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Walton-on-the-Naze is home to a busy coastguard and lifeboat station and has been since the 1880s. The records of lives and ships saved are engraved on plates surrounding the Lifeboat House.

In the days of pirate radio in the 1960s, the Walton lifeboat was regularly called out to pirate radio ships in distress. Two of the best known, Radio Caroline and Radio London, were both moored off the North Essex Coast.

The new coastguard station

Today鈥檚 lifeboat is moored near the end of the pier and is the only lifeboat in Britain to have a permanent mooring in the open sea. When needed, the lifeboat crew cycle the length of the pier and then use a small launch to access the lifeboat.

The old lifeboat house is now home to the Walton Maritime Museum housing a collection of Walton memorabilia. The museum is open daily from July to October from 1400 to 1600. Admission is 拢1. Exhibits include local archives, natural sciences, weapons and war, personalities, science and technology, social history and the maritime history of the town.

The Thames branch of The Maritime & Coastguard Agency are the new coastguard station based at Walton, monitoring ship distress calls and coordinating search and rescue operations for the whole of East Anglia, they are now housed in the new coastguard building next door to the museum.

• Continue to walk along the seafront adjacent to Cliff Parade. You will soon come to a junction with Green Lane where you will find the Walton Maritime Museum and Coastguard Station.
• The museum is open daily from July from 1400 to 1600, admission is 拢1.
• When you鈥檝e finished at the museum walk across the road and down the slope onto the beach.听 (If the museum is closed or you don鈥檛 fancy going in why not enjoy an ice cream or stop of in the caf茅 opposite?)
• 听Walk northwards along the beach back up towards the Naze.