Holy fury! Church of England under fire after backing plans to demolish historic Essex church and replace it with memorial garden instead

• The Church of England has ordered St Pauls church in Birch to be demolished 
• Local college lecturer Mark Goacher has slammed the church for its plans 

Top clerics have been accused of ‘cultural vandalism’ for ordering a village church to be demolished because they say they haven’t got the money to repair it.

The Grade Two listed St Peter’s and St Pauls church in Birch, near Colchester, Essex, is more than 170 years old but was closed in 1990.

The Diocese of Chelmsford has now said that with ‘considerable disappointment’ a lack of funds mean it must be knocked down and replaced with a memorial garden.

But college lecturer Mark Goacher has described the demolition as ‘disgusting’ as he called on the Church of England to use its wealth to repair the building.

He accused the Church of failing to act as a ‘good custodian’ of historic buildings as he claimed reaction to the plans had been ‘subdued’ as the church is in a rural area. 

College lecturer Mark Goacher (pictured) slammed the plans to demolish St Pauls church in Birch, Essex

The Church of England have ordered St Pauls in Birch, Essex to be demolished due to lack of funds to repair it

Mark Goacher called the Church of England’s decision to demolish St Pauls ‘cultural vandalism’

‘The upcoming demolition of Birch Church is cultural vandalism,’ Mr Goacher said on Twitter.

‘If there were similar plans to demolish a listed building in the centre of Colchester there would be uproar but because it is in a rural area, the reaction is much more subdued.’

‘The Church of England is not acting as a good custodian of our historic buildings- churches like this need to be used – at the centre of village activity – they should be at the heart of the community.’ 

‘The Church Of England is very wealthy and should be using that wealth to look after our heritage buildings,’ he added. 

Julie Young, a Labour councillor on Colchester Borough council said she had been baptised at the Birch church, was a member of the choir, was married at the church and members of her family were also buried in the church graveyard.

She said people had been trying to raise money for repairs to the church for 50 years but ‘it wasn’t possible to raise what was needed to do those repairs – I will be very sad not to see that spire on the landscape but the memorial garden will at least be something.’

St Pauls church in Birch has fallen into disrepair and the Church of England has now ordered for it to be demolished 

The DIocese of Chelmsford said plans to find alternative uses for St Pauls were ultimately found to be unfeasible

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Chelmsford said: ‘We have worked closely with the local community and the church commissioners for more than three decades to find alternative uses for St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Birch.

‘A number of solutions were put forward during this period and it is a cause of considerable disappointment for the diocese that none of these solutions was ultimately feasible.

‘Unfortunately the Diocese of Chelmsford does not have anything like the funds needed to carry out such a large scale restoration.’

A spokesman for Colchester City Council said: ‘With great reluctance and considerable regret, the council decided not to oppose plans by the church commissioners to demolish St Peter’s.

‘This was not a decision taken lightly, because we are committed to celebrating the history of Colchester and had worked for many years with the owners to find an alternative use for the building that would preserve its historic integrity and important role as a landmark.’

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