Coastguard cottages at Prawle Point
There is evidence to suggest that there has been a lookout of some kind in the Prawle Point area for hundreds of years as 'Prawhyll' is the Ango-Saxon word for lookout hill. In this brief history we are concerned mainly with the last 100 years when the lookout was first built for Lloyds of London to report the movement of ships to and from all over the world. The cottages below to the east of the station were built in 1905 to house the personnel and their families. The Station Master lived in the big house at the head of the row and the rest of the crew occupied the remaining 10 houses.
The lookout was manned 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
High technology and
sophisticated systems resulted in Prawle Point being partially closed in
1982.
In 1994 it finally closed down
altogether and was left to the mercy of the wind and the rain.
Negotiations began between the owners of the
land (The National Trust) and NCI to lease the lookout station and in August
1997 the recruitment and training of volunteers to man the station began.