Southend-on-Sea; Saturday, 12 June, 2021

I was up early, partly as the dustcart was emptying the glass recycling from the neighbouring pub at 06:30, and partly as I wanted to make an early start away from the hotel for my timed ticket for the first attraction of the day.

After breakfast I headed up to Southend Central station and caught the train about 20 miles up stream to Tilbury. The town is now most well known as being the home for the London docks that moved down here with containerisation. However, the town has been important as a defensive point for London for centuries, with fortifications on both the Essex and Kent sides of the river protecting the vital supply route into England’s capital.

It was in Tilbury that in 1588 Queen Elizabeth rallied her soldiers as the Spanish Armada headed for England, on the site of a small fortress that her father, Henry VIII had had built. In the subsequent years the fortress was expanded and enlarged, with a major redesign under Charles II to turn it into the start shaped Tilbury fort that exists today.

I had a ticket for 10:30 entry – though it turned out it was pretty quiet in the mornings and I was able to enter a little early. The fort has served many purposes over the years, being updated remodelled and improved upon as each successive generation has moved through. Today the inside of the fort is largely as it was left during the Victorian era with large powder magazine, tunnels and officers quarters still in situ – though the common soldiers barracks are now little more than a low brick outline off the edge of the parade ground.

I spent quite a bit of time looking round the fort – making use of the provided contactless audio guide, and taking quite a few photos, before it was time to head on to my next destination, so I headed back to Tilbury Town station and caught the train a couple of stops back towards the edge of Southend and the town of Leigh-on-Sea. From the station I caught the bus up the hill into Hadleigh, and from there walked the short distance, and thankfully all down hill, to the impressive ruins of Hadleigh castle.

A castle was built on this site in the 13th century, but the original building wasn’t of the greatest construction and the land isn’t the most stable, so over the years parts subsided, repairs became costly and within a couple of hundred years it had been abandoned to become the picturesque ruin that it is today – complete with a ruined tower that is clearly very slowly sliding down the side of the hill.

From the centre of the castle complex it’s easy to see why it was built here with stunning, and unobstructed, views up and down the Thames, across Canvey island and into Kent. I spent quite a bit of time wandering around the castle site before it was time to start heading back. Rather than heading back uphill to the bus stop I continued the downhill walk and walked the 1.5 miles back to Leigh-on-Sea station. The bulk of the descent takes place shortly after the castle – so in this direction is fine, but coming from Leigh-on-Sea would have been a bit of a killer of a steep uphill climb at the end of the walk.

Back in Southend I headed over to the Central Museum. The museum is housed in the old Victorian public library and has a number of exhibits on the town. A large gallery traces the history of human habitation in the Thames Estuary from the stone age through to the late medieval period via the Romans and Anglo-Saxons. There is also a very impressive display on the finds of an Anglo-Saxon Princely burial that were discovered a short distance away when the road was being widened. Other exhibits include displays on the Flora and Fauna of the Estuary and the history of seaside entertainment in the town. I also had a quick look round the neighbouring Beecroft gallery.

After a quick stop for a very late lunch, I headed over to the bus station to catch the bus for a ride out to Canvey Island. The Island is only just that – with in places only a very narrow channel cutting it off from the Essex mainland. The island is probably most famous though for the tragedy that took place in 1953 when a massive storm surge in the North Atlantic forced a wall of water up the estuary inundating the island, which in places is below sea level, and killing 58 people. Over the years the defences protecting the island have been significantly improved and in the 1980’s a new sea-wall was built that rivals some of the Dutch projects on it’s scale. I had a walk along the sea wall heading round to almost the eastern tip of the island before heading back to the bus stop and back on into Southend.

Back in Southend it was already getting dark so I grabbed a quick dinner and then headed back to the hotel to turn in for the night – once again being serenaded by the exhaust pipe orchestra, tonight accompanied by a couple rowing so intensely that I heard the row approaching for a good couple of minutes before the passed under my window and for several minutes after without any let up.