Alnwick Castle

The following is from the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. For the most up-to-date Register entry, please visit The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

Extensive landscape parks and pleasure grounds developed from a series of medieval deer parks, around Alnwick Castle, the seat of the Percy family since the C14.

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Alnwick Castle parks cover a tract of countryside encircling Alnwick town on its west, north, north-east, and south sides. The land is a mixture of contrasting landscape types, with high heather moorland and the rough crags of the Northumbrian Sandstone Hills sweeping down to the improved pasture lands along the wooded Aln valley. The parks exploit the boundaries of these distinctive landforms where the rugged moorland gives way to the pastoral, rolling landscape of the Aln, on its route to the sea. In the west parklands the river is confined between hills, and in places has incised deep, narrow valleys while in the east the landscape is more open.

The registered area of 1300 ha is bounded on its north-east side by the Hulne Park wall, west of the Bewick to Alnwick Road (B6346). The west side of the area here registered follows field boundaries to the west of Shipley Burn, starting at Shipley Bridge, and then turns south-west at a point c 1km south of the bridge. It then runs for south-west for c 2.3 km, to the west of Hulne Park, before crossing the River Aln and running parallel to Moorlaw Dean for c 1.2 km, on the west side of the burn. The southern area is defined by Hulne Park wall running around the south point of Brizlee Wood then in a line due east, south of Cloudy Crags drive, to cross the Stocking Burn and reach Forest Lodge. The boundary then defines the north-western extent of Alnwick town and, crossing the Canongate Bridge, the southernmost extent of the Dairy Grounds.

To the east of the Castle the registered area takes in the entire North Demesne bounded on its north by Long Plantation, a perimeter belt which lies on the south side of Smiley Lane and then extends eastwards to meet the junction of the B1340 and A1 trunk road. The A1 has effectively cut through the North Demesne from north to south and, although physically divorcing the two areas, they are still visually conjoined. Defined on its north side within the hamlet of Denwick by tree belts, the park extends eastwards for 1km before cutting across southwards to meet the River Aln at Lough House. This latter stretch is bounded by a perimeter belt. The south boundary of the North Demesne follows the river in part, before meeting the Alnwick to Denwick road (B1340). To the south, the Castle gardens are delimited from the town by property boundaries along Bondgate. An outlying area of designed landscape at Ratcheugh is also included.

Entrances and Approaches

A complex series of drives is laid throughout the parks, particularly in Hulne Park. A series of thirty standing stones stand at the beginning of the drives or where they converge. These are inscribed with the names of the drives and act as signposts.

Principal Building

Alnwick Castle (1134 onwards, c 1750-68 by James Paine and Robert Adam, 1854-6 by Anthony Salvin, listed grade I) lies on the high ground on the south side of the Aln valley, commanding views to the north, east, and west. To the south is Alnwick town but the landscape is designed so that the town is not in view of the Castle. The principal views from the Castle lie over the North Demesne.

Walled Garden

The walled garden of 3 ha lies to the south-east of the Castle, reached by the remains of C19 pleasure gardens laid out on the slopes above Barneyside. After the Second World War use of the glasshouses ceased, and until recently (late 1990s) the Estate Forestry Department used it. The earthwork terraces and remnants of specimen planting of Nesfield's scheme survive.

Park

The North Demesne originally included Denwick Park (they have now been divided by the A1 road), and together these 265 ha form the core parkland designed by Brown. Perimeter tree belts define the park, and clumps and scatters of specimen trees ornament the ground plan. The Aln has been dammed to give the appearance of an extensive, natural serpentine lake, with bridges as focal points: the Lion Bridge (John Adam 1773, listed grade I) and Denwick Bridge (1766, probably also by Adam, listed grade I). A programme of replanting and restoration of the North Demesne is under way (late 1990s).

The medieval deer park of Hulne extended to the north of the Shipley Road (outside the area here registered). Hulne Park is now 1020 ha and is in agricultural and forestry use. The principal entrance from Alnwick town is Forest Lodge, the only extant part of Alnwick Abbey. Hulne Park is completely enclosed by an early C19 perimeter wall, c 3m high with shaped stone coping and buttresses every 20m. Nearly 5 km of wall lies alongside roads, 5km across fields, and 5km defines perimeter woodland and moorland from the enclosed park.

The park design consists of a series of oval-shaped enclosures, defined by tree belts vital for shelter. The highest point is in the west area of the park, from where there are long-distance views east to the sea. The River Aln winds its way through the park via a series of contrasting steep valleys and flatter lands. The valleys are emphasised by planting on the upper slopes, while the lower areas are encircled with designed plantations to emphasise the river's meanders and ox-bow lakes.

Picturesque incidents survive at Nine Year Aud Hole, where the statue of a hermit (late C18, listed grade II) stands at the entrance to a natural cave along Cave Drive, and at Long Stone, a monolith standing high on the west side of Brizlee Hill, with panoramic views over Hulne Park to the north-west. The picturesque highlight is Hulne Priory (original medieval buildings, C18 alterations and enhancements, all listed grade I), which includes a summerhouse designed by Robert Adam (1778-80, listed grade I) and statues of praying friars erected in the Chapter House (late C18). The Priory's picturesque qualities are well appreciated from Brizlee Tower (Robert Adam, listed grade I), built in 1781 to commemorate the creation of the Alnwick parks by the first Duke and Duchess, a Latin inscription stating:

Circumspice! Ego omnia ista sum dimensus; Mei sunt ordines, Mea descriptio Multae etiam istarum arborum Mea manu sunt satae. [Look about you. I have measured all these things; they are my orders; it is my planning; many of these trees have been planted by my own hand.]

Brizlee is sited on a high point which can be seen in views north-west from the Castle, mirroring views north-east to the 'Observatory' on Ratcheugh Crag, a sham ruined castle sited as an eyecatcher on high ground and built by John Bell of Durham in 1784 (plans to further elaborate it were designed by Robert Adam).

Another principal feature of Hulne Park is a series of regular, walled enclosures (the walls set in ditches with banks cast up inside the compounds) which line Farm Drive, the central road through the park, north-westwards from Moor Lodge. This functioned as the third Duke's menagerie, and is still pasture.

The 15 ha Dairy Ground links Hulne Park and the North Demesne. It principally consists of the Aln valley north-west of the Castle, stretching between Canongate Bridge and Lion Bridge, laid out as pleasure gardens. Barbara's Bank and the Dark Walk are plantations laid out with walks on the steep slopes with a Curling Pond to the north of the Aln.

Description written: August 2000

Resgister Inspector: KC

Edited: June 2003