Craster Living History - Online

Craster folk have been saying for some time that the village is at risk of losing its community memories. As a Church Newsletter reminded us after the death of Howick Scar farmer Willy Curry in 1995, 'when an old friend dies, a library is lost'. Unless we do preserve our local social heritage we will forfeit a thread of continuity which connects generations and links past, present and future. Shared memories are especially precious in rural villages as population patterns change and more and more homes are bought as holiday houses.

Fortunately, the experiences and stories of older villagers were valued enough for the Craster Community Development Trust, with Michael Gibbs as a driving force, to make a bid for funding to The Countryside Agency, which had launched a national scheme to support heritage projects run by community groups. A small, local-history group was awarded a grant from the Local Heritage Initiative Fund to finance the Craster Village History Project, which has run from January 2003 until March 2005.

Use the links to navigate the site and find out more about the lives and times of the people of Craster, telling the story in their own words of what it has been like living in rural Northumberland over the years. There are plenty of photographs depicting the area local to Craster in Northumberland, together with parts of texts transcribed from interviews with key memory bearers giving valuable insight into what life has been like over the years and just how much things have changed and evolved.


Painting by Mick Oxley Dunstanburgh Castle Craster Lifeboat Station Craster Harbour The Kipper Sheds Howick Hall The Jolly Fisherman Craster Towers, still home to the Craster Family The Barkpots Tearooms The Methodist Chapel Cullernose Point St Peter the Fisherman The Arnold Nature Reserve Craster Village

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