Trail Route

1) Starting point: Southend Central

Begin at Southend Central station, the starting point for this heritage trail around Southend City Centre. Trains and local buses serve the station, making it an easy place to start your walk.

2) Southend Central to the Railway Hotel

With the station behind you, turn right onto Clifftown Road. You will soon reach the Railway Hotel, one of the city’s earliest public houses and a building of local architectural and historic significance.

3) Railway Hotel to Scratton Road

Continue along Scratton Road. This area takes its name from the Scratton family, wealthy landowners with links to Prittlewell Priory, who leased land here for residential development as Southend expanded.

4) Scratton Road to Milton Place

Turn left onto Milton Place. The streets around here form part of the Clifftown Conservation Area, an important historic part of the city that marks Southend’s early development as a seaside resort.

5) Milton Place to Cambridge Road

Continue to Cambridge Road and turn left, following the route deeper into the conservation area.

6) Cambridge Road to Runwell Terrace

Turn right onto Runwell Terrace. This quiet residential stretch leads to one of the trail’s notable historic homes, so please be respectful as you pass through.

7) Runwell Terrace to Reverend Benjamin Waugh’s House

On your left is the house where Reverend Benjamin Waugh once lived. He was the founder of the NSPCC, one of Britain’s best-known children’s charities.

8) Reverend Benjamin Waugh’s House to Prittlewell Square

Continue along Runwell Terrace until you reach Alexandra Street, then turn left and head into Prittlewell Square.

9) Prittlewell Square Gardens

Prittlewell Square Gardens is the oldest park in Southend and a focal point of the Clifftown Conservation Area. Inside the square you’ll find a pond, fountain, ornamental gardens and a decorative clock donated by local jeweller and philanthropist R A Jones.

10) Prittlewell Square to Clifftown Parade

Leave the square and turn right onto Clifftown Parade. There are benches along this stretch, making it a good place to pause and enjoy the sea views.

11) Clifftown Parade to Southend War Memorial

Continue along Clifftown Parade until you reach the Southend War Memorial. This Grade II* listed memorial was built in 1920 to commemorate those lost in the First World War and was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

12) Southend War Memorial to Queen Victoria Statue

Retrace your steps along Clifftown Parade and take the path off to your right. Along the way you will pass the Grade II listed Queen Victoria Statue, originally presented to Southend to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

13) Queen Victoria Statue to the Cliff Lift

After a short while, the Cliff Lift will appear on your right. Built in 1912, this locally listed funicular is officially the shortest funicular railway in Britain and the only single-track one.

14) Cliff Lift to Royal Terrace

Continue ahead onto Royal Terrace, a Grade II listed Georgian terrace with sweeping views over The Shrubbery and the estuary. It is one of the most distinctive historic stretches on the route.

15) Royal Terrace to the Royal Hotel

At the eastern end of Royal Terrace stands the Grade II listed Royal Hotel. Built in the late eighteenth century, it played an important role in Southend’s social history and in meetings linked to the first pier and the railway to London.

16) Royal Hotel to the High Street

Turn left onto the pedestrianised High Street. This became Southend’s main retail focus during the Edwardian period and later developed into one of Essex’s regional shopping centres.

17) High Street to R A Jones & Sons Clock

Continue along the High Street until you reach the R A Jones & Sons Clock, opposite Weston Road. The Jones family were important local benefactors, also linked to Priory Park and other public gifts to the town.

18) R A Jones & Sons Clock to Offord’s Café frontage

Carry on along the High Street. On your right you will pass the former Ironworks site, then look up to spot the old shop frontage for Offord’s Café, once run by the Offredi family, who became well known locally for their cafés, bakeries and catering businesses.

19) Return to Southend Central

Turn left down Clifftown Road to return to Southend Central.

20) This brings us to the end of the trail!