Yacht Stores/Sail Loft (Now Sail And Steam Workshop)

BRIGHTLINGSEA THE HARD TM 0816-0916 8/62 Yacht stores/sail loft (now Sail and Steam Workshop)

• II

Yacht store/loft, now a workshop. C19. Timber framed and weatherboarded. Grey slate roof, finials to gables. 2 storeys. West face with 3 vertically boarded doors to first and ground floor, and double doors to north. East face, 2 single and 2 double vertically boarded first floor doors, 2 similar to ground floor and a vertically boarded door to north. 2 first floor gable end openings and a C20 single storey extension to north. As a limb of the Cinque Port of Sandwich much ot Brightlingsea's wealth has been obtained from the sea. Oyster dredging and cultivation known from earliest times and the main C18 industry required packing sheds and boats. There are dis-used oyster pits to east of this building, and the fishing smacks were built at Brightlingsea. Sprats were caught by stowboats i.e. smacks fitted with a long open bag net, the sprats carried in by the tide. Copperas was collected by dredging. Early/mid C19 yacht racing, cruising and building brought renewed prosperity to the town, but only a few of the buildings related to these industries remain, q.v. 8/63, 68, 69, 70, 71. Brewers Arms, GRP Mouldings, 45 Waterside, 22 Waterside, 2 and 4 Waterside.

Listing NGR: TM0900416217