NARROWGATE
This impressive gothic building at the (very sharply angled) corner of Fenkle Street and Narrowgate was built in 1835 as a Savings Bank (historians can tell this because it still has the bars on the windows and perhaps more importantly because it still has "Savings Bank" written in large gothic letters beneath the second floor window). It is now a clock repairers (open Thursdays and Fridays only) and in the intervening years it has also apparently been:
- A hairdresser's (who apparently kept a bear in the cellar). Apparently C19 barbers had a great need for bear grease which they used as a forerunner of brylcream. Wonder if that's why they were called teddy boys.
- a cigarette warehouse
- a shoeshop
- a butchers
That part of Narrowgate (running to the left of the building on the picture) isn't wide enough for two cars to pass but that didn't stop it from being the A1 for centuries.
HULNE PARK
Not
a park in the traditional sense of the word, it is owned by the Duke (obviously)
but "visitors and townsfolk" are warmly invited to visit if there isn't
any shooting or hunting going on and provided they keep orff everywhere
apart from a few of the roads (you have to memorise the map at the entrance
so that you know which ones you're allowed on because they aren't marked
on the ground). The park is littered with interesting buildings if
you can find them. Brizlee Tower (1781) is another gothic building. You can get a good view from the bottom (and you could get a better view from the top only it isn't open to the public). The strange bowl on top was presumably designed to hold some kind of beacon fire. Alnwick Abbey Gatehouse - near the entrance of the park - featured in Elizabeth. Hulne Priory (unrelated to Alnwick Abbey) the picturesque ruins of which were convered into summer houses etc by the first Duke.
NETHERTON FISHPASS
OK
so it isn't in Alnwick, but it is in the Alnwick district,it's a
listed building, it's Victorian and it was derelict but now it isn't. It
has been lovingly restored with £50,000 public money in the hope
that some of the six tourists who drive down this road will want to eat
picnics there in the three weeks each year when it is not too windy to
get out of your car. It even boasts a car park. The many fish
who wanted to pass further up the Netherton Burn in order to spawn must
be delighted with all this potential attention.
The directions to this 'must-see' piece of Northumberland's history simply leave Alnwick and drive through Rothbury to Thropton where you head right (before the bridge) then left. Then keep going for miles and miles till you get to the fishpass.
If you get to Netherton itself then you've gone too far. Netherton itself boasts the Netherton Star, a pub which is really someone's front room and which featured in one of those local news "goodness me you can get the worldwide web even in Northumberland type stories" type stories:
Some Australians turned up at Netherton Star one day having found out about it on the net. The landlady couldn't believe that pictures of her pub were available in Australia and rushed out and bought a computer and took classes about the internet.
The Australians were evidently much better at searching than me because I've never managed to find any references to the Netherton Star which would make me want to visit it. Barry Ward, one of the Australians concerned, has now emailed me to tell me that the reference is on the camra site and I've found the page. Thanks.
THE PINFOLD
Originally
the place where stray cattle were brought and claimed to be owned by the
Freemen but they had a fight about it with the Duke in the 18th Century.
Not a huge attraction in its present condition as it forms a traffic island
and is set off by those double yellow lines.
TOWN
HALL
Anywhere but Alnwick, the Town Hall would be owned by the council but in Alnwick it's owned by the freemen, or so they say. Note the ornamental drainpipes on the right hand side of the tower.
It was built in the 1771 in the market
place whereupon the Duke promptly (well, in 1826) built the much larger
Northumberland Hall, allegedly to upstage
the Freemen with whom he was having a bout of oneupmanship at the time.
WAR
MEMORIAL
It has to be said that the war memorial is rather
special and original. The three figures show their permanent respects
and you can't fail to be appropriately reminded without in any way glorifying
war. It is a bit of a shame that it now forms a traffic island at
one of the busiest junctions (in Alnwick - so not that busy) but you can't
have everything.
SCARY HOUSE
Towering above the Falcon's Rest and the bus station is this rather peculiar building, home to Alnwick's foremost optician. It would be unkind (and probably untrue) to say that his taste in architecture suggests that he needs better glasses. Sometimes scary lights shine from it. I wonder if anyone trick or treating ever calls there. Apparently it was built in c1820 as a church on the site of a building with unusual drains. Or so I'm told.
Pictures
of Alnwick
Details
of where to stay
FAQ
Alnwick International
Music Festival
Holy Island
- a flat place with lots of rocks
The Freemen
of Alnwick
Other sites
of interest
Alnwick's
Bagpuss Connection
Famous
Alnwick Christmas Lights
Northumberland
Gazette Controversy
Safeway
Controversy
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