Southend: Southchurch Hall

Image: © Nigel Cox Taken: 22 Jun 2007

Southchurch Hall is a moated medieval manor house surrounded by earthworks. It comprises a late 13th or early 14th century timber framed building with a central hall open to the roof, which is to the left of the photo, and an extension on its west side dating from around 1560 to the right. Throughout the medieval period the Hall and its land was owned by Christ Church, Canterbury. In the early 1920s it was operating as a farm but was under serious threat of destruction from the rapid expansion of Southend. Fortunately, a group of individuals actively sought to preserve the threatened building and its earthworks. The Hall was eventually presented to Southend Borough Council by its then owners, the Dowsett family. It was extensively but sensitively restored in the late 1920s and opened to the public as a branch library in 1931 with the earthworks forming part of a public park. Following local government reorganisation in 1974, when libraries were placed under the control of Essex County Council, the Hall was converted to museum use, which it is used for today. It is also now a non-religious wedding ceremony venue.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0