Earls Colne Heritage Museum

ABOUT US

Earls Colne Heritage Museum is located in The Old Water Tower of the former Atlas Works–the R.Hunt agricultural machinery foundry, which was pivotal to the development of the village from a purely agricultural to an industrial village in the 19th & 20th centuries.

Founded in 2005, the Museum is home to artefacts from the Neolithic to the 21st century and is also a centre for village historical and family research.

The Museum is actively engaged with the village and beyond, with a programme of walks, talks, school visits and liaison with other village organizations and also with other museums.

The Museum welcomes both visitors and online enquiries.

LANCASTER MEMORIAL

On the 20th September 2024 the Museum unveiled a memorial to the 15 aircrew of Lancaster LM167 & LL802, killed exactly 80 years prior as the result of a tragic mid-air collision above the fields of Earls Colne & Great Tey. CLICK HERE for the story of the accident and the Memorial.

Earls Colne in Earliest Times

In Roman times this part of Essex was occupied by a native tribe called the Trinovantes. The tribal centre, that we know as Colchester and which they called Cumulodunum, became the capital of the Roman province.

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Re-used Roman bricks

Tile and brick production has been a long-established local industry and re-used Roman bricks have been identified in the base of the tower of St. Andrew’s Church, Earls Colne

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The Atlas Works and the Hunt Family

Robert Hunt, a travelling millwright, settled in Earls Colne in 1824. His first workshop was on the Green, next to the Baptist Church.

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The Second World War

Earls Colne aerodrome played a significant part in the air campaign during the Second World War.
Construction of the runways started in 1941 and the Royal Air Force was using the aerodrome within 18 months.

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Earls Colne Heritage Museum

Tucked away in Earls Colne, this museum in a WaterTower is a hidden little gem!

