Old Boat House

The Old Boat House, dated 1557 above the door but significantly restored and altered around 1840-1850, was originally associated with St Helen’s Priory on Priory Road. During the 19th century, before the construction of the Old Chain Pier (now demolished), the building served as a coastguard station. It is a single-story structure with an attic and a semi-basement to the southeast, which was originally the boathouse (the ground level has since been raised). The building is in a "T" shape, constructed of red brick and rubble with red brick quoins. It has gable-end roofs tiled in red, featuring scalloped bands and patterned ridge tiles, along with ornamental barge boards and pendant finials. There are three yellow brick neo-Jacobean chimneys, each with an octagonal cap. The southeast front has 19th-century casement windows and a mullioned bay with a tiled hipped roof and rendered apron. A modern double door now marks the original boathouse entrance, with remnants of a wooden lintel above it.