The alley in front appeared to have front gardens and all the usual appurtenances, but we had never before seen such a serious wall to a back alley. BH thought that perhaps it was due to the coast guards, like the local bobbies, being fair game for low level abuse from local yobboes.
The cottages were some way back from the esplanade, but perhaps when they were built, their windows looked out clear to the sea, before the arrival of the speculative builders.
Not clear why there were coast guard cottages here at all. Given the big flat beaches and the coastal erosion over the years, perhaps there are plenty of sand banks out to sea, to the peril of the shipping traffic of the nineteenth century. The glory days of our merchant marine - also the days when they took a lot of casualties, for one reason or another. So was the guard here to try and manage the wrecks - thinking here of all the looting at a recent wreck on the Dorset coast? Or were they just here for the smuggling?
No comments:
Post a Comment