7 Council Reports Myland Heritage Group The Original Church of St Michael’s, Myland By the time you read this article, we hope to have installed an interpretation panel where the original church stood in Rectory Close off Mile End Road. This has been a joint project with Colchester Council Museum and Myland Community Council. There is a wealth of information about the original Church, its history and why it was replaced by the current St Michaels in a booklet, A History of the Parish of Myland, containing articles by Patrick Mills and Marjorie I Richardson. There are also one or two drawings of the original Church on the wall of the new St Michael’s. I have pinched one or two snippets from the booklet and taken a photo of one of the drawings to provide an outline history and image of the church. Interpretation panels have limited space and I hope this article helps to expand the story. Mile End became a separate parish by 1254, under the patronage of St Botolph’s Priory, until the Dissolution by King Henry VIII. The Church never prospered in its early days being in poor rural environment. In 1443, the living at St Michael’s was vacant because of its poverty. It is said that in 1648 southern Mile End was used for fortified encampments for Oliver Cromwell’s troops during the Siege of Colchester.
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