From Ron Green and Tony Millatt, Mersea Museum

Having seen the scaffolding on the church tower recently, it reminded me of the extensive work we did in the winter of 1951/52 when I was an apprentice working for Clifford White & Co., who had estimated the work on the tower to cost £1,260. This was accepted in 1951. It involved the complete removal of the top of the tower including the roof and battlements. The ornate weather vane was in a poor state and was taken to our yard to be repaired by our plumbers. The centre post on which the vane was mounted was rotten so it was scrapped, and was replaced by huge baulk of timber measuring some 10 inches square by 12 to 15 feet long. This had been salvaged from the old Tollesbury Pier which was being removed at the time. Tollesbury Pier was completed in 1907 so this wood was probably greenheart and has been exposed to the elements for almost 120 years. How much longer will it last I wonder?

Steel beams (RSJs) were inserted to support the new roof on the tower and the post for the weather vane. Other RSJs were inserted lower down to support the belfry. We had no mechanical means of getting the post and the RSJs to the top of the tower - it was all done by wooden blocks and ropes.

The architects were Messrs Duncan Clark and Beckett. The men working on the job were Les Green foreman, Jack Cudmore, Sid Stoker, Ron D'wit, Percy Green, Hector Hewes, Horace Mole, Dennis Coates, Peter Tucker, Fred Gasson and myself. There were probably others who I've forgotten.

At some time over the next 30 or so years, the weather vane was removed. Bill Clarry and Stanley Hills lived nearby and about 1980 Bill said to Stanley it would be nice to see a weather vane up there, as there used to be. Bill died in 1983 at the age of 99. After Bill's death, Stanley thought over Bill's words, and approached Hervey Benham to design a new weather vane, based on the outline of a local fishing smack. This Hervey Benham did, and John Woods built a new weather vane in 1985. David Mussett and the local Fire Brigade put the weather vane in place - but it did not follow the wind very well. It was redesigned - a lighter vane with the rig of the smack reduced - and there it then remained faithfully following the wind.

In 2025, it was realised that the top of the baulk of wood supporting the weather vane was rotting. The weather vane was removed, and the top 3 feet of the post cut off, fortunately revealing sound wood. The weather vane went off to Ferretti ironworks. The vane was cleaned and painted. The N E S W arms were found to be in poor condition and new ones were built. A tube was added to support the weather vane, taking it back to its original height above the ground, and a steel cap was constructed to go over the post. The team assembled on 17th July 2025 to put the weather vane back in place. When drilling holes in the post, they could smell the creosote with which it was impregnated 120 years earlier.

It was a local project. Ironwork by the Ferretti Company Ltd. and scaffolding by Mersea Island Scaffolding Services, all organised by the Fabric Committee, with Pete Easy, Pete Rudlin, Mick Cross, Garry Mussett and others helping. The funds were raised by Friends of West Mersea Parish Church.

Les Green and Ron Green up the tower, around January 1952

David Mussett painting the pole 1985

Adam Ferretti, Charles Carter, Lino Ferretti July 2025

Published in Mersea Community Life August 2025 page 66.