Tourist's guide to visit Southend-on-Sea

Visit Southend-on-Sea – things to do & explore

Overview of Southend-on-Sea history & facts by Walkfo

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Planning a visit to Southend-on-Sea?

Southend-on-Sea is a large coastal town and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex . It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, 40 miles (64 km) east of central London . It is home to the longest pleasure pier in the world, Southed Pier . It was announced in October 2021 it will be granted city status as a memorial to Sir David Amess .

Southend-on-Sea history

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Southend was home to a few poor fishermens’ huts and farms at the southern extremity of Prittlewell Priory land . In the 1790s, landowner Daniel Scratton sold off land on either side of what was to become the High Street . The Grand Hotel (now Royal Hotel) and Grove Terrace were completed by 1794, and stagecoaches from London made it accessible . After the coming of the railways in the 19th century and the visit of Princess Caroline of Brunswick, the status as a seaside resort grew .

You can visit Southend-on-Sea, COUNTY/BOROUGH & use Walkfo to discover the best walking places with our free digital tour guide app created especially for Southend-on-Sea. Walkfo Southend-on-Sea has 300 locations with history, culture & travel facts, that you can explore the same way you can a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Southend-on-Sea, being in the moment, without digital distraction and no limitations to a specific walking route – you choose where you want to go, when you want to go and Walkfo Southend-on-Sea will keep up.

When you visit Southend-on-Sea

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When you visit Southend-on-Sea, Walkfo is your digital tour guide while exploring by foot, bike or bus. With numerous walks, hikes, tourist locations & travel destinations available in Southend-on-Sea, our travel AI guide helps you get the best from your visit to Southend-on-Sea & the surrounding areas. Our explore Southend-on-Sea app for iPhone & Android, allows you to experience the hidden history, culture and amazing facts throughout Southend-on-Sea whilst out walking. The digital tour guide creates interactive audio stories driven by where you walk, so you can exploration Southend-on-Sea’s National Heritage sites, tourist attractions, historic locations or city streets freely, without the restrictions of a predefined walk & walk map.

“The Walkfo AI has curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 56 audio facts in Southend-on-Sea alone that form an interactive Southend-on-Sea walking map for you to explore.”

Best Southend-on-Sea places to visit

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Southend-on-Sea has hundreds of places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are five of Southend-on-Sea’s best destinations to visit when exploring the area. We have condensed the information with much more detail available within Walkfo when you visit the destinations.

Southchurch Park Southchurch Park is a recreational park in the parish of Southchurch, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The park is 12 hectares (30 acres) in area and contains sports pitches, including a cricket ground, formal gardens, a boating lake and a café.

Southchurch Hall Southchurch Hall is Grade I Listed Medieval moated house located in Southchurch, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The Hall was home to farming families until the 1920s. In 1930 it was extensively restored and presented to the town of Southend by the Dowsett Family. The Hall has been listed in Jenkins’ top 1000 houses in England.

Southend Manor F.C. Southend Manor Football Club is a football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The club are currently members of the Essex Senior League and play at Southchurch Park.

Radio Essex Radio Essex is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Essex, England via DAB and Mid and South Essex via FM, from studios in The Icon Building on Southend Seafront, owned by the Adventure Radio Group.

Southchurch Southchurch is a district of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. It was an independent parish until 1897 and has a documented history dating back to the 9th century.

The Railway Hotel, Southend The Railway Hotel is a pub in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. It is known for its live music and its vegan food. The pub launched a meat-free menu in 2012, later making a solely vegan menu. English guitarist Wilko Johnson, David Bowie & Iggy Pop collaborator Geoff MacCormack and Teenage Fanclub drummer Brendan O’Hare have been known to attend the pub regularly. In 2013 the pub replaced their traditional pub sign with a hand-painted portrait of Wilko Johnson by local artist Jack Melville.

The Ratman of Southend The Ratman of Southend is an English urban legend originating in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. The story of the Ratman tells of an old homeless man, seeking shelter from the cold in an underpass, was set upon by a group of youths and beaten to near-death, cold and blood loss doing the rest. As he died, the numerous vermin who inhabit the area gathered, and were found to have devoured his face. After this, a ghostly figure was spotted in the underpass, with people hearing ratlike squealing, and scraping, as if large claws were moving across the walls.

Southend-on-Sea War Memorial Southend-on-Sea War Memorial, or Southend War Memorial, is a First World War memorial in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, on the east coast of England. Designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, it is a Grade II* listed building. Lutyens originally designed a cenotaph for Southend, following his example of the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London, arguably his most famous memorial. The memorial as-built is in the form of an obelisk flanked by stone flags and surrounded on three sides by a low screen wall. It is approached from the north by a set of six stone steps, similar to Lutyens’ design for the North Eastern Railway War Memorial in York. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Lambourne, the Lord Lieutenant of Essex and dedicated by the Bishop of Colchester on 27 November 1921. It was designated a Grade II listed building in 1974 and upgraded to Grade II* in 2015, when Lutyens’ memorials were recognised as a “national collection”.

Southend Central Museum The 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. 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.

Havens (department store) Havens department store is a Grade II listed building based in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex and, until its closure in 2017, was the only remaining independent department store based in the borough of Southend-on-Sea.

Visit Southend-on-Sea plaques

Experience Southend-on-Sea audio walks & tours

Visiting Southend-on-Sea with Walkfo’s things to do interactive map
The “Southend-on-Sea things to do map” below is a preview of the places you can visit in Southend-on-Sea and surrounding areas with our digital audio tour guide app. Each spot has content for a plaque, a building, a street or general area, providing history, culture or tourism information the you can explore.

Interactive ‘Explore Southend-on-Sea Map’     This Southend-on-Sea tourism map shows points of interest within a 4km radius of Southend-on-Sea centre

Walkfo App     Walkfo

Walkfo is free to download & use (for a limited time period), so if you are looking to explore Southend-on-Sea, go to your App Store to search for “Walkfo” or follow a links below and install on your mobile phone. Walkfo is designed for use with headphones or AirPods, so you can walk & explore whilst learning about the things around you without digital distraction.

  Apple App Store

  Google Play Store

Things to do & visit in Southend-on-Sea and surrounding areas

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Getting to / around Southend-on-Sea – transport links, stations, streets & traffic map

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Getting around in Southend-on-Sea using public transportation may include roads, streets, trains, undergrounds, buses or trams. Walkfo has the following important Southend-on-Sea public transport locations with historic / cultural / factual content when you visit:

Southend-on-Sea Notable Public Transport Stations		Southend-on-Sea Notable Streets & Roads
Southend East railway station Shore railway station Southend Central railway station Southend Victoria railway station Prittlewell railway station Thorpe Bay railway station Westcliff railway station Leigh-on-Sea railway station Chalkwell railway station Shoeburyness railway station

Airport

London Southend Airport was developed from the military airfield at Rochford, opened as a civil airport in 1935 . It now offers scheduled flights to destinations across Europe, corporate and recreational flights .

Attention local Southend-on-Sea historians, tour guides & Southend-on-Sea tourism agents