River Aln

The River Aln winds through Northumberland from the Cheviot Hills to the North Sea at Alnmouth. It takes its name from the town of Alnwick and the villages of Alnmouth and Alnham. For a stretch just above Alnwick the river passes through Hulne Park, a private landscape of grassland and woodland. The Aln has shaped local history since Roman times. Ptolemy’s second-century Geography calls it the Alaunos, and scholars link it to the Roman fort at Learchild where the Devil’s Causeway crosses. Alnwick Castle was built to guard this crossing, and the river was the scene of two medieval battles in 1093 and 1174. The Venerable Bede named the river’s mouth Adtwifyrdi where it meets a tributary. Along the river visitors find thriving wildlife. Sea trout and salmon run upstream while otters live along the banks. Grey herons, barn owls and birds of prey hunt over the water. In the tidal estuary a Site of Special Scientific Interest shelters lapwings, oystercatchers and curlews, with rarer avocets and little egrets. Terns glide above the waves and smaller waders pick among the mud as the river meets the sea.