A TALKING bench branded anti-social after keeping residents up at night has had its volume turned down.

The bench, in the centre of Coggeshall, is equipped with loud speakers and recorded messages which are activated by a button.

Recordings lasting ten minutes feature information of the town’s trades and how the bench works.

But residents complained after being woken up at 1am when a passer-by made use of the talking bench.

The bench, funded by the Essex Record Office, was officially opened on July 11. Its aims is to inform visitors to the market town’s history.

Miall James, who helped record the tapes for the bench, said the volume had now been turned down.

He said: “We were concerned about the sound levels and we wanted to see what would happen.

“We have now turned the sound levels down.

“As it is in the town centre and there is traffic going passed we wanted people to be able to hear it.

“We certainly didn’t want to annoy the people in the flats above it.”

Mr James said he believed the incident at 1am was caused by someone messing around and the feedback had been good.

“The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive,” he added. “We have had a lot of feedback. The bench appears to be extremely popular.

“The whole point is to get people to come and listen to the history of Coggeshall and to get people to appreciate the history of our wonderful town.”

The tapes also revealed how both the Romans and Oliver Cromwell’s army marched passed where the bench is situated.

Mr James said volunteers hoped to update the recordings throughout the years.

“Hopefully it will be a good addition to the town,” he said.

One resident, who was woken up at 1am when somebody made use of the talking bench, said: “I shouted at him and told him where to go.

“All of the flats near the bench were woken.

“All of us can’t really hear it in the day time, but that’s because of the traffic.

“Seriously though, we’ve all got work in the morning, so it really doesn’t seem right that on a weekday at 1am it could wake everyone up at the push of a button.

“We find it quite funny, all of us do at the moment, but a few more nights like this and it won’t be!”

A spokesman for Essex County Council said: “This bench celebrates the history and communities of Essex and we were surprised to learn that someone would set it off at night on this one occasion, and sorry it caused a disturbance.

“Some people find that anything to do with history sends them to sleep, but in this case the opposite seems to be true.

“We want our listening benches to enhance the neighbourhoods they are in, so obviously we don’t want anyone’s sleep to be interrupted.

“We’re happy to talk to residents if the problem persists.”