St Erkenwald's Church

In 1992 the Trust endeavoured to find a use for the redundant, Grade II*-listed St Erkenwald’s church in York Road, Southend-on-Sea, which was built in 1905 to the designs of the eminent architect, Sir Walter Tapper. The building had been bought by developers and was scheduled for demolition and replacement by flats. The Trust commissioned the architect, Chris Baranowski, to review options for the building and worked with Chris to identify potential new uses for it. The building was a difficult one to reuse, due to the vast space inside it and the regionally important Grade II* listing which made alterations to it problematic.

Despite the Trust’s actions, the feasibility study for new uses which Chris produced and the building’s listing status, the Borough Council and English Heritage both showed little interest in retaining it. A fire in 1995 sounded the death knell and it was duly demolished and replaced with flats by the developers.

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St Erkenwald’s church (Pic: www.essexchurches.info)