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The Church Pound project - what we achieved
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The Church Pound project - what we achieved
Location: Surrey
What was achieved by the successfully completed Church Pound project, and the lasting effects it has had in the community.
Almost 50 years after the site was handed over as a garden to be enjoyed by the public, the newly restored church pound gave the village of Bramley a permanent reminder of Queen Elizabeth II’s golden jubilee.
Previously inaccessible for wheelchairs, the new path leading to it was designed with a very gentle slope and a flat area at the top where wheelchair users can turn round and sit alongside people on the benches.
Located in the middle of Bramley’s high street, next to its 1,000-year-old Holy Trinity Church, the church pound was transformed into a worthy central focus for the village, offering not only a pleasant sitting area, but also the opportunity to discover its historical significance through three circle plaques on the wall.
One displays the Bramley Crest. Another declares that the restored pound was opened in 2002 as Bramley Parish Council’s response to Queen Elizabeth II’s golden jubilee. The third shows an archive picture of people sitting at this spot during the first world war and gives the history of the ground, explaining that it was originally a manorial church pound for looking after stray animals, and was handed over to the parish for an amenity garden in 1965.
The historical information about the pound was researched by Bramley History Society and lodged with Surrey Record Office, as well as being summarised in an educational leaflet, and displayed at the pound, on the parish noticeboard, in the village hall and local library.
Children from the village school learned about the history and produced drawings of what the pound would have looked like, which were displayed as part of Bramley’s jubilee history exhibition.
Virtually the same people who ran this project - spearheaded by the parish council - went on to refurbish an old station, which had been closed by Beeching in 1965 and fallen into disrepair.
Over a period of two years, between 2002 and 2004, a new shelter was built, the brickwork was repaired and repointed, and the platform area, which is part of a public footpath, was resurfaced. A local craftsman volunteered to create replica level crossing gates, complete with the traditional red circle in the middle.
On the opening morning, the headmistress of the local school brought down all 50 of the children to be given a talk about the station and how it worked, with various anecdotes about the different ways in which people used the railway - which included getting hair cuts in the signal box!
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