The church of St John the Baptist sits at the top of a steep incline, almost level with Southend Pier. It's seen many comings and goings with respect to it's neighbouring buildings. Upon completion of the original build in 1842, it was pretty much surrounded by greenery, and would have had an unrestricted view of the Thames estuary. Things are somewhat different nowadays though, with the hulking Park Inn Palace hotel right next door. Originally built as the Hotel Metropole, it opened it's doors in 1904. St John's itself has been through numerous changes, which are summarised above. Google Satellite view is very useful when studied alongside those build dates, as the different parts of the build can be indentified by the colouring of the roofing.