The Schooner Hotel is situated at No. 8 on the west side of  Northumberland Street, Alnmouth, Alnwick, Northumberland (NGR NU 2466 1043), and has been subject to paranormal research interest for many years now.  The name ‘Schooner’ derives from a character of sailing ship (using fore and aft sails on more than one mast), first used by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th centuries and then developed in the Americas from the 18th century onwards.  Schooners were cargo vessels, capable of both ocean and coastal travel.

The 32-room hotel itself is listed in the Northumberland Tourist Guide as “a 17th Century listed Coaching Inn” and also that “notable people said to have stayed at the Schooner include Charles Dickens, John Wesley and Douglas Bader and even King George 111. There is even the chance of meeting the resident ghost, Parson Smyth.”  The Schooner’s own website claims “Some Hotels artificially set up Ghosts Events...not so the Schooner. It has no need. Throughout its history many ghosts have been heard, seen and felt within its walls. The Poltergeist Society has twice given the Hotel the title of the "MOST HAUNTED HOTEL IN GREAT BRITAIN". It has been thoroughly investigated, and is listed on record as having over 60 individual ghosts.” 

The website  “Northumberland Coast:  a Visitors Guide” tells us that “The famous Schooner Hotel, a listed 17th century coaching inn only 100 yards from the beach and golf course, has been the hub of Alnmouth village since its first customer back in the 1600's, and remains one of the most well known and respected hotels in the North East of England.  The Schooner Hotel is also famous or should it be infamous as the 'The Most Haunted Hotel' in Great Britain and was featured in the television series 'Most Haunted'.”   Firstly, though, is all as it appears? 

Historically, very little is in the public record about the Schooner Hotel.  Certainly, trawling through official historical sources, such as the Northumberland Sites and Monuments Record and the Northumberland Historic Environment Record, there is no reference to the Hotel being of 17th century date, rather it is referenced as being an inn of early 19th century date, which was then extended later that century (SMR 5752).   Certainly, the Inn is a Grade II listed building, but even the listing data fails to identify any earlier features than the early 1800s.  The Listing information was compiled in 1969 and reads as follows: “…main part tooled squared stone, extension rendered, both parts whitewashed; cut dressings. Welsh slate roof with 2 stacks rebuilt in yellow brick. 3 storeys, 5 + 3 bays. Older left part has C20 half-glazed doors in old segmental-headed arch at right end, chamfered segmental-headed carriage arch, with Percy crescent on keystone, at left end and two 4-pane sashes between; five 12-pane sashes to 1st floor and four 9-pane short sashes above. All windows have slightly-projecting sills painted black. Extension to right has symmetrical front; central 6-panel door with plain overlight in stop-chamfered surround; 4-pane sashes in architraves.  Coped gables. Left end stack with chamfered coping; ridge and right end stacks rebuilt on old bases. Rear wings altered and not of special interest…” (English Heritage Images of England).

Most of Alnmouth’s Northumberland Street on which the Schooner is situated has architecture dating to the 18th and 19th centuries.  The gateway and front wall to Hallsteads and The Hall are of 19th century date, incorporating only a small amount of 18th century stonework (ADS Record ID - NSMR03-5761).  The Hall itself is of 1834 date, along with its feature sundial (ADS Record IDs - NSMR03-5760/NSMR03-5758).  Barndale House and Barndale Cottage, 30-31 Northumberland Street,  belong to the late 18th century (ADS Record ID - NSMR03-5757), and Seafield, 18 Northumberland Street, is a mid-18th century building with a 19th century north end addition (ADS Record ID - NSMR03-5758).  17 Northumberland Street, or Aln House, was built in c.1740 (ADS Record ID - NSMR03-5755), with the Schooner’s neighbouring building, No. 7 and 7A dating to the early 19th century (ADS Record ID - NSMR03-5751).  The nearby Church of John the Baptist was also constructed in 1876 with the addition of a chapel in 1880 (ADS Record ID - NSMR03-5744).  Whilst comparison with the local architecture is not evidence that the Schooner itself can’t date to pre-18th century, it is certainly indicative that this may be the case.

The Inn is mentioned in Samuel Lewis’s  “A Topographical Dictionary of England” in 1848, citing “hot baths are always in readiness at the Schooner inn”, indicative that one of Alnmouth’s main attractions at the time was the beginning of the tourist industry and that “..the village is resorted to for bathing, and the sands, being very firm, form a fine promenade”.

