Our Conservation Work
Colchester Civic Society has a long history of involvement in conservation projects, from the Scheregate Improvement scheme and the Cannock Mill/Bourne Mill project of the 1960’s, through to the Southway Murals Restoration in 2018 and the current project to repaint Colchester’s Cast Iron Lampposts.
St Botolph’s Priory and the graves of Captain Jesse Jones, Dr Roger Nunn M.D. and William Warwick Hawkins M.P.
The Colchester Civic Society, in conjunction with Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service and Colchester Borough Council, has been working towards the achievement of two projects with the aim of raising knowledge and interest in the Priory and its grounds.
The first stage involved the installation of an Interpretation Board explaining the significance of three of the most notable residents buried here and where their graves are placed.
The second stage, completed in October 2022, involved the restoration of the grave of Jesse Jones. For full details of both projects follow the link.
The Bourne Mill Cannock Mill Project
This was one of the societies earliest and most significant conservation projects, completed almost fifty years ago and two members of our current executive committee have been associated with the society long enough to have played a small part in this.
The Society bought the land between Bourne Mill and Cannock Mill, cleared the stream of vast quantities of rubbish, cut back undergrowth and restored the footpath so that its future as a properly maintained public open space could be assured. The land is now in the care of the Borough Council and as the photos below demonstrate they have continued to keep the path , with its long sections of boardwalk, in good order.
Colchester's Cast Iron Lampposts
A survey in 2019 by Robert Mercer established that Colchester had 300 unique cast iron lampposts, plus around thirty more bought in from sources outside of the town. (you will find a link for the survey at the bottom of the page) The Colchester cast iron lampposts were made for the Borough Council by a number of Colchester Foundries during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. The pattern, or wooden former used to produce these castings was owned by Colchester Borough Council and passed to the foundry which had the current contract to supply castings for the street lighting. Originally these would have all been for gas lights, but in due course they were converted to electric lighting.
The Southway Murals
Colchester Civic Society in collaboration with Colchester in Bloom began fundraising in 2014 in order to restore the series of concrete murals produced by husband and wife team Henry Collins and Joyce Pallot, which were installed in Colchester’s Southway Subways in 1973 -1974.
A grant from Essex Heritage Trust enabled feasibility work and initial restoration of the Abbeygate Street Mural. The full restoration of all the subway murals was made possible by a £55,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and also a grant from The Hervey Benham Trust.