History

The oldest available records show that the Watch House existed in the 18th century and was used as a base for Preventive men, Pilots and Coastguards. Fast and efficient launching was available down the slipway for their swift and stylish cutters.

Uniquely in England, smugglers were operating in Cornwall well into the middle 19th century, and Preventive men kept their cutter in what is now the kitchen, in order to pursue them. They launched via the front windows, which were then boathouse doors, as shown in the attached Victorian photograph. You can see that the East Quay had not been completed by then, and the house was virtually on an island. The main bedroom above the kitchen was a dormitory for some fifteen men.

Customs duty was paid at the middle window in the kitchen west wall, to a clerk seated at a high chair.

The present studio was built at the top of the house only in 1925, but before that there had long been some sort of construction used for looking out to sea.

The unique charm of The Watch House and it’s location has caught the imagination of movie makers, artists and advertisers. In the 1940’s it featured in several movies including a second world war propaganda film called ‘Johnny Frenchman’. There is a DVD copy in the studio to view if you wish.