The Beecroft Art Gallery opened in 1953 containing a small collection of paintings belonging to the founder of the Gallery, Walter G Beecroft, a solicitor from Leigh on Sea, Essex. The collection grew through donations from the Friends of the Beecroft Art Gallery, the Thorpe Smith bequest of local paintings and funds from Southend Council, and now numbers over 2,000 works including Dutch and Flemish Old Masters, Victorian and modern paintings. Highlights include Constable's sketch of the Stour estuary of 1804, Henry Bright's image of Hadleigh Castle, a Frank Brangwyn painting of the Thames, and a collection of works by Edward Seago.