The Old Coastguard Cottages.
This week's Saturday Timewatch takes another look at the Old Coastguard Cottages, Osmington Mills. Like many others around the UK coast they were initially built for staff who were trying to stop smuggling rather than to save lives at sea. The next nearest coastguard cottages, only two miles east above Ringstead Bay, were literally built at the top of a cliff path that is known to this day as the "smugglers' path'.
Meanwhile back at this site, where boats could come into a tiny sheltered 'harbour', the adjacent pub is now known as The Smugglers. By all accounts the system made major inroads into the smuggling trade with numerous people being caught and sent to Dorchester for trial.
The date of construction remains unknown but they were certainly on a 1888 map and probably date from three or four decades before that.
The Old Coastguard Cottages.
This week's Saturday Timewatch takes another look at the Old Coastguard Cottages, Osmington Mills. Like many others around the UK coast they were initially built for staff who were trying to stop smuggling rather than to save lives at sea. The next nearest coastguard cottages, only two miles east above Ringstead Bay, were literally built at the top of a cliff path that is known to this day as the "smugglers' path'.
Meanwhile back at this site, where boats could come into a tiny sheltered 'harbour', the adjacent pub is now known as The Smugglers. By all accounts the system made major inroads into the smuggling trade with numerous people being caught and sent to Dorchester for trial.
The date of construction remains unknown but they were certainly on a 1888 map and probably date from three or four decades before that.