Established | 1981 |
---|---|
Location | Southend-on-Sea, Essex |
Coordinates | 51°32′32″N0°42′38″E / 51.5422°N 0.7106°E |
Type | Local history |
Key holdings | Prittlewell Anglo-Saxon burial; The London shipwreck |
Collections | Costume, fine art, local history, natural history, archaeology |
Architect | Henry Thomas Hare |
Owner | Southend-on-Sea City Council - Southend Museums |
Public transit access | Southend Victoria |
Website | www |
Southend Central Museum is a museum in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The museum houses collections of local and natural history and contains a planetarium constructed by astronomer Harry Ford in 1984. [1]
The museum was opened in April 1981 in a Grade II listed building that was previously Southend's first free public library. The library service had moved to a new purpose built site on Victoria Avenue, which opened on 20 March 1974. [2]
The Museum was originally built in 1905 as a free library, with £8,000 of funding from Andrew Carnegie. The architect was Henry Thomas Hare. The building was listed in 1974. [3]
The Museum features a collection of original Ekco radios, manufactured by E.K. Cole & Co. Ltd. (or 'Ekco') formerly based in Southend. In the 1930s, this company was one of Britain's largest radio manufacturers. [4]
The displays also include local and natural history and archaeology. [5]
In September 2018 the museum opened a major exhibition of finds recovered from the wreck of the London, a 17th Century Cromwellian era warship that exploded and sank in the Thames Estuary in 1665. The exhibition ran till July 2019. [6]
In May 2019 a new gallery opened to display the archaeological finds from the Royal Saxon tomb in Prittlewell, an Anglo-Saxon burial mound in the suburb of Prittlewell that was discovered in 2003 as a result of a road-widening scheme. The excavations unearthed a number of Anglo-Saxon artefacts that suggested a high-status burial; carbon dating has revealed that the burial probably dates from about 580 AD, and may have been the tomb of Sæxa, brother of Sæberht, King of Essex. [7] [8]
The Kingdom of the East Saxons, referred to as the Kingdom of Essex, was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Middlesex, much of Hertfordshire and west Kent. The last king of Essex was Sigered of Essex, who in 825 ceded the kingdom to Ecgberht, King of Wessex.
Southend-on-Sea, commonly referred to as Southend, is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, 40 miles (64 km) east of central London. It is bordered to the north by Rochford and to the west by Castle Point. The city is one of the most densely populated places in the country outside of London. It is home to the longest pleasure pier in the world, Southend Pier, while London Southend Airport is located to the north of the city centre.
Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. No universally accepted example survives above ground. Generally preferring not to settle within the old Roman cities, the Anglo-Saxons built small towns near their centres of agriculture, at fords in rivers or sited to serve as ports. In each town, a main hall was in the centre, provided with a central hearth.
Billericay is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon in Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin, 23 miles (37 km) east of the City of London. The town was founded in the 13th century by the Abbot of West Ham, in his Manor of Great Burstead.
MOLA is an archaeology and built heritage practice and independent charitable company registered with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), providing a wide range of professional archaeological services to clients in London and across the country. It is one of the largest archaeological service providers in the UK, and is the only one with IRO status.
Sæberht, Saberht or Sæbert was an Anglo-Saxon King of Essex, in succession of his father King Sledd. He is known as the first East Saxon king to have been converted to Christianity.
World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the museum is free. The museum is part of National Museums Liverpool.
Leigh-on-Sea, commonly referred to simply as Leigh, is a town and civil parish in the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. In 2011 it had a population of 22,509.
The Prittlewell royal Anglo-Saxon burial or Prittlewell princely burial is a high-status Anglo-Saxon burial mound which was excavated at Prittlewell, north of Southend-on-Sea, in the English county of Essex.
Prittlewell is an inner city area and former civil parish in Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Historically, Prittlewell is the original settlement of the city, Southend being the south end of Prittlewell. The village of Prittlewell was originally centered at the joining of three main roads, East Street, West Street, and North Street, which was extended south in the 19th century and renamed Victoria Avenue. The principal administrative buildings in Southend are located along Victoria Avenue, although Prittlewell is served by Prittlewell railway station.
Beecroft Art Gallery is an art gallery in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The gallery is housed in the former municipal central library that opened in 1974 in the brutalist style as part of Southend Civic Centre. The Beecroft Art Gallery has a busy programme of changing exhibitions of art, photography and fashion. On the ground floor, the gallery presents temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary artists, focusing on the work of emerging and established local artists. On the first floor, visitors can see works from the permanent collection and exciting fashion exhibitions. In the basement of the building is the charity The Jazz Centre UK.
In the Iron Age, Essex was home to the Trinovantes. In AD 43 the Roman conquest of Britain saw Roman control established over Essex, with the centre of Roman power in Britain being, for a time, Colchester. The Boudiccan revolt saw Colchester razed, but it was rebuilt.
County Borough of Southend-on-Sea was a local government district around the seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. South End, as it was originally known was initially some fishermen's huts at the south end of the village of Prittlewell. Due to the growth of the settlement and the arrival of the ecclesiastical parish of St John the Baptist, in 1842, Southend formed a local board. In 1877, the local board merged back with Prittlewell, with the new Southend district also including the settlements of Westcliff-on-Sea and Chalkwell. When Essex County Council was formed in 1889, Southend was within the administrative county of Essex. The town was officially incorporated by charter as a municipal borough in 1892, and the council, known as Southend Corporation, changed the name of the town from Southend to Southend-on-Sea in 1893. Due to the rapid expansion of the town's population, in 1914 the town was made a county borough, divorcing itself from the county council and taking control of all the town's services. In 1974 the county borough was dissolved, and replaced by a non-metropolitan district within the same boundaries. Two new authorities were created, with the powers split between Essex County Council and Southend-on-Sea District Council. The town became a unitary authority area in 1998, which returned the powers from the county council that had been lost in 1974.
The A1159 road is a short road skirting the north of Southend-on-Sea from Thorpe Bay to London Southend Airport, in the coastal city of Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
Camp Bling was a UK-based road protest camp set up in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in September 2005, to obstruct a £25 million plan to widen the Priory Crescent section of the A1159 road over the Royal Saxon tomb in Prittlewell. In April 2009, the authority announced that plans to build the road had been abandoned and the camp was disbanded in July 2009.
EKCO was a British electronics company founded by Eric Kirkham Cole CBE in Southend-on-Sea during 1924. The company started out by making radio sets, before progressing onto television sets and lighting. The company's knowledge of radio saw it expand into developing radar before and during World War II. The company expanded into making its own plastic bodies for radio sets, with EKCO Plastics later becoming a manufacturer of domestic wares. The company merged in 1960 with Pye to become British Electronic Industries Ltd, which was purchased by Dutch firm Philips in 1967, with the EKCO brand disappearing from brown goods during the 1970s.
Mucking is an archaeological site near the village of Mucking in southern Essex. The site contains remains dating from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages—a period of some 3,000 years—and the Bronze Age and Anglo-Saxon features are particularly notable.
Prittlewell Priory is a medieval priory in the Prittlewell area of Southend, Essex, England. It was founded in the 12th century, by monks from the Cluniac Priory of St Pancras in Lewes, East Sussex, and passed into private hands at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. The last private owner, the jeweller R. A. Jones, gave the priory and the grounds to the local council. The grounds now form a public park, Priory Park, and the Grade I listed building is open to the public as a museum. The remains of the priory are a scheduled monument.
Essex is a ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the south, Greater London to the south-west, and Hertfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is Southend-on-Sea, and the county town is Chelmsford.