Craster Lifeboat Station

Craster Lifeboat Station is located at West End, in the small harbour village of Craster, situated mid-way between Seahouses and Amble, on the coast of Northumberland, England. An Inshore lifeboat was first stationed in Craster by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in August 1969. The station currently operates a D-class (IB1) Inshore lifeboat, Skpr James Ballard RNVR DSC (D-839), on station since 2019.

1. History

In 1964, in response to an increasing amount of water-based leisure activity, the RNLI placed 25 small fast Inshore lifeboats around the country. These were easily launched with just a few people, ideal to respond quickly to local emergencies. More stations were opened, and in August 1969, a lifeboat station was established at Craster, with the arrival of a D-class (RFD PB16) Inshore lifeboat, the unnamed (D-130). In 1975, D-130 was replaced with a new D-class (Zodiac III) lifeboat, D-228. In July 1977, a harbour fete day was organised in aid of Craster RNLI Lifeboat Station. The star guest was stage and screen actress Joyce Grenfell , maybe most well known for her role as Police Constable Ruby Gates, in the St Trinian's film trilogy. A total sum of £1531 was raised on the day, including £16 raised by Mrs Grenfell signing autographs. On Saturday, 1 May 1982, the lifeboat was launched at 11:10, to the aid of a crew of a fishing boat, who had moored their vessel. They had tried to row the boat's rowing boat ashore in gale force 7 conditions, but had been blown onto the rocks at Newton Haven, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Craster. The RAF Search and Rescue helicopter was also called, but it was decided to rescue the men by lifeboat. With great skill, Helm Neil Robson guided the Inshore lifeboat to the rowing boat, and the three men were recovered to Newton Haven Bay. At 12:40, the lifeboat was launched again with the same crew, to reports of a single man in the water after his dinghy capsized, also at Newton Haven. Unable to locate anyone, the lifeboat beached, but were told the man had made it safely ashore. For their service that day, Neil Robson and Keith Williams were each presented with a 'Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution'. On 3 February 1999, a new D-class (EA16) lifeboat was provided to the station, funded by John Bagley, who had raised over £16,000 from a series of talks and presentations, about his adventures taking part in the British Steel Challenge Round the World yacht race. His grandson Adam Bagley, aged just two-and-a-half, became the youngest person to name a lifeboat, which was duly named AB-One (D-542)

The latest D-class (IB1) Inshore lifeboat to be placed at Craster arrived in 2019. At a naming ceremony on Saturday 12 October, the boat was named Skpr James Ballard RNVR DSC (D-839), in memory of the captain of an armoured trawler, that had captured German sailors off the north east coast of Scotland in World War I. The boat was funded from the legacy of Mr Charles B. Campbell.

1. Station honours

The following are awards made at Craster.

A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution A. Neil Robson, Helm – 1982 J. Keith Williams, crew member – 1982

1. Craster lifeboats


1. See also

List of RNLI stations List of former RNLI stations Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats

1. Notes


1. References


1. External links

Craster RNLI Lifeboat Station

Nearby Places View Menu

Craster

Craster is a small fishing village on the Northumberland coast of England, eight miles (13 km) from Alnwick. The next village to the north is Embleton. It is within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Landmark Maritime

350 m

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.

Castle Historic Site

Craster radar station

Craster radar station (also known as RAF Craster), was a Chain Home Low (later a Chain Home Extra Low) Second World War radar site at Craster in Northumberland, England. The radar site is north of the village of Craster on an escarpment overlooking the North Sea. The site was opened by early 1942 and was staffed initially by the British Army, but later came under the control of No. 73 Wing of the Royal Air Force, part of No. 60 Group. It closed in 1944 and was later used as a PoW camp.

Historic Site Landmark

Dunstanburgh Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle is a 14th-century fortification on the coast of Northumberland in northern England, between the villages of Craster and Embleton. The castle was built by Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster between 1313 and 1322, taking advantage of the site's natural defences and the existing earthworks of an Iron Age fort. Thomas was a leader of a baronial faction opposed to King Edward II, and probably intended Dunstanburgh to act as a secure refuge, should the political situation in southern England deteriorate. The castle also served as a statement of the Earl's wealth and influence and would have invited comparisons with the neighbouring royal castle of Bamburgh. Thomas probably only visited his new castle once, before being captured at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 as he attempted to flee royal forces for the safety of Dunstanburgh. Thomas was executed, and the castle became the property of the Crown before passing into the Duchy of Lancaster. Dunstanburgh's defences were expanded in the 1380s by John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, in the light of the threat from Scotland and the peasant uprisings of 1381. The castle was maintained in the 15th century by the Crown, and formed a strategic northern stronghold in the region during the Wars of the Roses, changing hands between the rival Lancastrian and Yorkist factions several times. The fortress never recovered from the sieges of these campaigns, and by the 16th century the Warden of the Scottish Marches described it as having fallen into "wonderfull great decaye". As the Scottish border became more stable, the military utility of the castle steadily diminished, and King James I finally sold the property off into private ownership in 1604. The Grey family owned it for several centuries; increasingly ruinous, it became a popular subject for artists, including Thomas Girtin and J. M. W. Turner, and formed the basis for a poem by Matthew Lewis in 1808. The castle's ownership changed during the 19th and 20th centuries; by the 1920s its owner Sir Arthur Sutherland could no longer afford to maintain Dunstanburgh, and he placed it under the guardianship of the state in 1930. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, measures were taken to defend the Northumberland coastline from a potential German invasion. The castle was used as an observation post and the site was refortified with trenches, barbed wire, pill boxes and a minefield. In the 21st century, the castle is owned by the National Trust and run by English Heritage. The ruins are protected under UK law as a Grade I listed building and are part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest, forming an important natural environment for birds and amphibians. Dunstanburgh Castle was built in the centre of a designed medieval landscape, surrounded by three artificial lakes called meres covering a total of 4.25 hectares (10.5 acres). The curtain walls enclose 9.96 acres (4.03 ha), making it the largest castle in Northumberland. The most prominent part of the castle is the Great Gatehouse, a massive three-storey fortification, considered by historians Alastair Oswald and Jeremy Ashbee to be "one of the most imposing structures in any English castle". Rectangular towers protect the walls, including the Lilburn Tower, which looks out towards Bamburgh Castle, and the Egyncleugh Tower, positioned above Queen Margaret's Cove. Three internal complexes of buildings, now ruined, supported the earl's household, the castle constable's household, and the running of the surrounding estates. A harbour was built to the southeast of the castle, of which only a stone quay survives.

Castle Historic Site