Best Southend-on-Sea Walking Routes, Landmarks and Heritage Sites

Southend is more than just a beach. It is packed full of interesting landmarks, historic parks and green spaces, as well as heritage and conservation sites too. So together with our friends at Southend-on-Sea City Council, we’ve created two fantastic heritage walks for you to enjoy; the Southend City Heritage Trail and the Prittlewell Heritage Trail. Try the new walking routes for free in-app now. Here’s some of Southend’s best hidden gem highlights.

Churchill Gardens

If you’re looking for a hidden gem in Southend, Churchill Gardens is it. This secluded and peaceful ornamental garden is a tranquil spot to enjoy nature in Southend. Complete with a stream and picturesque waterfall.  

Prittlewell Square

Prittlewell Square Gardens is the oldest park in Southend and is a focal point in the Clifftown Conservation Area. The decorative clock in the Square was donated by local jeweller and philanthropist R A Jones. Now turn right onto Clifftown Parade.

Southend Civic Fountain

Outside the Southend Civic Centre is the impressive Civic Fountain. It was created by the sculptor William George Mitchell. The 20ft sculpture features carvings of the Southend coat of arms as well as a medieval fisherman and a Cluniac monk

Royal Terrace and Royal Hotel

The Royal Hotel and Terrace were built between 1791 and 1793. Their name commemorates a visit by Princess Caroline, wife of the Prince Regent.  The Royal Hotel was restored in 1978/9. 

Prittlewell Priory

Situated in Priory Park, Prittlewell Priory is a Grade I* listed building. This is the oldest, continuously occupied building in Southend. It has been a monastery, a private house and a museum.

Southend Cliff Lift

The Cliff Lift, is a funicular railway, constructed in 1912 and is locally listed. The lift operated for the first time on Bank Holiday Monday, in August of that year.

Priory Park

Priory Park was donated to the people of Southend in 1917 by local jeweller and philanthropist Robert Arthur Jones. Priory Park provides habitat for over 300 types of insect, 92 kinds of birds and 6 species of bats. 

Statue of Eric Kirkham Cole

Eric Cole founded the large EKCO factory which once dominated Southend. EKCO grew from a radio manufacturing firm to one of the largest employers in the town and an international brand that also developed radios for tanks and electronics for radar during WW2.

Saxon Cemetery 

Located on Priory Crescent is the site of a  6/7th century high status East Saxon cemetery. The mound marks the spot where in 2003 archaeologists excavated the burial chamber of the ‘Prittlewell Prince’, described as the most important Anglo-Saxon discovery since Sutton Hoo. 

St Mary’s Church

In the Prittlewell area of Southend is the Grade I Listed  St Mary’s Church. For more than a thousand years there has been a church on the site of Saint Mary’s. This is the only church in the locality mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. 

If you’d like to visit these secret sites in Southend-on-Sea, you can do so with the help of the  Southend City Heritage Trail and the Prittlewell Heritage Trail. Find them in app now.