The 1930s view from the marsh just the other side of the creek, or ' the Crick' as it was referred to in the old days (official name 'Ditchwater Drain').

The cottages lining the coast road at the eastern end of the village are seen here as they were in the years before the terrible flood of 1953.

The raging flood-water was up to the ceilings of the ground floor rooms, marooning the people who had fled upstairs. Most of these cottages have elaborate wash-houses at the front and other out buildings - the Bakery, on the left of the picture, has a sloping outhouse where fodder was kept for the horses among other things. In the next picture, taken some time after the flood, all the wash-houses have been swept away and the rubble of their remains is still lying there. The bakery though has been cleaned up and had a new wing built onto it where the baker used to have a single-storey coal-house.

This picture (right) shows nearly the same view but after the 1953 flood. The Bakery, on the extreme left, has a new wing built on to it by Commander Parkinson who had bought it just 5 months before the flood. He built it on two arches, through which the next flood was meant to pass harmlessly underneath, while he and his wife lived completely upstairs. The cottages on the right (just to the left of the crab shop extreme right) were so badly gutted they were completely uninhabitable and were later pulled down.

Close window or go to site map