THE ESSEX CHURCHES SITE

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St Peter, Alresford

Alresford, pronounced Arls-f'd, is a large village sitting just outside of Wivenhoe and not far from Colchester, but far enough away from it not quite to be suburbia yet, even though it retains its railway station on the line to Clacton and Frinton. This small church was destroyed by fire in 1972, and they took the opportunity to build a new one half a mile off in the centre of the village. There's no doubt that twenty years later it would have been restored, but it is a good ruin, all exterior walls surviving in flint, ragstone and red brick, the window openings filling the ruin with light. Obviously Norman in origin with signs of later money spent on keeping it in fashion. This is still the parish burial ground, and you have to walk through the church from north porch to south porch to get to the modern graves, which is a nice touch. Rather a sad place, for all that. Alresford, pronounced Arls-f'd, is a big village, and you can't help thinking it must have lost a sense of its identity when it lost its old church. Simon Knott, August 2013

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