In 1930 it was extensively restored and presented to the town of Southend[2] by the Dowsett Family.

[6] At the end of the Great Hall is the cross-wing, housing the North and South Solars.

The land on which it stands was given to the monks of Canterbury in 823 AD, and the tenants of the hall subsequently inherited the family name "de Southchurch".

This custom survived until the death of Peter de Southchurch in 1309.

[1] In the 1930s extension to the hall, there is an exhibition of artefacts discovered during archaeological investigations of the site.