Smokehouse, Craster

The smokehouse in Craster dates from the mid-19th century and may have been partially converted from an existing building. It is constructed from locally quarried whin stone with roughly cut dressings, topped with a pantile roof and featuring timber slat vents.

The building has a rectangular plan, divided internally into two double smoke rooms and one triple smoke room, with a fuel store located at the left end. The exterior is a full-height stone structure beneath pitched pantile roofs, equipped with smoke vents. The elevation facing the main road shows evidence of at least two construction phases. The right end is a tall, narrow section with a rubble plinth, a steeply-pitched roof, and rough quoins at both ends. It features a pair of small upper window openings with crude stone lintels and sills, framed simply in timber; one window has timber slats, while the other has a fixed upper pane and a louvered lower pane. There are also two timber smoke vents, one on each pitch, with timber slats at the front. The right return is blind, displaying reverse crow stepped gables or skew stones, and the left return also has skew stones. Attached to the left gable is a slightly set back later addition with a shallower pitched roof and a full-length, upstanding timber slatted ridge vent, which includes a pair of openings with timber boarded fronts. This addition appears to be secondary, and the difference in stonework between the lower and upper parts suggests that the building may have been raised upon an existing stone yard enclosure wall. The rear elevation is obscured by later constructions.

Inside, the lower part of the rear wall of the smokehouse is visible within the later rear ranges, featuring several openings with replaced timber doors. These doors lead into the triple and double smoke rooms, which have smoke-blackened interiors. The timber smoking racks, known locally as 'lungs', used for hanging herring during the smoking process, are still present. The left smoke room is currently utilized as a fuel store.