Refurbishment of the Rocket House in Low Newton-by-the-Sea completed

Building work to refurbish the Rocket House in Low Newton-by-the-Sea, Northumberland has been completed. Rocket Houses were formerly used to house lifeguarding equipment for saving lives of shipwrecked sailors during the Victorian era and very few remain. It accommodated rocket apparatus which could fire a rope out from the land to any ship that ran aground on the rocks. The rope would allow the ship’s crew to pull in the attached breeches buoy. The breeches buoy was a pulley system that could winch a sling out to the ship and then winch it back with a person in the sling.

The building has been used more recently as holiday accommodation and comprises the original Rocket House and a 1990s extension. The original structure has been restored and the fabric improved to ensure its longevity, including cleaning and repointing the stonework and repairing the structure of the roof.

The roof of the 1990s extension has been replaced with a new lead clad steel roof structure to create a more usable and contemporary space within and which creates a simple aesthetic addition to the exterior. A picture window within the new roof space looks out across the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.