Alnmouth

Alnmouth
240px View of Alnmouth and the estuary of the River Aln
Alnmouth  Alnmouth shown within Northumberland
Population	562
OS grid reference	NU245105
Unitary authority	Northumberland
Ceremonial county	Northumberland
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ALNWICK
Postcode district	NE66
Dialling code	01665
Police	Northumbria
Fire	Northumberland
Ambulance	North East
EU Parliament	North East England
UK Parliament	Berwick-upon-Tweed
List of places UK England Northumberland

Alnmouth(/əlnˌmaʊθ/ ALN-mowth) is a village in Northumberland, England. It is situated just off the main A1068 road (to Ashington), about 4 miles (6 km) south-east of Alnwick.

Located at the mouth of the River Aln, the village was an important trading port, mainly involved in the export of grain and in smuggling. Due to the trade in grain, the village contained a number of granaries. The port declined after the river changed course during a violent storm in 1806. This incident also resulted in the original church on Church Hill being destroyed. The church had already suffered much erosion by the river and was in a state of collapse. After the loss of the grain exports, the old granaries were converted to houses.

Today, Alnmouth is a tourist resort. It is within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The village has the fourth oldest golf course in England. The original course was established in 1869; it is believed that it was designed by Mungo Park who became the club's first professional.

History

Adtwifyrdi or Adtuifyrdi ("at the two fords") is the name used by the Venerable Bede, and is believed to refer to the confluence of the River Aln at its mouth with a tributary. Here, according to Bede's account in Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, Book IV, ch. 28, Archbishop Theodore presided over a synod in 684 in the presence of King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, at which bishop Tunberht of Hexham was deposed and St Cuthbert elected Bishop of Lindisfarne.

According to the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, Alnmouth was taken and fortified by the French during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The Schooner Hotel was built in the 1600s and is reported to be one of the most haunted locations in the United Kingdom.

During the American War of Independence, Alnmouth was attacked by the American privateer John Paul Jones. On 23 September 1779, Jones fired a cannonball at the town; it missed the church tower and landed in a field before striking a farmhouse roof.

An exhaustive history of the village was written in 1851 by William Dickson, entitled Four Chapters from the History of Alnmouth.

The village was in 1860 selected as one of fourteen weather stations, and equipped with a barometer by the Duke of Northumberland acting as president of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The barometer and a chart of recent readings was kept on public display, to seek to provide fishermen with indications of likely weather patterns so as to assist in diminishing losses at sea. The barometer remains on display, in the window of a cottage facing on the main street, to this day. In November 1876 a new church, St John the Baptist on Northumberland Street, was consecrated by the Bishop of Durham.

Transport

Alnmouth is served by Alnmouth railway station which is situated in Hipsburn, a mile inland to the west.

File:Alnmouth 19th century photograph 1.jpg

Alnmouth's Northumberland Street in the late 19th century.

File:Alnmouth 21st century.jpg

The same view in 2013.

Alnmouth railway station.

Notable people

• John Wesley is reputed to have visited Alnmouth in 1742 and stayed at the Schooner Hotel, and afterwards said about the village that it was "famous for all kinds of wickedness".
• Arthur Campbell Walker founded Alnmouth Golf Club.
• Val McDermid, the famous crime writer lives in Alnmouth.

External links

• Local history
• Photos of Alnmouth
• Northumberland Communities
• Alnmouth Football Club