Southend Museums

Southend Museums Southend Museums - four historical sites to discover and enjoy! Prittlewell Priory - a Cluniac monastery located inside a serene park & gardens.

We are Southend Museums - four historical sites around Southend-on-Sea, preserving and celebrating our local heritage. Southend Central Museum & Planetarium - discover local history, natural history, archaeology and the stars above. Southchurch Hall - a medieval moated manor house overlooking gardens and a lake. Beecroft Art Gallery - an exciting collection of paintings, sculpture and fashion with ever changing temporary exhibitions.

Continuing our dive into our upcoming exhibition at Central Museum, today we've got some beautifully made, historic Sout...
02/06/2026

Continuing our dive into our upcoming exhibition at Central Museum, today we've got some beautifully made, historic Southend souvenir ceramics!

Often made into fun and quirky designs, these ceramics are a classic part of British seaside history. Here we have a miniature bandstand, a pot in the shape of a crab, and a horseshoe ashtray!

Visit our new exhibition Kiss Me Quick: A Love Letter to Southend when it opens at Central Museum from the 4th of July onwards to see these and plenty more fascinating seaside entertainment objects from our collections. Central Museum is open 11am-5pm Wednesday to Sunday

Journey with astrophysicist Rob Clemenson from the Beecroft Art Gallery into the darkest corners of the cosmos, as part ...
01/06/2026

Journey with astrophysicist Rob Clemenson from the Beecroft Art Gallery into the darkest corners of the cosmos, as part of our free, four part lecture series 'The Science of Space', Saturdays in June & July.

The talks are accessible for ages 10+. Older children and adults will enjoy the talks, children younger than 10 are welcome, but some may struggle with understanding the content. Tickets are free, but prebooking is recommended.

Info & tickets for all talks at https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-science-of-space-free-lecture-series-4845839

This is 'Bertie', one of Tom Mortley Clare's Ventriloquist dummy family made in around 1880, largely of papier mache. T...
31/05/2026

This is 'Bertie', one of Tom Mortley Clare's Ventriloquist dummy family made in around 1880, largely of papier mache.

The black and white image shows Bertie with the rest of his family, 'Dad' 'Jack' and 'Jane'. Tom, Bertie and the rest of the family were actively performing between 1901 and 1963 across London and Essex.

The final image shows Jack and Jane, as they are prepared for any conservation work before forming a part of our upcoming exhibition, Kiss Me Quick: A Love Letter to Southend starting at Central Museum on the 4th of July.

Central Museum is open 11am-5pm Wednesday to Sunday.

All Southend Museum sites will be closed for staff training on the morning of the 4th of June. We will reopen for the a...
28/05/2026

All Southend Museum sites will be closed for staff training on the morning of the 4th of June. We will reopen for the afternoon at 1pm.

Due to staffing sickness, Southchurch Hall will unfortunately be closed for the remainder of this week. Central Museum ...
27/05/2026

Due to staffing sickness, Southchurch Hall will unfortunately be closed for the remainder of this week. Central Museum will also be closed on Saturday the 30th of May. Apologies for any inconvenience this causes.

The Beecroft Art Gallery and Prittlewell Priory will be open as normal this week.

"Have... a good... time... all the time.", but specifically at our screening of pioneering comedy 'This is Spinal Tap' (...
27/05/2026

"Have... a good... time... all the time.", but specifically at our screening of pioneering comedy 'This is Spinal Tap' (1984), directed by the late Rob Reiner, tomorrow (28th May) evening at 18:30 at Beecroft Cinema Club.

Info and tickets at https://spinal-tap-cult-classics-tickets.eventbrite.com

We're excited to see our latest exhibition at the Beecroft Art Gallery is shaping up beautifully ahead of its opening th...
26/05/2026

We're excited to see our latest exhibition at the Beecroft Art Gallery is shaping up beautifully ahead of its opening this week 🤩

Opening on the 30th of May, and running until the 23rd of August, State of Her: A Retrospective by Heidi Wigmore is set to be a fantastic exhibition.

The Beecroft Art Gallery is open 11am-5pm Wednesday to Sunday, and is free to visit.

Address

Victoria Avenue
Southend-on-Sea
SS26EW

Telephone

+441702212345

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