This page is by no means a definitive history of the coastguard at Walton, but just a little piece about where they lived. The earliest date I have for the Coastguard in Walton is from the 1851 census We know that the forerunners of the coastguard the Preventive Water Guard were barracked in the Martello tower. They were at this time more involved with the customs to prevent smuggling than the role they currently do.

In 1822 the P. W. G. were taken over by the Admiralty and renamed the Coastguards, unfortunately I have been unable to find any
information on the early years at Walton but we know that in 1860 according to one source that a Watch Vessel was brought to Walton to house five families under their captain, Captain Hewitt. Our source said that this was the Blossom the photo of which appears above, but this is an error as in 1871 the name of watch vessel No. 4 was the Dolphin according to the census.

I have been unable to find out when the Blossom Walton's last watch vessel was brought here but I do know it was still in use in 1901 even though the Station on the crest of the Naze hill with its look out over looking Harwich Harbour had been built in that year, (Creek
Cottages) these now belong to the Hall Farm estate.

I remember as a child I lived next door to an elderly lady. Miss Prior, her father had been a shepherd and coachman at the Hall, she had been born in the late 1800s  and remembered the Watch vessel  and the coastguard families that lived on it, she often used to say about the poor coastguard children who had to walk from nearly Stone Point to school everyday, the old school being what is now the Walton Library. At this time there would have been up to six families living on board, a tight squeeze considering the size of families at the time.

The Watch Vessel was moored out near Stone point as can be seen from the extract of the 1881 Ordnance Survey map not  Cormorant / Watch vessel  creek, at this date it would have been the Dolphin not the Blossom.

The cottages were built for four families and one single man. With a square laundry block in the back yard with all the ancillary buildings forming a neat rectangular group, which is still  virtually complete or was last time I was up there.

According to one source the cottages were never brought into service but according to
another source they were in use from 1901 until 1906. In 1906 the station moved to its
current location and the cottages were sold off to the Hall Farm Estate.

Shown left is the Rifle range used by the Coastguards and later by the Army, this range is now out at sea beyond the original Tamarisk seawall.

Below is a list of the personnel from 1841 stationed at Walton I realise this is not a complete list but hope it is complete enough to be of interest to people reading this page.