Signal House

Signal House is a cottage built around 1800. It is timber framed and weatherboarded, topped with a grey slate roof. The building has a single storey and features two chimney stacks made of gault brick, with the right stack being plastered. There are two windows: a two-light casement with glazing bars on the left and a small paned vertically sliding sash on the right. The cottage has two doors, each with two vertical upper lights, located one to the right and the other between the windows. Pentice boards are present above the doors. The frame appears to be intact, supported by a side purlin ridge board roof. Inside, there are six rooms, and the two chimney stacks have back-to-back fireplaces, one of which includes a 19th-century cast iron grate and surround. An original dining room cupboard is also present.

Historically, a line of 28 coastal signal stations was established by the Admiralty in 1794, extending to Great Yarmouth the following year and covering most of the coastline. A signal house is marked in the location of this building on the Map of Foulness by J. Grist from 1801. There were two signal houses on Foulness; the other one at Burwood was demolished in the late 19th century. In 1811, Lieutenant John Lundin was the officer in charge of this house. The signal equipment included a 50-foot mast with a 30-foot top mast and a 30-foot crossyard, from which 10 hoists could display one red flag, one blue pendant, and four black balls, allowing for 145 different signal combinations. The signal stations were closed in 1815 at the end of the War. This building is one of the very few surviving signal houses, with another presumed station located at Bradwell-on-Sea.