The Craster Arms Beadnell

The Craster arms Beadnell is a public house and restaurant clearly visible from public roads in the village of Beadnell. The rear part of the main building is formed from the remnants of a modest 16th century tower house that belonged to the Forster family, this was extended in the mid 18th century by the addition of the main building that faces the road, and all the old masonry is now hidden from the outside. The basement of the building retains a vaulted passageway with the old cross wall, external walls measuring three metres thick in places (part of which is recladding masonry – the old wall thickness is only up to 1.8 metres thick) as well as a stone winding stair and a single slit window. The old tower measured about 8.7 metres by 7.2 metres in size, and only the ground and first floor survive to any extent.

In medieval times the township was part of the royal demesne, owing service to Bamburgh Castle, and it could be that a manor here was occupied by a family known as de Beadnell, there are certainly men by that name on record as early as 1227, but this seems to have no longer been the case by the early 16th century, perhaps the result of their support of the Yorkist cause during the Wars of the Roses. That the tower was a Forster property is beyond doubt, the will of Thomas Forster of Adderstone dated 2nd September 1587 bequeaths “Bednall towre” to his eldest son Matthew, and it remained with the family until at least 1751, when the front part of the building was added and a datestone with the initials FIS placed upon it. However the fact remains that the tower was purchased by Forster from one John Swinburne in 1563. How the Swinburnes obtained the lands is not known.

By 1818 it was known as the Bull Inn, so the Craster name is relatively recent.

I have taken my photograph of The Craster Arms from a food reviews blog, but I have not as yet had a response; the blog may no longer be maintained.