Rayleigh and Southend in Essex

 When I read about Rayleigh on IanVisits I thought it was worth a look. It is a historic town in Essex and easily accessible by train from London. As I walked up to the town from the station, I went past the Dutch Cottage. The house is lived in but tours are available by booking through the council. I hadn't planned my visit so hadn't booked a tour. The cottage is octagonal shaped and is Grade II listed. It is thought to date from around 1740 and maybe associated with the 17th centry Dutch immigrants who constructed many of the sea walls of the south Essex coast. The cottage is now owned by the council. You can read more about the inside on IanVisits.

My first stop was the museum. This is above a pizza shop. The museum is housed in the oldest secular building in the town and the beams are thought to be original. The exhibits mostly relate to local items. I didn't stay long here as I had to get to the windmill before it shut at 1pm. 

The windmill is currently open 3 days a week. There isn't much to see inside as there are no artifacts etc. It was built in 1809 and was probably the 5th one in Rayleigh at the time but now is the only remaining one. It is a brick built tower mill and the tallest in Essex, 20 m. It has 6 floors.

There were 3 grinding stones - 2 can be seen in the photo above. The sails have been rebuilt and are attached to the cap. Each sail is 15.5 m long. The mill was converted to steam and then electricity. Milling stopped just before the 2nd World War. The 1st floor is a museum of items related to the area. The 2nd houses a model of Rayleigh Mount. An external walkway is still there but not safe to walk on. 

Visitors can go up to the next floor, but the 2 floors above that are still under repair. The ground floor is now a very popular place for small scale weddings.

Near to the windmill is an entrance to Rayleigh Mount.

This is where the castle used to be located but there is nothing left. You can see a model of the mount and artist's drawing of the castle in one of the photos above. The castle was mentioned in the Doomsday Book. The stone was removed to build Hadleigh Castle in 1200 and then the locals took the rest away. Today it is a nature reserve. It was a hot day so I just had a quick walk up to the top, but trees obscured the views, so I headed back to the town. I went up to the church but it seemed to be locked. 

I saw buses going to Southend and as I hadn't been there since the late 60s or early 70s, I decided to have a look. Southend has the longest pleasure pier in the world and I went on it for old times sake. I was lazy and took the train both ways - it was a hot day and I didn't have a great deal of time. The pier is 1.33 miles (2.16 km) long and stretches into the Thames estuary. Although the town is called Southend-on-Sea, it isn't really on the coast. 

The iron pier opened in 1889 and the railway a few years later. See more on Wikipedia.

There was a view of the Kursaal from the railway. This was one of the world's first amusement parks, opening in 1901. It has a distinctive dome. There was a ballroom inside which was later used for concerts. In the 1960s the outdoor rides seemed so exciting and it was a real treat to go there. The place went into decline and the amusements closed in 1973 and the rest of it in 1986. It is now a Grade II listed building. 

The end of the pier was a bit disappointing. The pavilion and cafe was shut and there were just a few kiosks. The lifeboat station is the main attraction, with a museum and a sundeck above. The pier was damaged by a big fire in 2005. 

The shore end of the pier has been redeveloped. There is a lift down from the town to the pier and an amusement park on the front.