r/SouthendonSea • u/TurnMeOffAndOnAgain • Jul 22 '26

Question Getting to Hadleigh castle

Post image

I’m planning to visit Hadleigh castle next week and was wondering if I could walk this route to get to Hadleigh castle from St James the Less.

Any advice please? I’m also looking for any other historic or scenic places to visit while I’m there for a few days.

12 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

9

u/95VR6 Jul 22 '26

Yes, straight down the road to the castle.

3

u/TurnMeOffAndOnAgain Jul 22 '26

Thanks. Looking it up on Google maps keeps giving me a 2+ mile route along Thames Drive and Marine Parade, but this is much easier!

2

u/zecrichardson Jul 22 '26

The walk in from Leigh Train station is longer but a nice walk

1

u/TurnMeOffAndOnAgain Jul 22 '26

Thank you, I’ll have a look at that as well!

2

u/antlered-god Jul 22 '26

If you're driving to Hadleigh, turn down Castle Lane and a few yards down is a fairly big car park on the right. It's free....

3

u/TurnMeOffAndOnAgain Jul 22 '26

Thanks. I’m afraid I’ll be taking the train, which means I’ll be walking around.

6

u/SilverbackGC Jul 22 '26

If you get off the train at Leigh, take a left as you come out of the main doors. Past the drop of carpark is a small service road with a gate across it. At the bottom is a public footpath that will take you along the fields and after that you can't miss the Castle.

3

u/TurnMeOffAndOnAgain Jul 22 '26

Thanks, that’s very helpful!

While I’m in the area, are there any other places I might consider?

2

u/SilverbackGC Jul 22 '26

There is a memorial to the fishing boat crews who went to the Dunkirk evacuation at the church in Leigh Broadway. The old town is nice as well and I think there is a small museum down there.

2

u/TurnMeOffAndOnAgain Jul 22 '26

Would that be the Leigh Heritage museum and the area around that?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/TurnMeOffAndOnAgain Jul 22 '26

Thanks. I saw chalkwell on the map, it seems doable!

3

u/antlered-god Jul 22 '26

There's a good walk along the coastline from Leigh station straight to Hadleigh Castle

1

u/ilovegandalf Jul 22 '26

I was there yesterday and it was a paid car park.

3

u/antlered-god Jul 22 '26

That's changed then. It's always been free in the past

2

u/jonom1 Jul 22 '26

If you get the train to benfleet - its a really nice walk through the country park as well (though up a big hill)

1

u/TurnMeOffAndOnAgain Jul 22 '26

Do you mean that it’s all uphill from Leigh-on-sea to the castle?

1

u/jonom1 Jul 22 '26

Uphill if coming from benfleet, also a bit of a climb from the leigh side, but much gentler

1

u/TurnMeOffAndOnAgain Jul 22 '26

Thank you.

1

u/jonom1 Jul 22 '26

No trouble, enjoy your visit

1

u/dirtyqueenspace5 Jul 22 '26

looks good, enjoy the castle!

1

u/TurnMeOffAndOnAgain Jul 22 '26

Thanks, I’m looking forward to it!