Author: Peter

William Barnfather was born in 1789, in Northamptonshire. He came to Alnwick around 1825 as architect to the Duke of Northumberland. His first major build was Northumberland Hall, in 1826. Although it is Grade-1 listed it never seems to have been widely admired. George Tate wrote that it “casts a dark shadow over the marketplace“. … Continue reading William Barnfather

The Tailors’ Arms, or Taylor’s Arms dated from around 1855, and was one of a dozen pubs on Clayport until magistrates decided not to renew its licence in 1908. The large-scale Ordnance Survey Town Plans from the National Library of Scotland help us to understand why <here>. In the late 19th century this was an … Continue reading Tailor’s Arms

Wood’s 1827 map of Alnwick shows a Carrier Warehouse belonging to Mr Graham, just north of Bondgate Tower. In 1827 William Graham was making two trips a week to Newcastle: one on Monday, returning on Wednesday, and one on Thursday returning on Saturday. At the time there were more than forty carriers serving nearly thirty … Continue reading Carrier warehouse

The world’s first large iron bridge was erected across the River Severn in 1779. The second, across the River Wear at Sunderland was opened in 1796. By 1812, when this cast-iron bridge in Hulne Park was constructed, cast iron was generally considered a suitable material for bridges. Thomas Telford had built four bridges in cast … Continue reading Iron Bridge

In 1925 Fred Wilcox acquired the old Militia Mess Rooms, in Bondgate Without from the Duke of Northumberland and commissioned architects J. Oswald and Sons, of Newcastle, to design a theatre and picture house which would accommodate 1,200 people. The King’s Hall Theatre, in Nag’s Head Yard, had beeen run by generations of his family … Continue reading Messrs J. Oswald and Sons