Alnwick

Alnwick ('town on the Alne'), the county town of Northumberland, 38½ miles N. by W. of Newcastle by rail. It is a well-built place, with a large central market-place, a spacious town-hall, and a corn-exchange of 1862. Alnwick was at an early period a fortified town, and one of its four gates remains, with fragments of the walls. At the north entrance of the town stands Alnwick Castle, the seat originally of the De Vescis, and since 1310 of the House of Northumberland (see PERCY). It has been sumptuously restored since 1854 in the Italian palazzo style, and is one of the most magnificent baronial structures in England. During the middle ages, it was a bulwark against the invasions of the Scots, and it was thrice besieged—by Malcolm Canmore, who here met his death; by David I., who captured it; and by William the Lion, who here was taken prisoner. Alnwick ceased in 1886 to enjoy certain prescriptive municipal usages it formerly possessed. Pop. (1871) 5822; (1881) 6691; (1891) 7428. See supplement to the Graphic for August 9, 1884.