Earls Colne Heritage Museum

3 weeks ago

A Year of Major Activity at The Museum in the Water tower – Earls Colne Heritage Museum echm.org.uk/ - the report presented at the Annual Parish Meeting 29th May:Good evening, everyone. It's been a busy and exciting year for The Museum in the Water tower. 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀: 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗲 – 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱.Many of you may not know that the museum is now an independent charity, governed by a dedicated team of 8 trustees. tinyurl.com/ECHMCharitycommission2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the Museum’s opening and to ensure our future – as the owner wishes to sell the building - we've submitted a bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for £250,000. This funding is crucial for acquiring, renovating, and re-interpreting the Museum to 21st century standards. This was no small undertaking; the bid process involved hundreds of hours of voluntary work, spearheaded by Colin Cannings. We also received invaluable assistance from Hobbs Estates, and external support from our MP Priti Patel, the Museum of Power and Debbie Thomas, their museum manager, who gave us many hours of valuable assistance, based on their successful £1m NLHF application. We are currently awaiting the decision from the NLHF, due within the next 4 weeks. We have until May 2026 to raise the minimum £110,000 needed to acquire the building, otherwise we are a Museum without a home.In terms of honouring our village's heritage, our volunteer base has grown significantly to now over 20. These dedicated volunteers fill a variety of roles, - museum attendants, researchers, guides, creative designers, speakers, school liaison, maintenance personnel, and communications specialists managing our website and social media presence. Our volunteers’ range in age from 25 to 80+, and include individuals with significant expertise, such as Keturah Sargeant, who holds an MA in Museum Studies, and volunteers travelling to support the Museum from Stanway and Great Tey. The team is highly motivated and find the activities both rewarding and enjoyable.This increased volunteer support has allowed us to extend our opening hours to Wednesdays from 2-4 PM and weekends from 12-4 PM, which has resulted in increased visitor numbers. Our activities over the past year have been diverse and engaging. We've hosted visits from notable figures like Priti Patel, as well as groups such as the Farm Machinery Preservation society, Classic Car Clubs, U3A, and the ROMEO group. We've also visited other museums, including Harwich Museum, and participated in quarterly Museums Essex meetings, Heritage Days, and maintained a liaison with Halstead Museum. Our events have been particularly successful. Our D-Day 80th anniversary talk drew 200 attendees at the Essex Country Club and another 80 at the Village Hall. In July we continued our twenty-year tradition of hosting visits from Year 4 primary school students- taking two full mornings. We participated in the 4 Colnes Show, and completed a major project on September 20th 2024, to create a War memorial in honour of fifteen Lancaster aircrew who had been killed overhead Earls Colne exactly 80 years prior.This event was attended by 150 people, including two sons of the fallen airmen and 30 relatives from around the country, plus RAF/RNZAF/RCAF personnel. The event was livestreamed and watched by hundreds, as far away as New Zealand. We extend our thanks to everyone who supported this project – both financially and their expertise to make this a reality. The booklet “Fifteen Remembered” has sold over 200 copies and is about to go for its third reprint. echm.org.uk/lancaster-lm167-ll802-memorial/We participated in Remembrance Sunday, specifically honouring the 100 airmen of 323rd BG USAAF who lost their lives while serving at Earls Colne airfield, and Our "Operation Varsity/SAS in Essex" talks in March were incredibly well-attended, with over 400 people joining us for two talks – at the Colne Valley Golf Club and the Essex Country Club - featuring the Rosemary Britten story brought to life which was particularly well received. This story of the one WAAF who flew on this operation will shortly be available on our Youtube channel. www.youtube.com/@EarlsColneHeritageMuseumHere in the village, we have now recommenced John's very popular "Out and About" walks, with all walkers now equipped with a professional tour guide headphone system, allowing all to easily hear John’s dulcet tones. This system was kindly funded by Karen Ransom Harris from the USA, daughter of Robert Ransom, who was based at the EC airfield in WW2.We've established a formal liaison with Essex Libraries to display and store Museum books and artefacts, and John hosts a weekly "Ask John" session.Earlier this month, with financial support from the ECPC, we led the programme to celebrate VE80, our part being focused on the Primary School with over 400 children visiting our gazebo in the playground. Each child received a flag, an old pre-1945 penny and a museum bookmark, with prizes for the best-dressed! In the afternoon we collaborated with the Earls Colne Women's Institute, whose cupcake sales raised £250 for the primary school’s swimming pool fund. We also gave a talk in front of 50 people on the Friday.Other activities include the launch of our YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/@EarlsColneHeritageMuseum the first video being a visit to St. Andrews Church tower, focusing on accessibility, and then a project called "Timekeepers of Earls Colne," documenting the art of the parish clock maintenance and recognizing the contributions of the volunteer timekeepers over the last 140 years. The most recent has been the digitisation and then uploading of a VHS video depicting the closure of the Atlas Works, its dereliction, an employee’s Reunion in 1998 and then the commencement of the Wimpey development in 2003. By today this has been viewed over 350 times, demonstrating the interest in the village’s history. tinyurl.com/atlasworks1988We're also working to honour Mary Gee, a major 19th-century benefactor, with a Blue Plaque at Colne House. This project – the Essex Women’s Commemoration Project tinyurl.com/EWCP2025 is being led by the Lord Lieutenant Jennifer Tolhurst, with the support of the Essex Heritage Trust and the current owners of Colne House, Kingsley Healthcare. In September 2024 we successfully applied for a £2500 grant from Braintree District Council through their Community Garden and Open Spaces Fund to install information boards and enhance the Atlas Park Gardens which had sadly deteriorated over the last 20 years. This project is ongoing and has committed us to several hundred man-hours of work in collaboration with the Four Colnes Horticultural Society. An unexpected benefit was the recovery, restoration, and reinstallation of the Twinning Association sign for the commemorative tree planted in 2006 – celebrating their 30th anniversary, this year being their 50th anniversary. echm.org.uk/atlas-gardens/Furthermore, in liaison with St. Andrews, we have re-installed the signage for the commemorative tree planted in the Churchyard in 1992 by the 323rd Bombardment Group. tinyurl.com/323rdtreeOur digitisation program includes scanning the Parish Council Minutes from 1901 to preserve records for historical research and to prevent further loss – unfortunately we've identified 40 years' of missing PC minutes, now lost to history. We have the same programme for the Parish Magazines and we're also working on digitizing Primary School log and registration books dating back to the 1860s that we have located and are sadly deteriorating. We've assisted new homeowners with researching the history of their houses, most recently Colne Priory and The Limes. Our social media presence continues to grow, with now over 1000 followers on Facebook and Instagram www.facebook.com/earlscolneheritagemuseum/Current projects include completing the storyboard project at the Atlas gardens, updating the Village Trail, enhancing Year 4 school visits (involving 60 children), renovating signage for the Milepost at Colne Place and the Millennium Cross at Colne Priory, and the Mary Gee Blue Plaque project. In summary, it's been a year of significant progress, and we have our fingers crossed for continued success, We look forward to seeing you at future events and please do come visit the Museum – it’s your Museum and your Heritage to enjoy and protect.Gordon BrownChair of TrusteesEarls Colne Heritage MuseumMay 29th 2025. ... See MoreSee Less

Atlas Works Closure - auction, dereliction, reunion and rebirth

tinyurl.com

The Atlas Works - 3 segments:A video compiled by the late Mrs Barbara Arthy 1988-20031988 - closure and auction of the contents - excellent views of workshop...

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Earls Colne Heritage Museum is at Earls Colne Heritage Museum.

4 weeks ago

John’s next “out and about” will be on Saturday 21st June. Limited to 20 and only 10 tickets still available. Don’t miss this - this is a new walk past some of the oldest buildings in the village. Want to be on the advance list to get early notice of events? Sign-up here: echm.org.uk/sign-up/ ... See MoreSee Less

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Earls Colne Heritage Museum

4 weeks ago

youtube.com/@earlscolneheritagemuseum?si=XeMbF-pREjNrRXzf ... See MoreSee Less

Earls Colne Heritage Museum

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Channel for the Earls Colne Heritage Museum, to allow global viewing of presentations/talks and research

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HOW TO FIND US

Opening Hours

Open every Saturday & Sunday 12.00 pm – 4.00 pm

Wednesdays 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm

Did you know that ECHM has its own Youtube Channel?

CLICK HERE to view!

Travelling from the West (Halstead):
About 100 yards past the Zebra Crossing,
take the first right into Massingham Drive
keep on this road and the museum is on your left.

Travelling from the east via Earls Colne High Street:
Take the second left after the Zebra Crossing into Massingham Drive,
keep on this road and the museum is on your left.
On a lamppost opposite the turn into Massingham Drive
is a small brown sign pointing to the museum.