Isle Martin Croft House

Isle Martin croft house as it was

Isle Martin is a community owned island looked after by the Isle Martin Trust. The Croft House is one of the oldest existing buildings on the island, and was recorded in the 1875 Ordinance Survey. It is a traditional drystone lime mortar building that can offer sleeping accommodation for 6-8 people, but it had become damp and uninviting over the years. This project, delivered by the Isle Martin Trust, has made the Croft House a more hospitable space to stay and encourages access to the island. The project also now allows for a variety of training and volunteering opportunities.

• The building is now suitable for overnight stays, by groups of up to eight people.
• The project allows a variety of new training and volunteering opportunities to be run on the island.
• The building demonstrates traditional building techniques and preserves a sympathetic addition to the island’s landscape and infrastructure.

Working on the roof of isle Martin Croft House

Work is now complete. Local contractors used traditional building techniques for the restoration work, helping to keep them alive, and providing real examples as a demonstration for others. The project adopted an archaeological approach to ensure as much of the original fabric as possible is retained and reused. Wherever possible existing fabric has been used. Where new materials were required sympathetic materials and techniques were used to maintain the building’s historic appearance and the overall project outcomes.

Getting materials to the island posed its own challenges!

The completed roof.

The croft house now makes it much easier to host groups on the island, such as schools, volunteers and trainees. This in turn should help support tourism in the area, and encourage more people to visit the island.

In addition to funding through CALLP, the project has been supported by in-kind contributions from John Gilbert Architects and Northwoods Construction.