The site was conceived in November 2001, as I was concerned how the village was changing over the years with the loss of many historical buildings, the Maltings, Tannery etc. Although there are many photographs around in personal collections, nobody had assembled all this information for easy free access. The technology of the Internet seemed to be the ideal way of answering enquiries and documenting the village history for all to see.

The first two topics covered the river and railway and that`s where I originally intended to stop. However this resulted in so much interest from the local residents, it soon expanded to cover associated subjects.

For example, the railway transported goods for the Maltings, Abattoir, Brickworks and so on.

Consequently, it has now expanded to list over 75 subjects, amounting to 200+ pages covering the two parishes of Bures Hamlet and Bures St Mary.

The site only concerns itself with historical facts from approx. 1900 to the present day.

Like all rural villages, every spare plot of land is being built upon and the historic community is slowly being eroded in order to satisfy the demand for housing.

One of the major aims of the site is to record every property that was a retail outlet back in the early 1900`s to what we can actually see today.

ie, colour maps with comparison photographs, old and new.

Back in the 1950`s the High street was awash with shops selling everything imaginable, now there are none, its now all residential properties

left:- the first Post Office opened in 1837. Compare this to the present day with the letterbox in the same position

Extensive research has also uncovered a vast amount of material about life in Bures during the 1939 – 45 war.

With the USAF so close at Wormingford and Earls Colne airfield, the village played a major role in the transportation and storage of munitions.

This community site must be one of the few that has its own Forum (Bulletin Board) where visitors can post their own comments on various topics concerning the village and send personal messages to each other.

This facility was only launched during mid July, so it`s in its early days.

Visit the Site Map for a more detailed list of all the subjects covered.