Recent Donations

Southend Museum has recently acquired a very interesting collection of civic items relating to the mayoralty of Arthur Bockett, who was Mayor of Southend in 1927-8.

The items, illustrated here, include a number of ceremonial keys presented on the opening of Leigh branch library, the male wing of Rochford hospital and the ‘new’ Southend High School for Boys.

These will greatly enhance our collection of civic regalia, which includes the medallion from the first mayoral chain, of 1892.

Help to Plan the King's New Home!

Now’s the chance to have your say on Southend’s new Museum and Gallery plans – designed to include our very own spectacular Saxon King’s treasures. An eight-week public consultation on the dramatic proposals is now under way. This aims to find out what people think about merging Southend Central Museum and the Beecroft Art Gallery’s collections in a new cliff-side building, which would also host the awe-inspiring finds from the Saxon King’s burial chamber, discovered in Prittlewell in 2003.

A feasibility study conducted by Southend-on-Sea Borough Council clearly showed a contemporary museum was needed to tackle problems with the current premises, such as access issues and insufficient space for large collections. Out of seven possible locations, the Cliff Gardens proved the most suitable for many reasons. Siting the building there would add the essential service of helping repair and strengthen the cliff slip area.

The new purpose-built high quality Museum and Gallery would include a planetarium with lecture theatre and cinema, interactive displays and storage of the Saxon King artefacts, collections from the Central Museum and Beecroft Art Gallery, museum shop, café, restaurant and on site car parking, as well as superb estuary views.

Cllr Derek Jarvis, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Executive Councillor for Culture, says: “The Council believes the town deserves a state-of-the-art building to showcase our history and heritage, and enhance our cultural offer.

“The Saxon King’s burial chamber - hailed as possibly the most spectacular discovery of its kind during the past 50 years - gave Southend an unrivalled opportunity to create a nationally significant tourist attraction.

“We have been working hard on suitable proposals to ensure these magnificent items are rightfully displayed in their home town.

He added: “Our current buildings cannot display or store the huge number of articles of this importance. We wish to build a museum to house these treasures safely and exhibit them to the public in the context of the whole history of the town and the estuary. Many of our other collections are of huge importance but we have long lacked space to display them. This will be a unique opportunity to finally make them accessible to the public and to store and display them to their best possible advantage. I urge everyone to take this opportunity to give their views and comments on these exciting plans.”

The consultation also seeks to find out if the much-loved Bandstand, currently in Priory Park, should return to the Cliffs as part of the redevelopment, and asks for suggestions for a name for the new museum.

To comment on the plans, or for more information, visit our Exhibition Roadshow touring throughout the town until mid-October – including Beecroft Art Gallery, Westcliff until Saturday 30th August; Southend Central Museum, Victoria Avenue, Southend until Saturday 23rd August; Prittlewell Priory Museum, Priory Park, Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th August; Southend Central Library, Victoria Avenue, Southend, Monday 1^st September to Saturday 6th Sept, Leigh library Thursday 4^th September and Friday  5th September.

Alternatively, you can visit the website - click here

You can email further questions and comments to southendmuseumsconsultation@southend.gov.uk. 

Tudor Day 2008

Regular visitors to our Museum events will know that our Tudor day is an event not to be missed, and this years, held on 3rd August, was probably the best yet!

Over 3000 visitors were enchanted by the transformation of the hall and park into a Tudor scene. Inside the hall, musician Jim Bizgood gave talks and demonstrations of Tudor instruments, whilst in the gardens wandering minstrel Peter Optical, and madrigal singers ‘Goode Companye’, kept the authentic musical theme going.

In the grounds we could also be seen a Tudor Artilleryman, as well as a Court Jester, herbsellers, mummers and many more. One of the highlights of the day was a visit by Henry VIII himself, who could be seen strolling the hall and grounds enjoying talking to people and giving a stirring account of his difficulties with his various wives..

Amongst the visitors that enjoyed the day was the Mayor, Councillor Gwen Horrigan, who spent over an hour mixing with and talking to the contributors,

Refreshments were on sale courtesy of the Friends of Southend Museums and also at a hog roast to give a traditional flavour.

Plans are already underway for next years event!

Archaeology Day - A Rubbish Event!

On Saturday 12th July, the Central Museum took part in National Archaeology Week.

A lot can be learnt from rummaging through the bins of our ancestors! A selection of ‘rubbish’ from the past was brought out to demonstrate how people have lived in the past.

Bones from an  excavation at Rayleigh Castle were on show, to demonstrate the difference in the size of bones from one species of animal to another, they also reveal cut marks and evidence of butchery.  Antlers that have been shed naturally can be identified from those that are removed from an animal after it has been killed.

There were activities for young children such as dressing up in ancient costumes, colouring sheets and sticky mosaic making.  For those wishing to participate you could try  archaeological drawing, from some artefacts put out for the day. Budding archaeologists could also have a go at rebuilding an amphora pot.

What will future archaeologists make of how we live now? By looking through three ‘bins’ visitors were asked who had left this rubbish behind.

What they did not know was that museum staff had specially loaded the bins to make them think in a certain way!! For instance, you cannot deduce that a vegetarian left behind rubbish that included egg boxes , cheese wrappers, milk cartons and a large selection of fruit and vegetable packaging. 

What you can deduce is: where the produce was bought from, (shop logo’s) how much it cost and if it was out of season and imported from another country.  You can say that no meat products were found in the evidence.

A gravel tray provided an insight of what to do with your ‘finds’, first looking for them and  then sorting them into trays when they had been found.

Original Roman and Victorian pieces and handaxes were also used in a general handling session  and our resident skeleton  demonstrated  how to spot the difference between male and female bones!

We had 170 visitors who all went away with a little more insight into life in the past, and how what we do today leaves a story behind for archaeologists in the future.