Thwaites Shipyard

James Beeching and a partner ran a shipbuilding yard on the beach in front of the Castle.

In 1816 this went bust and was sold up - to James's father-in-law, Tom Thwaites. The Thwaites shipyard then built many large commercial sailing vessels up to the early 1840s, but the expansion of the Old Town westwards made it more profitable for the Thwaites's to sell the land for what today would be called 'regeneration'. There are also known shipyards run by Thwaites and Bailey and Thwaites and Winter recorded as being in the same locality which may well be related.