3 miles from Rayleigh Parish

The romantic ruins of a royal castle overlooking the Essex marshes. Hadleigh was begun in about 1215 by Hubert de Burgh, but extensively refortified by Edward III during the Hundred Years War.

13 miles from Rayleigh Parish

Set in tranquil grounds adjoining a riverside village, this rare example of an Elizabethan artillery fort was begun in 1559 and redeveloped in 1599-1601, to protect warships at Chatham dockyards.

14 miles from Rayleigh Parish

Spend a great family day out at Tilbury Fort in Essex. Explore the magazine houses or the bastion magazine passages of this fort on the Thames estuary that has protected London’s seaward approach.

14 miles from Rayleigh Parish

Milton Chantry is all that remains of a 14th-century hospital later used in turn as a public house, a Georgian barracks, and Second World War gas decontamination chamber.

15 miles from Rayleigh Parish

Strategically placed astride the London Road, guarding an important crossing of the River Medway, this imposing fortress has a complex history of destruction and rebuilding.

15 miles from Rayleigh Parish

Part of a manor house of the Knights Templar, built in about 1240, with a fine first floor hall displaying traces of wall paintings.