Southend Central Museum
Museum location in Essex | |
Established | 1981 |
---|---|
Location | Southend-on-Sea, Essex |
Coordinates | 51°32′32″N 0°42′38″E / 51.5422°N 0.7106°ECoordinates: 51°32′32″N 0°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 Borough Council |
Public transit access | Southend Victoria |
Website | www |
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.[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 building[]
The Museum was originally built in 1905 as a free library, with £8000 of funding from Andrew Carnegie. The architect was Henry Thomas Hare.[3]
The collections[]
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.
The displays also include local and natural history and archaeology.[4]
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 , brother of Sæberht, King of Essex.[5][6]
From October 2021 the museum plans to host a new exhibition titled Wunderkammer: Southend's Cabinet of Curiosity.[7]
Additional photographs[]
Collection of Ekco radios on show at the Central Museum
Butterflies from the reserve natural history collections of Southend Museums Service
References[]
- ^ "Southend Planetarium". Southend Museums. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
- ^ "History of Libraries in Southend". Southend on Sea Borough Council. Archived from the original on 24 September 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
- ^ English Heritage. "British Listed Buildings (Public Library, Southend)". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
- ^ "Southend Museum Service (Central Museum)". Southend Museum Service. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
- ^ "Southend burial site 'UK's answer to Tutankhamun'". BBC. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ Whitehouse, Ellis. "Anglo-Saxon king exhibition showing 'Southend's rich cultural heritage' officially opens". Halstead Gazette. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
- ^ Webster, Poppie (28 September 2021). "Southend Central Museum set to launch exciting new exhibition". Basildon Canvey Southend Echo. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southend Central Museum. |
- Museums in Essex
- Buildings and structures in Southend-on-Sea
- Former library buildings of the United Kingdom
- Museums established in 1981
- Planetaria in the United Kingdom
- Natural history museums in England
- Local museums in Essex
- 1981 establishments in England
- Buildings by Henry Hare
- Grade II listed buildings in Essex
- English history stubs
- English organisation stubs
- Essex building and structure stubs
- United Kingdom museum stubs