Alnmouth

Alnmouth was established as a village by William de Vesci, who was granted a charter in 1152 to hold court and establish a settlement on a 296-acre (120 ha) spit of land in the manor of Lesbury.[3][4] Eustace de Vesci was granted royal permission to establish a port and a Wednesday fish market in 1207 or 1208.[5][6]

What preceded the Norman village is less clear, although land at the mouth of the river is likely to have been used throughout antiquity,[7] coastal plains being some of the first areas of recorded human settlement in Britain. A few flint tools from the Mesolithic period have been found, but no evidence has been found for the Neolithic period. A number of Bronze Age remains have been found including cist burials and a spear-head; and a presumed enclosure at the very north of the village is conjectured to be an Iron Age feature.[8][9]

No Roman remains have been discovered, but it appears likely that the estuary was known and presumably used by the Romans. Ptolemy, writing in the 2nd century CE notes the river Alaunus, and the much later Ravenna Cosmography notes a place-name of Alauna. Alnmouth harbour would have been useful to the Romans, both to support military campaigns and to facilitate trade,[10][11] albeit the river is not navigable beyond Lesbury, 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) upstream.[12]

There is speculation that Adtwifyrdi or Adtuifyrdi ("at the two fords"), the name used by the Venerable Bede, refers to the estuary of the River Aln. 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.[13][14][3][11] The name "Alnmouth" derives from the Old English mūþa (mouth of river).[15]

Tithe map of Alnmouth from 1843, showing the changed course of the River Aln after a storm in 1806 diverted it from an oxbow meander to a straighter course

Alnmouth's port, engaging in fishing and trade, has had a fitful 800-year documented history.[5] The village was attacked and greatly depleted by the Scots in 1336. Further depredations were caused by the Black Death in 1348.[16][4] The village was described as "depeopled" in 1597. A 1614 survey notes that the village was "in great ruin and decay", albeit somewhat improved. A 1567 survey established that 20 of the 60 households in Alnmouth were engaged in fishing.[17]

Prosperity seems to have improved in the 17th century, and in the 18th century trade as the port burgeoned. The most notable export from the port was grain. A major import of the time was guano from Peru, part of the larger pattern of agricultural improvement of the time. Other exports noted in this period are coal, and eggs, pork and pickled salmon for the London trade, and wool for the Yorkshire woolen industry. Imports mentioned include blue slate from Scotland and timber from Holland and Scandinavia. The grain trade gave rise to 16 granaries in the village, some of which were much later converted to residential use.[17][18][19]

The port also prospered as a shipbuilding centre, albeit on a modest scale.[20] At its peak, around 1750, up to 18 vessels might be seen in the harbour at any one time. The reputation of the village was not high, though. John Wesley is famously reported to have described the place as "a small sea-port town, famous for all kinds of wickedness",[18] and much earlier accounts speak of members of the community who added nothing to the commonwealth, and against whom all things must be secured lest they be stolen.[6]

A shift in the course of the river on Christmas Day 1806 was sometimes identified as a cause of the decline of the port. A violent storm breached the northern end of the Church Hill sandbank, allowing the river to divert away from a south–north meander to take a more direct course to the sea.[21] The 19th century saw a decline in traffic at the port, falling off completely at the end of the century.[21][22]

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

The same view in 2013.

The effects of the port's decline were offset by a new role for the village, as a holiday and second-home resort. With the coming of the railway to nearby Hipsburn in 1847( the station known then as Bilton junction then Alnmouth, now Alnmouth for Alnwick ), spacious villas with sea-views were built, granary buildings converted to residential use or demolished to make way for new cottages. Maps of 1897 show a holiday camp, garden tea-room and many beach-huts amongst the dunes.[23] Heated baths were available by the village's gas station.[24] A links golf course was established in 1869, the fourth oldest in England; it is believed that it was designed by Mungo Park who became the club's first professional.[25]

Two lines of WW2 anti-tank cubes defend Alnmouth's north beach

The early 19th century had seen trade at the port affected by the Napoleonic Wars and fear of French invasion persisted until late in the century. The Duke of Northumberland maintained an army, the Percy volunteers, against the threat, and a gun battery was installed overlooking Alnmouth in 1852. Similar invasion fears arose during World War II, and a variety of defences were installed on the south and north beaches at Alnmouth, including concrete anti-tank cubes, an anti-tank ditch, pill-boxes, reinforcement of the previous century's gun battery, and firing slits built into the walls of the Church Hill guano shed. Remains of many of these defences are evident today.[26][27]