior of the church in order to advise us on what could be saved. Sadly, most of the interior of the church currently comprises floor to ceiling scaffolding, owing to its very poor level of repair. They have advised us that this part of the church could not be retained cost effectively. However, we were very excited to learn that two of the most significant parts could saved – the Tower/Spire and the Chancel (narrower part of the church at the East end, at the opposite end to the Spire, see attached photo).
The Vision
Birch, the surrounding villages and Colchester residents have said that they would like any surviving part of the church to be used for a café, a shop and smaller meeting / health wellbeing space. We are therefore proposing for a café to be located in the Chancel. This would include glass frontage at the West End, offering a spectacular view of the spire in the haven of a cafe. This miniature church - ‘café with a soul’ - would incorporate the glorious East Window, depicting the nativity scene, keeping its sacred ambiance. These two unique buildings will then create anchors for an outdoor terrace link. The terrace would become an outdoor haven with summer seating and a garden area, adding natural beauty and seasonal charm. Finally, a smaller building, in keeping with local architecture, would be constructed to house any café overflow, the shop and some rentable smaller space. It is possible that we may be able to keep some of the current church facade frontage, as a stand-alone feature. But it could be prohibitively expensive. So, the saving of the front facades should be seen as a ‘nice to have if we can’.
We believe that all of the above will offer a beautiful landmark heritage destination. It will create some additional (important financial) footfall from outside of Birch, creating a sanctuary for walkers (Gosbecks car park in Colchester is only an hour’s walk from the church), cyclists, nature lovers and those just seeking peace. It also creates a beautiful well-being hub for both Birch and neighbouring villages, while engaging local businesses in a profitable local community project.
Going Forward
We have lots of work to do, including discussions with the local parochial church council on access and parking within the church site, the setting up of a charity for the initial restoration and development phase, together with a business plan to demonstrate the project’s financial viability. And of course, fund raising. We also soon hope to have a dedicated website with more current up to date information, following the progress of the project. This will be a long and demanding project. But will come with the enormous reward of preserving our past, enriching our present, and creating something really inspirational for the future!
If you have any questions / would like to support us, please email [email protected]
Thank you for staying with us, as always!
The Birch InSpire Team
