Historic building doomed as bulldozers loom (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Historic building doomed as bulldozers loom

5:31pm Friday 19th October 2012 in News

A PIECE of village history looks set to vanish forever after developers got the go-ahead to bulldoze a building thought to date back 250 years.

The old farmhouse on the former Bowens International site in Old Road, Great Clacton, is believed to have been built in 1770 or even earlier.

But now Tendring Council has given the green light for it to be demolished as part of the redevelopment of the site by new owners the Garden Trellis Company.

Local historian Norman Jacobs said losing the building would be a "disaster".

"It's a great shame," he said. "A lot of the old buildings in Great Clacton, including old shops and the mansion house, were demolished in the Sixties.

"To lose another one when there aren't many left destroys the character of the village.

"Great Clacton has been engulfed by Clacton on Sea but there is still a little bit of village atmosphere there because of the old buildings.

"We need to hang on to this sort of thing."

Most old buildings are protected but the former farmhouse was never listed and lies just outside the village conservation area.