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The breakwater is one of several concrete ones along the coast which, coupled with the usual groynes, are designed to reduce longshore drift and to try to stabilize the beaches.

The source of the name is this. In 1882 Philip Brannon built a large house on the Naze cliffs above the site and called it Highcliff Mansion. In 1886 the building became the St Osyth Home of Rest for the Work Girl’s Protection Society of London, and remained aa such until around 1895, training girls for domestic service and providing holidays for the overworked. By 1901, as St. Osyth House, it had become a private college. Then from around 1922 it became the Mabel Greville Convalescent Home and was again a children’s home prior to its sale in 1939. The building was demolished in 1984, and new houses now occupy the site.