Southend Central Museum facts for kids
Central Museum, Southend
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| Established | 1981 |
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| Location | Southend-on-Sea, Essex |
| 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 City Council |
| Public transit access |  Southend Victoria |
The Central Museum is a cool place to visit in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. It shows off the history of the local area and nature. It even has a special room called a planetarium! This planetarium was built in 1984 by an astronomer named Harry Ford.
The museum first opened its doors in April 1981. The building itself is quite old and special. It used to be Southend's very first free public library. The library moved to a new, bigger building in 1974.
Contents
The Museum Building: A Look Back
The building where the Central Museum is now was built in 1905. It was originally a Carnegie library, which means it got money from a famous rich person named Andrew Carnegie. He gave £8,000 to help build it! The person who designed this building was an architect named Henry Thomas Hare. The building was officially listed as a special historical place in 1974.
What Can You See at the Museum?
The Central Museum has many interesting things to explore. You can learn about local history, nature, and even old objects found from the ground.
Cool Old Radios
One of the unique collections at the museum is a group of original Ekco radios. These radios were made by a company called E.K. Cole & Co. Ltd., or 'Ekco' for short. This company used to be based right here in Southend! Back in the 1930s, Ekco was one of the biggest radio makers in Britain.
Shipwrecks and Ancient Finds
In September 2018, the museum opened a big exhibit about a shipwreck. This was the London, a huge warship from the 1600s. It exploded and sank in the Thames Estuary in 1665. The exhibition showed many items found from the sunken ship. It was open until July 2019.
The Royal Saxon Tomb
In May 2019, a brand new area opened at the museum. It shows amazing things found from a very old burial site. This site is called the Royal Saxon tomb in Prittlewell. It's an Anglo-Saxon burial mound found in the area of Prittlewell. It was discovered in 2003 when workers were making a road wider.
Scientists found many Anglo-Saxon objects there. These items showed that the person buried was very important. Special tests tell us the burial probably happened around 580 AD. Some people think it might have been the tomb of Sæxa, who was the brother of Sæberht, a King of Essex.
More Cool Pictures
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Collection of Ekco radios on show at the Central Museum
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Butterflies from the reserve natural history collections of Southend Museums Service
