Listed Building: THE WATCH-HOUSE (491882)

LEISTON 79/0/10022 SIZEWELL GAP 22-NOV-04 The Watch-house II Coastguard watch-house. c.1823. Brick with slate roof and brick stack. Single storey open plan building with a second storey added to the eastern end to create a watch-tower. The eastern facade retains a triangular bay window supported on a dragon beam at first floor level over a planked double door at ground floor which provided access for the rocket-cart. A planked door at ground floor level provides access on the southern facade and a square window providing additional light to the watch-tower is located at first foor level. On the western elevation the original double door has been infilled in brick. To the northern elevation a small musket gun port, positioned opposite the door on the southern elevation, has been infilled. A small coal store has been constructed to the east of this. Internally the ground floor has ben subdivided to the western end by the construction of a modern stud wall. The original wooden runners for the rocket-cart survive in the eastern part of the building. A staircase with a removal section below a small landing is located in the south eastern corner and provides access to the first floor level. A planked wooden cupboard is located in the north eastern corner. At first floor level the stairwell is surrounded by a rail with hexagonal knobs and can be closed by means of a trap door. The walls are partly lined with tongue-and-groove panelling. An original fireplace with a matle shelf with two brackets to allow the fixing of a telescope is located on the northern wall. A musket rack is located on the west wall which is boarded to the ceiling. To the south of the musket rack is a small peep hole which can be open or closed via a sliding wooden panel. The watch-house was built in the 1820s when the preventative waterguard was consolidated and the coastguard formed. There is a record of a lease for the watch-house at Leiston dated 1823 and the building is specifically referred to in the 1840 tithe records. The watch-house remained in use until the 1980s when it came into the ownership of Suffolk Coastal District Council The watch-house at Leiston is a particularly fine example of a coastguard watch-house remaining little altered and retaining a significant number of its original fixtures and fittings.