Welcome to the website for St. Michael & All Angels church and the Friends of Copford Church

Ranked in the ‘Top 100′ by Simon Jenkins in his book “England’s Thousand Best Churches”. Described by Pevsner as “the most remarkable Norman parish church in the county”

What is it that makes St. Michael & All Angels church, Copford, so special?
It is interesting architecturally and has a pretty woodland setting, on the edge of our small village, beside the cricket pitch. However, the remarkable Norman wall paintings are the real attraction, described by Simon Jenkins as “amongst the best in England”. Only five minutes off the A12 just south of Colchester, they are certainly worth a detour if you are visiting East Anglia.

The church is open daily between 9.00am and the earlier of dusk or 5.30pm.
Group visits are always very welcome.  For these, please contact Mrs Gwen Warburton (tel: 01206 210488).  Our extremely knowledgeable group guide, and refreshments, can be provided for £2 and 50p per visitor, respectively.  Lights for the paintings are coin-operated (£1 coins only) from the terminal on the West Wall.

Mothers’ Union

Mothers’ Union is a Christian organisation for all who have been baptised – men are welcome too! – and seeks to encourage and support families, marriage and a fair and just society for all.  There are more than 3.6 million members living in over 78 countries in the world.

We have a very friendly local branch which meets on the 4th Wednesday of every month at 7.45pm, at 86a School Road, Copford, unless otherwise notified.

For further information contact Barbara Moore on tel. 01206 210079 or email mulberrylodge32@tiscali.co.uk

Bishop Stephen Cottrell

On November 27, Bishop Stephen Cottrell was installed as Bishop of Chelmsford in Chelmsford Cathedral.  Bishop Stephen was born and brought up in Essex and he says he is “hungry for us to be a Church that connects with every person and every community”.  We can gain some idea of his approach to guiding the diocese from his recent book, “From the Abundance of the Heart”.  In it, he says that we each need to have a prayer-based spirituality so when we offer the good news of God’s love for us in Jesus we have a real experience of our own to share.  He defines prayer as our response to God’s love for us in Jesus.  He looks for worship that is so beautiful and holy that it will attract people towards God, and he sees that coming to Christ also means becoming part of the Church.  As we reach out to others we make common cause with those as yet outside the Christian community.  In this way we do not claim to have all the answers in advance but to be ready to accompany others on the journey of faith.  So he sees nurture courses such as Emmaus, which he helped to write, and Alpha as central to the task of growing the church as a community of disciples of Christ.  We have used the Emmaus Course in the past and are keen to use it further, so if you are interested, please be in touch.