St John's logo - a stylised S & J combined to make a cross.

Developments @ St John’s

As the parish church of Old Moulsham, we are developing the church and the churchyard to be both somewhere to worship God and a hub for the community. St John’s is a welcoming, inclusive church centrally positioned on Moulsham Street, with its many shops and museum, but there’s no real centre – until now.

We began with our child-friendly community café – JubiLatte – and now developments in the churchyard are progressing well.

We are looking forward to welcoming the community to see what we have done when we open the Green Space on Saturday 14 June 2025. But if you cannot wait until then to see what has been done, keep reading.

We’d love to hear what you think so far so please help us by completing our short survey.

This is where we’ve reached in June 2025

The Green Space is open!

We celebrated the grand opening with a Green Fair on 13 June 2025. Hundreds of people came to experience a haven for nature within Old Moulsham. They listened to stories, played games and ate food.

Come and visit. Take a walk around or follow the prayer walk. Most of the benches are now in and the paths are complete. Work isn’t quite finished but its a lovely place to pass through or take time to linger.

Here are some photos from the day.

Archdeacon Jonathan Croucher speaks into a microphone at a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside St John's church. A crowd of people stands behind him, and pink bunting decorates the scene. A woman in a pink dress stands to the side reading from notes.
People sit on benches and chat in a garden full of tall wildflowers and grasses. Some are engaged in conversation while others look at their phones. The atmosphere is quiet and relaxed, with lush greenery behind them.
A lively crowd enjoys a summer fair in the grounds of a church, with stalls, yoga participants, and people browsing items under white gazebos. Trees and a blue sky frame the cheerful, bustling atmosphere.
Two women stand behind a table covered in containers of food and drink, offering refreshments at the green fair. Other attendees chat nearby, under bunting. The setting is sunny with dappled tree shade.
Five adults pose and smile for a photo beside a raised garden bed. They are wearing name badges. They include the Mp for Chelmsford Marie Goldman and Mayor of Chelmsford Councillor Jannetta Sosin. Behind them is a tree-lined gravel path and residential buildings in the distance.
A man in sunglasses reads aloud from a picture book to a group of children and adults seated outdoors on woodchip ground under trees, with dense green hedging in the background. The scene has a casual, community feel.

The mosaic has been revealed

A rectangular mosaic art piece mounted on an old brick wall. The background is painted sky-blue and filled with stylized, teardrop-shaped leaf motifs in white, each inlaid with jewel-tone tiles of red, blue, green and yellow. A flowing yellow ribbon weaves across the panel, edged in black tiles, bearing the words in dark serif letters: “Peace I leave with you My peace I give to you Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” To the right, a circular mandala of concentric rings of colorful tiles echoes the ribbon’s curve, and smaller dot motifs scatter around the edges.

We were delighted to welcome over 140 guests to the official unveiling of our new centrepiece in the Quiet Garden—a stunning mosaic created by artist Peter Harrington. The artwork was revealed by Peter alongside the Mayor at the time, Councillor Janette Potter. A poem penned by Year 2 pupils from Oaklands Infant School was read to mark the occasion. Bishop Adam spoke thoughtfully on the gift of peace and led everyone in a time of sharing, closing the ceremony with prayers for our community.

Six adults stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a gravel courtyard before the same mosaic panel mounted on a brick wall. From left to right: a woman in a light-colored clerical jacket; a man in a mustard sweater; a bishop in purple robes holding a staff; two women wearing formal dresses and mayoral chains; and a woman in a bright striped sweater and pink scarf. Behind them, a brick wall and leafless tree branches frame the scene.

An old wall has been restored in preparation for the mosaic.

A photograph of the old wall in the south section of the churchyard. It is a mixture of red bricks at the bottom and lighter bricks at the top. The wall has holes where bricks are missing. Two men can be seen working on the wall. One to the left crouched down and one to the right standing up. In the foreground are two headstones and to the right is another.

More than 350 adults and children have been involved in its design and creation. It was completed by the artist Peter Harrington who designed the mosaic.

