Craster Tower is an 18th-century

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

mansion incorporating a 14th-century

pele tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing ...

situated near the fishing village of

Craster Craster is a small fishing village on the Northumberland coast of England, from Alnwick. The next village to the north is Embleton. It has a small harbour and offers a view northwards along the rocky shore to the ruins of Dunstanburgh Cast ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The Craster family have owned lands at Craster since about 1278. The substantial rectangular pele tower, originally of four storeys, is believed to date from the mid 14th century. It is referred to in a survey of 1415 as in the ownership of Edmund Crasestir. The property was enlarged around 1666 when a two-storey manor house was built adjoining the east side of the Tower. A stable block (Grade II listed) was built to the north in 1724. In 1769, George Craster erected an impressive five-bayed, three-storey Georgian mansion adjoining the south side of the Tower, which was reduced to three storeys and recastellated at this time. This may be by Newcastle architect William Newton. In 1838, Thomas Wood Craster (

High Sheriff of Northumberland This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Northumberland. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries ...

in 1852) employed the architect John Dobson to improve and modernise the property. The greater part of the estate was sold by Sir John Craster in 1965. The Tower was bought back by his son, Oswin Craster, and his cousins and was restored and converted into three separate residential apartments.

Buildings

Craster Tower is rectangular. At basement level, the walls are thick and a

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

supports the upper building. Only one of the tower's windows is believed to be of medieval date. The tower originally had four storeys, but this was reduced to three by George Craster's heightening the middle floor during the 18th century.

References

Other sources

*Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, ''The David & Charles Book of Castles'', David & Charles, 1980.

External links

*
Craster History
Houses completed in 1666 Houses completed in 1724 Towers completed in the 14th century Peel towers in Northumberland Grade II* listed buildings in Northumberland Country houses in Northumberland 1666 establishments in England {{England-castle-stub