Old Heath
Encyclopedia
Old Heath is a parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 that is south-east of Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...

, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England.

Old Heath has existed since Saxon times and was originally called 'Old Hythe' because it was the first port of Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...

, before Hythe (called Newehethe in 1311) took over: hythe derives from the Old English word for 'landing place'.

Church

Old Heath has a parish church (CofE) called St Barnabas's and also a small Congregational chapel known as the 'tin tabernacle
Tin tabernacle
Tin tabernacles were a type of prefabricated building made from corrugated iron developed in the mid 19th century initially in Great Britain. Corrugated iron was first used for roofing in London in 1829 by Henry Robinson Palmer and the patent sold to Richard Walker who advertised "portable...

'. The original church of St Barnabas was demolished in 1949 after being declared unsafe.

Chronology

1950 - Rev'd George Cooper becomes the vicar of Old Heath after it was granted full Parish status.

10th August 1955 - The new church was dedicated after the old church was declared unsafe in 1949.

1957 - Rev'd Timothy House becomes the new vicar.

1959 - St. Barnabas gets consecrated.

1971 - Rev'd Edward Stevart becomes the new vicar.

1976 - Rev'd John McCulloch becomes the new vicar.

1978 - Rev'd John Scott becomes the new vicar.

1982 - Rev'd Brian Lewis becomes the new vicar.

1984 - All rights and privileges of a Parish granted, the Clergy are granted a ‘living’
and the Priest in charge becomes Vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

.

1988 - Rev'd Peter Walker becomes the new vicar.

1990 - Old Heath celebrates 40 years of being a Parish.

1994 - Rev'd Robert Beaken becomes the new vicar.

2000 - To tie in with the millennium, Old Heath has a celebration of '50 Years of being a Parish and 2000 years of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

.

2003 - Father Richard Tillbrook becomes the new vicar (incumbent).

2004 - St. Barnabas church gets a new icon installed.

2006 - Old Heath gets a clear identity by the erection of ‘Welcome signs’ incorporating the coat of arms for the parish.

2007 - Church hall refurbished and dedicated by the Bishop of Richborough.

2007 - New Community hall opened by the Bishop of Colchester. The refurbishment brings the piece of land and the hall on the site back into community use after many years of dereliction.

Logo

The logo depicts a ship sailing upon the waves and bears two sails each with a coat of arms.
Old Heath is derived from the original Old Hythe or the first Port of Colchester which was located within the parish boundaries of Old Heath. The Port on this location can be traced back to Saxon times.
The ship, therefore, represents the fact that Old Heath was the port and still has an active Quayside at King Edward and Haven Quays, both located in the parish. More modern political boundaries have tended to count this part of Old Heath with the part generally known as ‘The Hythe’ in the Parish of New Town as if they were all part of the same community (which politicians call Harbour) but this is not so and the parish boundaries are clearly marked by our ‘Welcome to Old Heath’ signs. Old Heath developed as a separate village beyond the boundaries of Colchester.
The two sails of the ship carry the Arms of Colchester and St.Barnabas. Colchester’s Arms represent the ‘True Cross’ of Jesus because it is believed that St.Helena (Patron Saint of Colchester) visited Colchester. St.Helena claimed to have discovered the true cross upon which Jesus was crucified when she was visiting the Holy sites in and around Jerusalem. St.Helena was the mother of the Emperor Constantine and Colchester was a Roman City.
The forward sail is the Coat of Arms of St.Barnabas who is the Patron Saint of Old Heath. St.Barnabas is known as ‘The Son of Consolation’ and it may be that he became Patron for Old Heath because we were located in the poor part of what was becoming the big and rich Town of Colchester. St.Barnabas is said to bring comfort and hope to the poor.

This sign appears on all buildings for community use in Old Heath , on the signs welcoming you into the parish from every direction and all on correspondence from the Vicarage and from the Community Task group.

Services

Old Heath has four regular bus services to and from Colchester town centre, a post office, a local Co-op., a butcher, a baker and a greengrocer. It also has a fish and chip shop to the south of the village, and a small garage.

Old Heath's primary school children are served by Old Heath School which was awarded a 'good' status by OFSTED
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

.

Old Heath is also home to a military firing range, that the public are allowed to access when the red flag is not flying

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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