coastguard station

Terrace of three two-storey former coastguard houses, built c.1880, comprising pair of three-bay houses with paired projecting bays and porches, and five-bay house with bay window to north end. Now in use as private houses. Later extensions to rear (west). Flat concrete roofs with rendered chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Painted and unpainted rendered walls. Square-headed openings with six-over-six and four-over-four timber sliding sash and replacement uPVC windows with stone sills. Square-headed door openings with timber glazed doors. Rubble limestone and rendered boundary walls with piers and wrought-iron gates. Outbuildings to rear.

Coastguard stations were built along the coast at intervals of between ten and twenty miles in the nineteenth century. The HM Coastguard was established in 1822. During the Crimean War of 1854-5, the Coastguard served as a reserve force for the Royal Navy and the Admiralty took control. A phase of expansion was undertaken by the Admiralty, which lasted for several decades. This station dates to the latter part of the nineteenth century. It is an interesting reminder of the provisions which were made to save lives, monitor foreign warships and combat smuggling.