page_title: History of Alnmouth
section_title: Decline of the port
hierarchical_section_title: History of Alnmouth / Decline of the port
caption_attribution_description: English: Tithe map of Alnmouth, Northumberland, 1843, showing in particular the changed course of the River Aln after a storm in 1806 knocked out an oxbow meander.
context_page_description: The history of Alnmouth, a village and sea-port in Northumberland, England, can be traced back to the Mesolithic period. Its modern history starts with the establishment of a settlement in 1152 and a charter for a port and market in 1207/8. Fragmentary evidence of occupation or use in earlier periods has been found. The port's peak period was in the 18th & 19th centuries. From the late 19th century and in the 20th century the village became a coastal resort.
context_section_description: A shift in the course of the river was sometimes, and perhaps falsely, identified as a cause of the decline of the port. This shift occurred on Christmas Day 1806, when a violent storm breached the northern end of the Church Hill sandbank, allowing the river to divert away from a south-north meander to take a more direct course to the sea.
  The 19th century saw a decline in traffic at the port, falling off completely at the end of the century. The number of herring boats decreased from 12 in 1858 to 8 in 1863. Corn exports fell as railways assumed the burden and grain exporting was moved to more efficient and connected ports. Yet timber and slate importation appears to have continued: in 1887, 40 men were employed in this industry; and other shore-side concerns appear buoyant; the sawmill thrived, with 27 employees in 1891, and there was a large steam-mill used to process grain and drive a circular sawmill. Apparently the port's death-knell was the capsizal of the timber ship Joanna in the shallow harbour in 1896, after which it became difficult to secure insurance for freight passing through Alnmouth.
caption: Tithe map of Alnmouth from 1843, showing the changed course of the River Aln after a storm in 1806 diverted it from an oxbow meander to a straighter course
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