History, SOS, Birch InSpire
The Church of St Peter and St Paul, (Birch Church, School Hill, Birch CO2 0NA) was designed by the famous victorian architect, SS Teulon, in 1850. It holds a significant place in the region’s heritage as a prominent grade II listed local landmark. The eminent art and architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, described the church as having ‘a silent finger pointing to heaven’. The church was initially constructed by the local Round family, (along with Birch Primary School, opposite) and was donated to the Church of England. It was closed for public worship in 1990.
Since then, various projects to save it have failed, and Chelmsford Diocese has said that it has been left with no option other than to demolish the church. Following the most recent announcement of imminent demolition in July 2023, a small group of campaigners, SOS Save Our Spire, came together to see how demolition could be avoided. They undertook an initial consultation to gauge local support. The survey of Birch and Layer Breton residents undertaken in August 2023 showed 88% of local residents in favour of saving all / part of the church and minimally the spire. Just 7% were in favour of demolition and a replacement memorial garden. (This was on a 37% return of surveys, a relatively good percentage for a manual survey.)
SOS then formed a small group of campaigners to 1) get a stay of execution on the demolition and 2) obtain a dialogue with the Church Commissioners / Chelmsford Diocese. They quickly met with local MP Dame Priti Patel, who leant her strong support to the campaign. She gained early press coverage for SOS and obtained a dialogue with both the Church Commissioners and Chelmsford Diocese on their behalf.
Prior to the first meeting between SOS and Chelmsford Diocese, some 80 estate agent-style boards were displayed in local residents’ properties and surrounding areas to promote local awareness. SOS staged a silent protest of 250 local people which was extensively covered on both BBC and ITV local television news, together with full and front page spreads in local newspapers.
SOS then held two meetings with Chelmsford Diocese and the Church Commissioners in the autumn of 2023 to discuss options moving forward. In December 2023 the Chelmsford Diocesan Board of Finance (CDBF) trustees voted to allow SOS more time to work on a plan to save Birch Church from demolition.
Formation of Birch InSpire
Following the work of SOS, it became apparent that a group of business professionals would be needed in order to formulate a plan of action going forward. A request for help was publicised locally and, in February 2024, a public meeting was held, assisted by the Head of Essex County Council, Cllr Kevin Bentley.
Seven people came forward with various areas of business expertise and Birch InSpire was formed. The Birch InSpire team is: Cllr Kevin Bentley, (Charity Patron & Head of Essex County Council), Loess Overbury-Tapper (Chair and former Co-Chair of SOS), Brian Tobin (Vice Chair), Paul Sturgeon (Treasurer), Andy Culhane, Dale Rogers (former Co-Chair of SOS) and John Cowie. We also work closely with Paul Bowman, CEO of Designsplus Architects. Paul sits on the board of North Essex Heritage, who have worked on Birch Church for many years, and so is very familiar with the history of the church.
Initial discussions between Birch InSpire and Chelmsford Diocese included what could be appropriately housed in any part of the building that could be saved. A presentation was made to a large number of trustees from the Chelmsford Diocesan Board of Finance (CDBF) in July 2024. CDBF then voted to form a sub-committee, with which Birch InSpire could more easily work, and they also granted us some more time. A set of 6 month objectives were then agreed between the CBDF sub-committee and Birch InSpire in December 2024.
Local Consultation Survey - December 2024
It was agreed by all that a local consultation survey needed to take place to ascertain what the local community would like to see as an end use, for any part of the building that could be saved. We also asked the community how likely they would be to use anything that was suggested. The survey was undertaken in December 2024 and distributed manually to Birch and Layer Breton and was published online on the Facebook pages for Colchester, Stanway, Layer de la Haye and Tiptree. Of the 420 returned surveys, 88% supported retaining some / all of the church, minimally the spire, 7% supported demolition, and 5% expressed no opinion.
The most popular end-use options were a Community Shop and a Café, together with broad support for varied forms of smaller community space, primarily for health and wellbeing. A number of other ideas and suggestions were put forward which could be included in combination with the three options above.
We also received many offers of help for any project going forward. If you would like to see a summary copy of the survey results, giving more detailed information on the above, please email birchinspire@gmail.com
Additionally, parking and access are seen to be of crucial importance to any project going forward. Consultation is taking place with the Parochial Church Council (PCC) regarding access from the front of the church, with parking on the right-hand (south) side. The PCC has agreed in principle, pending a number of considerations.
Architectural Visit
Our architect, Paul Bowman, from Designsplus, together with structural engineer Ed Morton, from The Morton Partnership, visited the church in February 2025 to ascertain which parts of the church could be saved. Paul advised that most of the church was supported by scaffolding and in a grave state of disrepair. It was believed that these parts could not be saved cost effectively. However, he advised that two important parts of the church could be saved – the spire and the chancel.
The Vision
Preserving the Past, Enriching the Present, Inspiring the Future
Following the results of the local consultation survey and the architectural visit, Birch InSpire is excited to propose a vision of what the project could look like going forward.
Minimally, we need to save the all-important spire, which is the iconic landmark of Birch and the surrounding communities. Additionally we are proposing a "café with a soul" to be located in the restored 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-like café 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 could 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 less than 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, whilst engaging local businesses in a profitable local community project.
Going Forward
We have lots of work to do, including discussions with Planning and more consultation with the Parochial Church Council on access and parking within the church site. Vitally, we need to complete the all-important business plan. We are currently working on this plan, which will show the financial viability for both the restoration capital (restoring as much of the church as we can) and and on-going maintenance (keeping the buildings running in the future) phases. And finally, of course we need to raise funds. We have already started initial informal conversations with large funding bodies, such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Chelmsford Diocese have granted us until mid-January 2026 to provide a fully costed business plan and to also have had initial, in principle discussions with the National Lottery and Colchester Planning.
We have had a highly constructive meeting with Colchester City Council Planning (September 2025). They were delighted with our community-led plans for restoring both the spire and chancel and they look forward to working with us going forward.
We are also really excited to have Historic England join our list of supporters! They visited us here in Birch (October 2025) in order to talk more extensively with them about our ongoing partial restoration plans. They were delighted to see all the progress that has been made over the last two years and are considering what support they will be able to offer in future.
Following our meetings with the National Lottery Heritage Fund in October and November 2025, we submitted our all-important Business Plan to the Chelmsford Diocesan Board of Finance in early February 2026. Chelmsford Diocese approved the plan as a basis for our work going forward. Critically, Chelmsford Diocese have also agreed to contribute £300,000 (about 10%) of the project’s estimated cost, at just over £3,000,000. This is vital because the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) will require us to match fund a minimum of 10% of the total grant amount. The diocesan contribution is on condition that we are successful in securing NLHF funding.
Additionally, Chelmsford Diocese will be working with Church Commissioners to look at ecclesiastical law changes to the pastoral scheme associated with the church demolition. We would like to express our enormous gratitude to Chelmsford Diocese for their support over the last 2+ years and most particularly for their substantial offer. Without this offer on the table, we would have struggled to proceed with fund-raising work.
The focus will now be on raising NLHF funding and on working to their timeframes. We shall be reporting quarterly to the Diocese on our progress.
This will be a long and demanding project. But, it 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 birchinspire@gmail.com
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Birch InSpire is a registered charity, number 1214106