The history
There is very little history regarding this place on the net so here is what I could find
The 170 year old Grade II-listed St Peter and St Paul’s church in Birch, near Colchester, which closed in 1990, it has stood empty for almost 25 years and has fallen into disrepair.
The Diocsese of Chelmsford, which looks after the Church of England’s affairs in Essex, says it has been unable to find a suitable alternative use for the historic building in that time.
Regrettably, despite having found a willing buyer for the church who is prepared to spend £1,200,000 restoring this iconic landmark, the Church Commissioners in consultation with the Diocese of Chelmsford, have decided to proceed with their plans to demolish. In our opinion, this is unnecessary destruction of local heritage. The resultant harm will not only be in the loss of this Grade II listed building but also the detrimental impact of the loss on the Birch Conservation Area and the surrounding landscape.
The explore
I first became made aware of the church many months ago by another exploring companion who had spotted it but been told to go away by a local lady. Well on our way to somewhere else I suddenly remembered this and we ended up taking a detour. Especially as its always good to do something new rather than a re-explore.
It was still daylight as we got there and began to explore the external of the building to find a way in. The place is surrounded by a corrugated steel fence supported by scaffolding poles. Although it was easy to climb over the gap between the fence and the church was full of stingers and sharp thorn bushes with no real way through and into the church.
We then changed tactics and tried another way. This was more than successful and albeit a little sketchy and dangerous, we managed to crawl in lol
Wow, our first church. It was a little worse for wear inside with scaffolding holding up the roof and various rotten holes in the floor, You can tell by how rotten it is inside why the powers that be want it pulled down. However, as rotten as it is its still beautiful inside and worth and explore. We climbed the various bits of scaffolding and had a general wander round inside. We found a few prayer books, hymn books and song sheets scattered around. It’s a shame that the benches and alter have been taken apart but I’m sure they will be used elsewhere.
The windows that hadn’t been broken where still amazing and I’m sure you will agree that it will be a crying shame to tear it down
Enjoy the pictures
