Historical Alnwick

£8.00

Date: 18th August 2019
Start time: 10 am
Distance: 4 miles
Difficulty: Easy

Event Expired

Description

Historical Alnwick

This is a short walk around Historical Alnwick, with one of our keen walkers, Ruth.  We will start the walk on Ratten Row.  This is the road which leads up to Hulne Park, which was once the hunting grounds of the Percy family, in Alnwick.

Alnwick Castle

We will head along Bailiffgate to see the Barbican entrance to Alnwick Castle.  The Barbican is one of the major defensive structures of the castle and is one of the best examples of its type in Britain.  The Castle dates back to 1096 and since 1309 the Percy family has been linked with the Castle.  It is the second largest inhabited castle in the UK.

Historical Alnwick Recce - Historical_Alnwick_Recce-4.jpg

From the Barbican, we will continue along Narrowgate for a short distance before turning through the alley onto Greenwell Road.  This leads into the Castle grounds where we will see the Castle from the other direction.

Historical Alnwick Recce - Historical_Alnwick_Recce-5.jpg

Alnwick Garden

As we walk through the grounds of the Castle we will get a brief view of the beautiful Cascade at Alnwick Garden.  A little way further we see the Treehouse Restaurant.  We continue out onto the road, turning left down to the river.

The Aln pastures

As we cross the bridge and the River Aln, you will spot the Castle again, where we continue into the Pastures and up the hill to the right.

 

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We then enter the long plantation and walk through the trees on a track which brings us to Malcolm’s Cross.  This marks the place where Malcolm 3rd of Scotland met his death in 1093, as he tried to take over Alnwick.

From here we cross the road, where we could have a detour into the The Old Stables Tea Rooms, if we felt so inclined.  It tends to get busy, so we would need to book.  After the tea rooms, we continue along until we turn left into a field.  As we walk across the field, you get another view of Alnwick.

Eventually we cross the Lion Bridge, dated 1773, and the River Aln again.  As we head up the Peth, we turn right into Walkergate and we pass the Chantry.  The Chantry dates from 1448 and is the oldest domestic building in Alnwick. The entrance has stunning wrought iron gates.  As we meet Cannongate, St Michael’s Church Hall and Church is to your left.

We then return to the cars on Ratten Row, having enjoyed the sights and history of Alnwick.

Hope to see you there.

Julie, Martin and Ruth x

Gallery


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Strolls with poles – Nordic Walking for Fun and Fitness

Location

This shows the start location for this walk.

Nearest postcode: NE66 3HX
OS Grid Reference: NU 17978 13692

Meet: Entrance to Hulne Park at Western end of Ratten Row.

Parking: Ratten Row street parking.  This is situated on the way to Hulne Park.  Parking is free all day.