Welcome to the Colchester Civic Society Website
At the top of this page are links to information about our Society (if you are viewing on a phone click the button to reveal the list). Most importantly you will find pages dedicated to the work we do, the people involved and how you can join and support us.
Like the many Civic Societies that exist across the UK we aim to do what we can to help make our town a good place to live, work and visit. Our members monitor and comment on planning applications and the condition of our roads and buildings, we are actively engaged in heritage projects, tree planting, looking after our public footpaths and working to help keep the town tidy and well ordered. Recently we have been actively involved in objecting to the Alumno development, in contributing to the planning for the redevelopment of St. Botolph’s Roundabout and the restoration of the murals in the Southway underpasses. We also publish books and surveys and play a major part in Heritage Open Days. The erection of commemorative blue plaques is also an important part of our work and below you will find a link to our Plaque Trails.
We welcome new members regardless of whether or not they wish to become actively involved in our work. Simply contributing to our funds through the annual subscription is a great help in our work. In return members receive a twice yearly newsletter and the opportunity to join our outings and events. Single membership is £11 per year, joint membership is £16 and for businesses we offer a corporate membership at £40 per year.
A good way to gain some insight into our work is to attend one of our monthly meetings at Greyfriars Hotel (the first Monday in the month at 10am) where members bring a wide range of issues and concerns for discussion and our Chair woman Jo Edwards reports the ongoing work of the society and progress on recently raised issues. (PLEASE NOTE THESE MEETINGS HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED TEMPORARILY DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC)
You can contact Jo direct by phone on 07771626561
For general and membership enquiries please contact us by using this email link – info@colchestercivicsociety.co.uk
Links to pages detailing the work we are engaged in and how to join us are available here:
What We Do
Click on the button below to see the full list of pages outlining the work we do. This includes Conservation Work (as shown in the photo above), Planning, Highways, Licensing, Eyes and Ears, Commemorative Plaques, Public Footpaths, Trees, Street Naming, Publications and Heritage Open Days
Become a Member
Becoming a member is simple and costs just £11 per year for a single membership, £16 for a couple and £40 for a Business membership. Please join us.
The Colchester Plaque Trails
This is a unique achievement created by members of our society with the help of Placecheck Online. Three Plaque Trails have been created for the town and can be followed using online maps on your mobile phone.
Each trail not only shows the position of many of Colchester’s plaques on a map, but also provides a photo for each one, along with comprehensive information about the person or place commemorated.
Follow this link for the plaques trails. When you have opened up a Trail, simply touch the blue dots in turn to bring up each plaque and accompanying information.
Latest News
Tree Planting at Southway House
This is a photo of the London Plane tree which was recently damaged very badly and had to be felled’ after a summer storm. It was planted in memory of Jean Lamb, a long serving member of our executive committee. On Thursday 27th February 2025 members of our current committee planted a replacement. This
Looking Up At Colchester
Posted below is the information to accompany the Looking Up At Colchester page which came with the December 2024 Newsletter. If you wish to view the Looking Up At Colchester page then follow this link 20240724-LOOKING-UP-AT-COLCHESTER-__-revision-4-1.pdf Looking Up: information on places Site of the Roman and later North Gate, North Hill This was originally a
Heritage Open Days for 2024
The Colchester Civic Society, like Civic Societies throughout the country, is involved with Heritage Open Days. Our members steward a number of the properties open to visitors during this event at the beginning of September each year. Heritage Open Days in 2024 will be held on 6th-15th September. For full information of what’s on
The Colchester Sculpture Survey
We have a survey of Colchester’s Sculptures now available to view. The survey originated from a request by Simon Cairns, the Development and Planning Manager at the Planning Department for the Civic Society to consider such a piece of research . There are two sections to this survey. The first being publicly accessible sculptures across the
Visit to Cannock Mill Cohousing
Colchester Civic Society Visit to Cannock Mill Our visit to Cannock Mill and the cohousing scheme of which the mill is now a part was hosted by Colchester Civic Society member David York. Thanks to David and some of his fellow members of the community we were made very welcome and provided with accounts of
Colchester’s Great Winter Clean, 15th January to 15th February 2024
If you love Colchester and loathe litter, here is an opportunity to help towards making Colchester ‘Britain’s first recorded litter-free city.’ The aim is to remove all the old litter and rubbish blighting the Borough, including cleaning up the numerous grot-spots. The target is to fill 1,000 to 2,000 bags. Why in the middle