The History of Alnwick's Shopping Streets

Alnwick has no single grand high street. Instead it has a knot of narrow streets that fan out from a triangular Market Place, each one carrying a name that reaches back to the Middle Ages. Bondgate, Narrowgate, Fenkle Street, Clayport, Pottergate: these are not modern inventions but the framework of a medieval walled town that has been trading in the same spot for the best part of eight centuries. To walk them today, past independent shops, old coaching inns and the Market Cross, is to follow the plan of the town almost exactly as it was laid out around its market.

The Market Place at the heart of the town

Throughout the medieval and post-medieval centuries, Alnwick grew around its Market Place, which formed the hub of all commercial activity. It sits within a triangle, bordered by Fenkle Street to the west and by Bondgate Within and Market Street to the north and south. At its centre stands the Market Cross, raised above an octagonal flight of steps and dating from the 18th century, though its cross head was replaced in the 19th. Markets and fairs drew farmers and traders from across the surrounding countryside, and the streets around the square filled with the shops, inns and workshops that served them.

Best for: Best for orientation: stand by the Market Cross and every one of Alnwick's old streets leads away from you.

Bondgate Within and the Hotspur Tower

Bondgate is the town's principal thoroughfare, and it is split in two by the Bondgate Tower, the great 15th-century gate that still spans the street. Everything inside the old walls is Bondgate Within; everything beyond the gate is Bondgate Without. The tower, also known locally as the Hotspur Tower after the Percy family's famous son Harry Hotspur, was built as part of the medieval defences and decorated with the Percy lion. Today Bondgate Within is one of Alnwick's busiest shopping streets, lined with a mix of independent boutiques such as The Bondgate Boutique and long-established names.

Narrowgate and Fenkle Street

Narrowgate lives up to its name, a tight medieval lane climbing towards the castle, hemmed in on both sides by old buildings. A gate tower once controlled the approach here, long since removed, but the street still has the squeezed, atmospheric feel of a genuine medieval way. It is home to The Dirty Bottles, a pub with roots back to at least 1600 and a famous local legend attached to its windowsill. Fenkle Street, forming the western edge of the Market Place, is another of the old streets, its name a reminder of a townscape that has changed remarkably little in outline.

The old inns and coaching trade

Alnwick sat on the Great North Road between Newcastle and Edinburgh, and its position made it a natural stopping point for coaches and travellers. That trade left the town with a generous crop of inns, several of which still trade around the Market Place and the surrounding streets. The Market Tavern is one of the town-centre pubs that keeps the tradition of the coaching town alive, and the broad Market Place still hosts events and markets much as it always has.

Best for: Best for a sense of the past: the old coaching inns clustered around the square.

Northumberland Hall and the Town Hall

Two civic buildings anchor the Market Place. The Town Hall, at one end, was built in 1731 on the site of the former tollbooth, its clock tower a familiar landmark. At the other end stands Northumberland Hall, a Victorian meeting hall given to the town by the Duke of Northumberland, which for generations has been used for markets, events and gatherings. Between them, the open square remains the stage on which the town's shopping life is played out.

Shopping in Alnwick today

For all its history, Alnwick's streets are far from a museum piece. The town is well known across Northumberland for the strength of its independent shops, from butchers and delis to galleries and gift shops. Turnbull's of Alnwick is one of the long-standing family names, and the Market Place Butchery keeps a traditional trade going in the very heart of the old market. Add the weekly markets, the specialist food shops and the boutiques tucked along Bondgate and Narrowgate, and Alnwick remains one of the most rewarding market towns in the North East for a day's shopping.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Alnwick's main street split into Bondgate Within and Bondgate Without? The division marks the line of the medieval town walls. The section inside the walls is Bondgate Within and the section outside is Bondgate Without, with the two separated by the surviving 15th-century Bondgate Tower, also called the Hotspur Tower.

Where is Alnwick's Market Place and what is at its centre? The Market Place sits in the middle of the old town, in a triangle bordered by Fenkle Street, Bondgate Within and Market Street. At its centre stands the 18th-century Market Cross, and the square is bookended by the 1731 Town Hall and the Victorian Northumberland Hall.

What do the old street names in Alnwick mean? Names such as Bondgate, Narrowgate, Pottergate and Clayport all end in "gate", which in this part of England derives from the Old Norse word for a street or way rather than a physical gate, though several of these streets did once have gate towers in the town walls. Narrowgate, for example, simply means the narrow street.

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