Southminster is in the centre of the Dengie peninsula, which once formed a hundred of the same name. A major horse market used to be held annually in the town. Southminster marshes were a favourite centre for hare coursing in Victorian times. Pandole Wood contains ancient earthworks believed to date from the Iron Age. The landscape surrounding the town, and elsewhere on the peninsula, is characterized by a pattern of strictly rectangular field boundaries, with evidence of a unit of measurement having been applied to the scheme as a whole. Middle Saxon administrations have been suggested as its origin, although the road to the RomanSaxon Shore fort of Othona at Bradwell-on-Sea also conforms to the pattern.
The medieval St Leonard's Church dates mainly from the 15th century, although there are traces of much earlier work. It is a relatively large, "townish" church by Essex standards. The church also stands at an important road junction, contrasting with the familiar Essex pattern of a church and manor house complex on the same site. These features are consistent with John Blair's formulation of an Anglo-Saxon minster, in contrast to a private oratory in its origins, and the place-name would perhaps suggest Cedd's mission at the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall near Bradwell as its parent. Several well-known clergymen are associated with the church, including naturalistWalter Henry Hill, curate from 1832 to 1839, and Alexander John Scott, rector 1805 to 1840 but previously personal chaplain to Horatio Nelson. After the Battle of Trafalgar Nelson died in the arms of Scott, and several artefacts that once belonged to Scott are found in the church. The church also gives its name to the town's local football team, Southminster St. Leonards F.C. There is also a brick-built United Reformed Church building in North Street, Southminster.
Facilities
The town has an infant and a primary school, a small library, a handful of pubs, a swimming pool, a brewery and cidery and one holiday park.
Southminster is the name given to the fictional cathedral city featured in the short story 'An Episode of Cathedral History' by M.R. James, published in A Thin Ghost and Others, his third collection of Ghost Stories published in 1919.
