Birch History - with some Layer Breton and Layer Marney

Essex villages a few miles southwest of Colchester

August 2023 - Birch Church
The church closed to public worship in 1990 as the building was becoming dangerous. There have been various plans for the building over the years, but they have come to nought and the building is threatened with imminent demolition.
A campaign is under way to prevent this happening -
See saveourspire.com (opens in new window)

Centenary Chronicles from Parish Magazine
Articles on local history published 1995 to 2013

The Fallen of Birch, Layer Breton, Layer Marney and Layer de la Haye in two World Wars
Parishioners Service in the Great War

Birch Airfield

Glimpses into History
Birch, Layer Breton and Layer Marney, by Jean Eames. 1988.

1950s Birch - article by Tony Millatt
Growing up in Birch in the 1950s. The village as it was...

Millennium Map Birch Layer Breton and Layer Marney

Your Essex - At Birch - Cyril R. Jefferies - 1930s
Your Essex - At Layer Breton - Cyril R. Jefferies - 1930s

The Luards - an appreciation by Jimmy Round

Owen Ellis papers
Owen wrote many short stories and poems, some of them based on in younger days in Birch

Pictures of Birch

We have over 500 Pictures of the Essex village of Birch, many of them from a collection made by Pat Adkins in the 1990s.

Click on a link below to see the pictures or to read more on Birch history

Birch

  - Buildings

  - Birch Churches

  - Events

  - Birch Hall

  - Hardy's Green

  - People

  - Road Scenes

  - School

  - Sport

  - Other

Layer Breton

Layer Marney


Many of these images were on a "Pictures of Birch" website.
For some background, see PBS_011