Smuggler's Rest, Telscombe Cliffs

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 14 Oct 2012

The oldest building in the settlement of Telscombe Cliffs known sometimes as the 17th Century House though it does not date from then. A building was constructed here around 1765 originally as a farmhouse which was later converted into a pub called the Lifeboat Inn, so named because the owner constructed a shaft down to the beach in order to launch a lifeboat. That building was renovated around 1809-11 and became known as the Brewers Arms Inn. It's isolated position on the main coast road made it an attraction for smugglers and the original building had extensive cellars and passages running down to the beach below. Consequently, in 1832 a watchhouse was built opposite, see Image, and the inn seems to have eventually become part of the coastguard station being the house for the senior officer. I'm still uncertain when the building ceased becoming a pub but for many years it was a private residence until the 1990s when it was once more renovated and reopened in 1997 as the Badger's Watch, changing to the current name in the last year or so.

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