A section mosaic tiles sit on a slab on a table. The tiles are in the shape of an eye with white tiles on the outer edge, then a band of black tiles. a thicker band of red tiles and finally white and blue tiles towards the centre the middle is yet to be finished.
A woman sits ata a table placing mosaic tiles in a pattern. She is wearing glasses, a white coat and a black and white top

Community beds

Our community vegetable beds have been built

A photograph of the three new raised beds. They are made of wood and full of soil. In the background are three trees two with no leaves the other an evergreen. You can also see and the south side of the church. A new shingle path runs around the beds and winds off to the left toward the front of the church.

And thank you to the pupils from St Anne’s Preparatory School on New London Road who helped us with the planting both here and in the new gardens.

Children gathered around a raised garden bed filled with soil, planting and carefully tending to seedlings outdoors.
Four children working intently at a raised garden bed, planting bulbs and seeds, with a church building visible in the background.
A group of children and an adult planting various plants in a marked flowerbed area, working together enthusiastically outdoors.
Group of smiling children and adults posing happily in front of a brick wall, wearing coats and gardening gloves, holding gardening tools.

New walkways

Firm paths are replacing the old muddy walkways

A photograph of one of the old pathways of worn grass. A person can be seen walking in the distance and there are two headstones to the left of the path.
A photograph of an overhead view of the new pathways. The dark stone path winds up the south side of the church.Grass and soil can be seen to the left and right of the path and a corer of the church can be seen in the foreground.

A new door

A new door has been put in on the north side

A photo of the new door. It is light wood door in the shape of a pointed arch. It has five panels of glass. Two large ones at the bottom topped with pointed arches and and theress above in the arch of the door itself. the middle one is like a narrow hexagon and either side are filled in with small truiangles of glass. The stonework around the door looks new and is a light sandy colour.
A photo looking from inside the church through the archway that has been made for the door. There is rought brinkwork surrounding the archway and outside there is black tarpaulin and wooden sheets on the grass. Trees and headstones can be seen in the distance.
A photo looking into the church from the outside. It shows a very rough hole in the brickwork. the remains of the old windows can be seen at the top of the doorway and a lintel sits a small way down from the top of the gap. A scaffolding tower is in the right of the picture in front of the gap.
A picture of the north side of the church before the new doorway was made. There are four pointed arched windows along the main wall and then two sets of two smaller arched windows on the side of the transept. In front of the church is grass and a couple of headstones. A tree can be seen one the left of the picture framing the transept.

The door has been installed as a new emergency exit but there are plans to use it as an alternative entrance and help make the church building a more flexible space.

Demolition complete

The old boiler house has been demolished

A photograph of the out-house against the north wall of the church. The building is built of brick with a rusting corrugated iron roof. There is Ivy growing up the outside wall.
A photograph of the partially demolished boiler house on the north wall of the church towards the back of the building. You can see the rafters of the squat single storey outhouse and the remains of some of the wall covered in ivy.
A photograph of the partially demolished boiler house on the north wall of the church but looking from the west. More of the wall has been demolished and the ivy lies on the ground amongst a pile of bricks. Bare rafters and a small amount of wall can be seen on the last of the outhouse that it still standing.
A photo of the north wall of the church without the boiler-house. There are dark lines on the wall that give an indication of where the outhouse used to stand and some new brickwork where pipes from the boiler used to go into the church. There is grass and muddy patches where the building used to be and a section of paving to the right. Trees and bushes can be seen in the background.

What else is coming?

There’s a little more to do but we’re nearly there. Three more benches will be added to the prayer walk. The circular path will become truly circular once the drainage work on the south side of the entrance is finished. Heritage boards and QR codes will be added around the paths for info on heritage and nature. All these will be installed in the coming weeks. And then we have just have to wait for the grass to grow back where the work has been done and for the plants to bed in and the churchyard will be complete.

We are grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the City Council, the Benefact Trust, the FSJ Trust, Essex Heritage Trust and Garfield Weston Foundation without whose help none of this would be happening.

A picture of the heritage fund logo which features a white hand with its fingers crossed and the text made possible with heritage fund.
Image of the Essex Heritage Trust logo. It has the name in white on a blue background and includes three scimitars
The logo of Chelmsford City Council. A circle with four quarters one with a yellow cityscape, one with four blue and white waves, one with a purple pulse of a radio signal and one with a green leaf.
A picture of the logo of Garfield Westion Foundation which features a white W in a blue box.
An image of the Benefact Trust logo, the black and white top of a celtic cross