Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/64

Rh ALNWICK. ALPEBTON. wards purchased by Lord Henry do Percy, from whom they have been regularly 1 to the present noble owner, the Duke of Northumberland. Opposite the railway station, at the entrance of tin- town, is a noble column, erected by tho Percy tenantry, 100 i.-,-t high, surmounted by the Percy crest, and inscribed, " To Hugh, Duke of Northumberland, K.G., this column is erected, dedicated, and inscribed by a grateful and united tenantry. A.D. 1816." Alnwick, situated so near to thenorthorn limit of England, was the scene of nume- rous forays and conflicts in the fierce border warfare of the middle ages. It was besieged in 1093 by Mal- colm III., King of Scotland, surnamed Ccan-mchr. or " Greathead," and was defended by Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland. Malcolm and his son, Prince Ed- ward, both fell during tho siege. King David gained possession of the town in 1135. William the Lion, who took part with young Richard, afterwards Coeur de Lion, against his father, Henry II., entered Northumberland in 1174, with a host of eighty thousand men, and hud siege to Alnwick. William was taken prisoner by a troop of English horse under Ralph de Glanville. He was only liberated on pledging himself as Henry's liegeman, and binding himself to do homage for Soot- land. Subsequently, on payment of 10,000 marks, this humiliating treaty was annulled by Richard. The place was nearly burned to the ground in 1215 by King John, but appears to have been soon rebuilt. The Scots, under Robert Bruce, made an attempt on it in 1328, but failed. A wall was built round the town in 1411, and at the same time battlements were erected on the castle. The town was again burnt in 1448 by the Scots, after Dum- fries was burnt by the English. Alnwick is a borough by prescription. The ancient style of the corporation was the "burgesses of Aluwick;" tho present style, the " chamberlains, common council, and freemen of the borough of Alnwick." It is now governed by a bailiff nominated by the Duke of Northumberland, tour chamberlains, and twenty-four common-councilmen. The chamberlains are elected from the council, and the councillors from tho body of freemen. The freemen become such cither by inheritance or by servitude. There was a curious and absurd custom, not many yean discontinued, in connection with admission to the free- dom, which tradition traces back to a decree of King John ; and this tradition looks lees improbable than it did, since the publication of an itinerary, which shows that King John was at Alnwick on the 24th April, 1209. St. Mark's day, 25th April, is the day of admis- sion for freemen, and after admission they had to ride the bounds of an extensive common. In the course of ride they came to a muddy pond, named tho "Freeman's Wefl." where the bailiff bids them dis- mount and make their way through it from end to end. This they did, in a cotton dress, and usually ' a crowd of delighted and applauding spectators. So, it is said, decreed King John, because the townsmen of his day loft their roads in so bad a condition that ho himself was well-nigh lost in the bogs. Potty sessions are held once a fortnight by the county magistrates, and quarter neaions are held here in turn with Newcastle, Uexham, and Morpeth. Polling and tho election for the north dir. of the county take place here. A county court is held once a month in tho townhall. The town is regularly built, the street* are broad, well paved, an houses mostly modern and built of stone. It is lighted with gas, and has a good supply of water. There were formerly four square towers with gateways in tho town wrUl.of which only one, that nn rnedBondgnte.remainH It was 1 -pu r, and was formerly used a* a prison. The market-place is a large square in tho centre of the town, on tho north side of which is the townhall, a handsome stone building with a square tower, erected in 1711 ; and on the w. taining reading and assembly rooms, with shambles and tails lor filth and poultry beneath. It wan rt. Duke of X'orthi. i- in Hie early was built i- There is an infirmary, a theatre, a subscription library, founded in 1783, a scientific and mechanics' institute, founded in 1824, a tradesmen's and mechanics' i. rooms, and a savings-bank. A now and spacious court- house 1 forthe holdingof petty sessions, and acorn exchange are now being erected. The town is well drained, ur the provisions of the Public Health A. t. Fire-plugs are fixed in the streets about fifty yards apart. Astonel.i of three arches crosses the Alnc at the northern end of t h. town. The living is a pcrpet. cur. in the dioc. of Dur- ham, vaL 176, in the patron, of the Duke. Tho church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. .Mi< h:ul, is a largo structure in tho perpendicular and decoi styles of architecture, with groined chancel, carved stalls, and a niche in the south aisle with three effigies recum- bent. A new district church, dedicated to St. Paul, was erected in 1846 by tho late Duke. The living is a vol. 200, in the patron, of the Duke. There are places of worship belonging to the Roman Catholics, Unitarians, Independents, Wesleyan and New Connection Sleth< Kngliuli Presbyterians, and United Presbyterians. The last-named body have two chapels here. There is corporation school, in which, besides English, claasisIB and mathematics aro taught, an infant school, a national school founded in 1810, and supported by the Duke, and several Sunday schools. The trade and manufactures of tho town aro small and nnimpoi There are two extensive tobacco and snuff manufactories, besides several breweries, a tannery, and flour-mills. Coal is found in tho parish, and there are quarries tlm limestone, freestone, and marble. Bricks and tiles an t made. The market is held on Saturday. Fairs are held on the eve of Palm Sunday, the 1 the last Monday in July, the first Tuesday i for sheep, cattle, and horses. A wool fair is 1 1 first Saturday after tho 6th July ; and statute fail hiring servants, tho first Saturday in March, the IJth May, and tho first Saturday in November. A - market is held every alternate Monday. Alnwickl tho noblo scat of tho Duke of Northumberla d, stands on the site of a Roman camp, to tho north-went of the town. About a hundred years ago considerable trans- formations were effected, which destroyed, in great measure, its characteristics as a Border cattle. But in 1868 his grace, the present Duke, caused it to be repaired at a very lurgo cost, and as closely as possible according to the ancient design. It is now <>; the finest examples of a feudal fortress in the king- dom. The walls enclose an area of five acres, and the grounds, which are watered by tho Alne, extend five miles in length. The family residence is in the < of tho inner court. The interior decorations ui extraordinary splendour and magnificence. The << of the chapel is constructed after that of King's (' Chapel, Cambridge ; and tho paintings on the walls are copied from those in Milan cathedral. The walls of tho castle are flanked by sixteen towers. Very extensive and important works have long been, and are still. . on at the castle. Tho park abounds in seem i rare and various beauty, and contains ruins of two abbeys; one that of tho I'M m founded in 1147, by Eustace Fitz-.lohn ; the oil Abbey by a crusader, in 1240. Malcolm's Cross, a memorial of tho fall of King Malcolm and hi during the siege of Alnwick in 1093, was rebuilt in 1774, on tho spot where he fell, by the Duchess of Ni th- umbcrland, u lineal descendant of the king. Alnwick was the birthplace of Friar .Martin of Alnwick, and of Itish]> William of Alnwick. the latter of whom lived in tho first half of tho 15th century. Alnwick gives tin rn tn the Karl of Heverley. A l.i 'KsllKIlHii: lirNUKKI), one of the twelve sub- divisions of the lathe of Sh. ]'way in the co. of K- nt, i"l on tin- X.r.and SI-'., hv I .angport, St. Martin's hundred, and on the S.W. ami N'.W. liy Oxney hundred. ntaiiis the par. of Brm.l.j ,nd. l-'airli< M. S rial-gate, . find iirt nl llreii/i-tt, and . Al.lTl.Ti iN. a hmlt. of the par. of Hiirrow-on-the-
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