Summary
Former fish smoke house dating to the last quarter of the C19.
Reasons for Designation
The former fish smoke house is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
*Rarity: it is a significant survival of a late C19 small-scale commercial fish smoke house, a once common but now increasingly rare building type. Most smoke houses of this late date were on a larger, industrial scale so the survival of a small smoke house on such a modest commercial scale is particularly unusual;
*Intactness: it is a well-preserved example with surviving wooden racks attached to the smoke-blackened brick walls, thereby directly illustrating the industrial process;
*Historic interest: it is a rare remnant of the east coast herring industry in Ipswich.
History
The fish-curing works was built in the last quarter of the C19 in the back yard of a fishmonger’s shop which closed in the mid-1990s. Auction particulars from April 1876 include a plan which shows that there were no buildings on the plot at that date. The first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1884 depicts a building facing onto Tacket Street and a number of small buildings to the rear. There is a building on the site of the smoke house but it appears to have a slighter larger footprint. The second edition OS map of 1904 shows the same footprint as the current map which indicates that the lean-to had probably been erected around the smoke house by this date. The lower level of the smoke house was later converted into a fridge/ cold store, but has more recently been used for storage.
Details
MATERIALS: red brick and pantiles.
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