20-38, Coastguard Road and associated outbuildings including the Rocket Cart House and Wash House, boundary wall, coal sheds and WCs and linking steps to boathouse

A Coastguard Station at Budleigh Salterton, comprising a row of eight terraced coastguard cottages, a pair of Petty Officer's cottages, an Officer's House, the rocket cart house and wash house, coal sheds and WCs, the boundary wall, and steps providing access to the boathouse. Built for the Admiralty to designs by John Haite, assistant civil engineer to the Admiralty, dated 1873.

The complex is situated on the cliffs overlooking the Budleigh Salterton coastline. The terrace of eight two-storey coastguard cottages is positioned to the north, with their associated WCs and coal sheds to the north concealed from Coastguard Road by a high section of boundary wall. The two Petty Officer's cottages and the Officer's House with associated WCs and coal sheds are to the east of the site. The single-storey rocket cart house and wash house stands at the north-west corner of the complex, and steps at the south-west corner link the station to the boathouse on Marine Parade. The station is enclosed by a boundary wall. Formerly a watch house and flagstaff stood to the south of the site. A much-altered boathouse, currently the Longboat Cafe and not included within the listing, stands to the south closer to the shore.

The cottages are built of red brick in Flemish bond with stone kneelers and stone coping to the gables and slate roofs. The eaves cornice is constructed of cogged brick and the plat band is of shaped brick with shaped stone sections to the corners. The windows to the south elevation have all been replaced with uPVC double glazing, but the sash windows to the north elevation beneath triangular-headed brick arches to the ground and first floor survive. The north elevation of the row of cottages have late twentieth-century flat roof extensions except to Nos. 26 and 28.

The terraced cottages have a simple plan with a kitchen and living room to the ground floor and two bedrooms to the first floor. Some of the internal joinery survives, including four-panel doors with associated door furniture, fitted cupboards and staircases. The Coastguard Officer's House, No. 38, is a larger house that retains similar features.

In 1841, the census records that there were four coastguards and their families living in Budleigh Salterton, employed by the Admiralty and wearing uniforms. In 1872, it was agreed that a new Coastguard station should be built on land owned by Lord Rolle at Budleigh Salterton, linked to a boathouse on the seafront by a set of brick steps. The building plans, drawn up by the Devonport-based assistant civil engineer to the Admiralty John Haite, are dated 20 February 1873 and were approved by Ritt Lipscomb, Steward of the Rolle Estates, on 8 April 1874. The station performed anti-smuggling, lifesaving and Naval reserve functions and was manned by paid service personnel who lived on site. In 1890, it is reported that eleven men and one officer were manning the Budleigh Salterton Coastguard Station. During the First World War, the coastguards were called up for naval duties and the station was taken over by volunteers.