Northumberland Yesterday and To-dayTerry, Jean F. (Jean Finlay)
History
Northumberland Yesterday and To-day
Terry, Jean F. (Jean Finlay)
Northumberland (England) -- Guidebooks; Northumberland (England) -- History
Finally, the inhabitants of the little village saw the church
entered by the Jacobites in 1715, when Mr. Buxton, chaplain of the
little force, prayed for James III. and Mary the Queen-mother; and
General Forster, dressed as a trumpeter, proclaimed King James III.
at the village cross.
A few miles north from the mouth of the Coquet, the little Aln
spreads over the sandy flats near Alnmouth, and reaches the sea. It
has changed its course, for at one time it flowed to the south of
Church Hill, instead of to the north as at present. The town of
Alnmouth, viewed from the train just before entering Alnmouth
Station, looks very picturesque, especially if the rare sunshine of
an English summer should be lighting up the bay, bringing out the
vivid red of the tiled roofs against the grassy hills fringing the
links which lie on their seaward side, and lighting up, also, the
yellow sands and long lines of sparkling wavelets edged with white.
Alnmouth depends for its living on a fleet of fishing boats, and on
the numbers of visitors who seek its fresh breezes and inviting
shores each summer. Golfers, indeed, find it pleasant all the year
round, as there is only a scarcely appreciable interval in the
winter months when their favourite pastime cannot be followed on
the breezy links. On Church Hill, now crowned by a few old stones,
once stood a Norman church, dedicated to St. Valery, which, in its
turn, occupied the site of an older Saxon building, supposed to
have been the church which Bede refers to as being at Twyford,
where a great synod of clergy was held in the year 684, and
Cuthbert appointed Bishop of Lindisfarne. It is a matter of dispute
whether this Twyford was Alnmouth or Whittingham, but the two fords
at Alnmouth seem to point to a decision in favour of that place.
The old Norman church, which fell into ruin at the beginning of
last century, was fired at by the famous pirate Paul Jones; the
cannon shot, weighing 68 pounds, missed the church, but struck a
neighbouring farm house, doing great damage.
The coast north of Alnmouth becomes rocky and wild, and very
picturesque, and the villages along the coast are being sought out
by holiday makers in increasing numbers, year by year. Boulmer, one
of these villages, was a famous place for smuggling in the old
days, and many an exciting scene and sharp encounter took place
between the smugglers and the King’s men. Not far away is Howick
Dene, a lovely little glen leading down to the sea from Howick
Hall, the home of Earl Grey.
Cullernose Point, a striking crag, is formed by the outcrop of a
portion of the Great Whin Sill, which from here can be traced to
the south-west, and thence right across the county.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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