Alnmouth

Alnmouth is a village in the county of Northumberland, in the north-east of England. It is situated just off the main A1068 road (to Ashington), about four miles south-east of Alnwick.

Located at the mouth of the River Aln, the village has been an important trading port in Northumberland's past, mainly involved in the export of grain, and smuggling. The port declined after the river changed course in 1806. This incident also resulted in the original church being cut off from the rest of the village.

Today, Alnmouth is a popular tourist resort, served by Alnmouth railway station which is situated in Bilton, a mile outside Alnmouth.  Alnmouth is believed to have been the location of a great synod at which St. Cuthbert was elected Bishop of Lindisfarne in 684[1].

According to the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, Alnmouth was taken and fortified by the French during the reign of Queen Elizabeth[2].  A comprehensive history of the village was written in 1851 by one Willian Dickson, entitled Four Chapters in the History of Alnmouth.

The village was in 1860 selected as one of fourteen weather stations, and equipped with barometer by the Duke of Northumberland acting as president of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution[3]. The barometer and a chart of recent readings was kept on public display, to seek to provide fishermen with indications of likely weather patterns so as to assist in diminishing losses at sea. The barometer remains on display, in the window of a cottage facing on the the main street, to this day.