Craster Tower

Craster Tower is an 18th-century Georgian mansion incorporating a 14th-century pele tower situated near the fishing village of Craster, Northumberland, England. It is a Grade II* listed building.

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 about 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.

In 1838 Thomas Wood Craster (High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1852) employed architect John Dobson to improve and modernise the whole.

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.

References

• Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, The David & Charles Book of Castles, David & Charles, 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3
• Keys to the Past
• The Gatehouse Gazetteer
• Craster History