Raglan Smoke House

Summary

Smoke house built around 1845-1850 and extended to the south and east in the late C19.

Reasons for Designation

Raglan Smoke House, built around 1845-1850 and extended in the late C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is a significant survival of an increasingly rare building type that was once a common feature of coastal towns in the C19 but has proved vulnerable to demolition and alteration;

* it is a particularly well-preserved example, retaining its characteristic form including the wooden racks attached to the smoke-blackened brick walls which directly illustrate the fish-smoking process.

Historic interest:

* it is an important element in a group of historic buildings related to the fishing industry, notably the Grade II listed 317 and 329 Whapload Road, which together represent the national importance of this Lowestoft industry.

History

In 1883 the herring was described in the London Illustrated News as ‘the most important fish, as an article of food and trade, caught in the British seas’. Herrings had been exploited for food in the country since at least the 8th century when they first appear in the documentary record; and in Lowestoft the herring fishery was the chief trade and the source of its prosperity until the C19. Most of the processing of the herring took place once the catch had been landed when the fish were dry salted and left in heaps on the ground for two to three days before being gutted and smoked over slow fires for up to a month. The fish houses in Lowestoft were tall structures, the upper storeys punctuated with shuttered ventilators of louvres to allow control of the smoking process. Internally, frames comprised of rows of horizontal racks, known locally as ‘loves’, ran the length of the buildings, allowing the fish to be hung on wooden spits and then exposed to the fumes of smouldering oak chippings on the floor. The wood fire was dampened with sawdust to create smoke as naked flames would cook rather than smoke the fish. The fish houses were loaded from the top downwards and the curers used the inner rows of loves as ladders to reach all parts of the building. A space about head-high was left between the lowest row of hung fish and the floor to ensure an even smoke from the fires. The ventilation louvres were opened and closed by valves to regulate the smoke released in the house.

The smoke house in Raglan Street dates from around 1845-1850. It bears a sign reading ‘Est. 1760’ but this could refer to when the business was first established or to an earlier smoke house on the site. The smoke house was designed for cold smoking, a method of preserving fish where the cooking temperature stays at 20-30ºc for 6-12 days, producing a denser and less moist fish. In the late C19 it was extended on the south side and an outshut was added on the east side. The first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1890 clearly shows these three adjoining elements, all set back from the line of terraces on Raglan Street. In the C20 the smoke house was run by only two families: Reggie Reynolds, who was called up in the First World War, was succeeded by his son who later sold the smoke house to Mr Buckingham who also passed it to his son.

Details

Smoke house built around 1845-1850 and extended to the south and east in the late C19.

MATERIALS: the main two-storey building is constructed of flint with brick dressings, the side and rear elevations covered in concrete render. The south extension is of gault and red brick laid in stretcher bond with some flint nodules, painted white on the east front. The east lean-to extension is constructed of brick, painted white. The roofs are covered in pantiles.

PLAN: the smoke house is set back from the road on the west side of Raglan Street in a terrace of predominantly domestic buildings. The mid-C19 two-storey building has a rectangular plan and is adjoined on the south and east sides by late C19 extensions.

The first-floor structure facing onto Raglan Street and the rear lean-to to the north are not included in the listing.

EXTERIOR: the smoke house is entered through a central stable door in the outshut extension. Above the lean-to roof, the main wall is pierced by two ventilation windows with central mullions and internal shutters. The steeply pitched roof has two flat smoke lights and four ridge louvre tiles. The rear (west) side also has two mullioned and shuttered smoke ventilation windows under the eaves. Abutting on the south side is a two-storey late C19 extension, lower in height and with a shallow pitched roof. The stable door on the east elevation mentioned in the original List entry from 1977 has been blocked up. A six-light window with timber mullions lights the ground-floor room, and above is a hatch with a timber door and strap hinges. A similar hatch is on the rear (west) elevation. Below this is a plank and batten door with fixed security bars, and to the right a square opening that has been boarded up.

INTERIOR: the mid-C19 building contains two identical smoke rooms entered through the original stable doors with long strap hinges. One retains its original wooden lock case. The smoke rooms, which are pervaded by the smell of smoked fish, each have a complete set of two racks, coated in a black tar-like substance – the residue from decades of the smoking process.

In the late-C19 south extension are the remains of a water pump and the fixed ladder (truncated) which provided access to the loft where the shavings for the smoking process were stored. It has a work bench with a concrete top, and modern kitchen facilities. In the outshut are the remains of two gas light fittings.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

391353

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Bettley, J, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Suffolk: East, (2015)

Other
Matthew Bristow, ‘311-333 Whapload Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk: Historic Area Assessment’, Historic England Research Report Series no. 57-2019 (2019)

End of official list entry

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