Alnmouth is located in North East England, Northumberland on the coast of the North Sea at the mouth of the Aln river, nearly five miles southeast of Alnwick. The name ‘Alnmouth’ derives from the town’s location at the mouth of the River Aln;  however, in past centuries the town was also referred to as “Alemouth”. Though the first historical mention of Alnmouth as a settlement didn’t appear until the 12th century, the archaeological record of the area gives us a picture of human action and interaction within the area long before then.  On 18th October  1912, workmen laying a new water pipe unearthed a Bronze Age cist which contained two brachycephalic (broad and short) human skulls and a good quantity of human bones.  The cist also contained a short-necked drinking vessel (ADS Record ID - NSMR03-5400).   In 1943, antiquarian A. Hogg identified a potential Iron Age hillfort, referred to as Alnmouth Castle, located on a spur of land marked as ‘Pine Hill’ on Ordnance Survey Maps.  The evidence for this site is minimal, though on inspection of the site by Hogg, he concluded that the sides of the hill spur had been artificially steepened (ADS Record ID - NSMR03-5765).  In the mid-1970s, a flint microlith dating from the Mesolithic was found on the raised beach at Alnmouth, near an area a number of other flints from the same date had also been found (ADS Record ID - NSMR03-5712).  In 1994 a landscape survey by Newcastle University revealed the presence of cup and ring marked stones, dating to the Bronze Age, incorporated into a  boundary wall within the town (ADS Record ID - EHNMR-1321545).  An early medieval Chapel, sometimes quoted as being of Saxon origin, dedicated to St. Waleric was located on Church Hill, but fell prey to the elements and the last remains were apparently destroyed during the 1806 storm.  The evidence for this early chapel being of Saxon origin is said to be the discovery of a Saxon cross shaft back in 1789, and is said to be inscribed with the name ‘Eadulf’, Saxon King of Northumberland in 705AD.  Other evidence points to the chapel (at least the phase of building that existed until the storm of 1806) was built sometime between 1170 and 1190AD, with the chancel extended in the 13th century.  This dating is based mostly on prints of the chapel’s architecture.

Another argument for this early chapel arises from the year 684AD, when a synod was held to elect the new Bishop of Hexham at that time.  Bede tells us that it was held at the mouth of the river ‘Alne’ at a place known as Twyford.  Though nothing seems to remain of Twyford, it has been assumed that due to the geographical description, Alnmouth was founded on the site of Twyford.

The first historically recorded mention of a market in Alnmouth was in 1147AD (Letters 2005):  it is thought that this first mention in the historical record marks the founding of the settlement by de Vesci, the then owner of nearby Alnwick Castle.  In the same year Eustace de Vescy also gave Alnwick Abbey a plot of land in the borough of St Waleric, confirmed at a later date by his son, William de Vescy, that it was in ‘Alnemue’, presumed to be an early spelling of Alnmouth  (ADS Record ID - NSMR03-5694).  In 1207, under the development of the Normans, the settlement had grown in stature to the extent that it was granted a charter for a port and a market.  Forty-six years later, 1253, saw the first inception of an Alnmouth fair (Letters 2005).   

In 1316 the Bailiff of Alnmouth sent ships fully armed and provisioned to Gascony by Royal Command, and in 1333 he was then commanded to give up all ships capable of carrying “fifty tuns of wine” for the defence of the realm.  By 1334 the Lay Subsidy for the town was £3.75 (Letters 2005).

The late 17th-18th centuries saw Alnmouth prospering with a steady trade of corn, pork, flour and eggs to London, as well as wool to Yorkshire;  shipbuilding was also a prime occupation in the town, with the first ship built in the town being launched on May 13th, 1763.   A turnpike (for a road between Alnmouth and Hexham) had also been built in the town in the 1750s, meaning an improved access for imported and exported goods.

It is during this period of prosperity, in the early 18th century, that Alnmouth gained its reputation as a harbor for smugglers.  In 1742, John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, visited Alnmouth, and reported that the village was “a small seaport town famous for its wickedness”.  An article in the The Local Historian’s Table Book, written in 1765 states that “smuggling was once pursued here with much boldness and success, but the customs house offices stationed here, have at length nearly annihilated this illicit trade”. 

In 1806, Alnmouth was rocked by one of the worst storms seen in that area at the time, and the Aln broke its course cutting off Church Hill from the rest of the village.  The new course of the Aln was not as deep, making things much more difficult for trade by water, and it marked the beginning of the harbor and town’s decline.

The coming of the railway in the mid 1800s marked the end of Alnmouth as a trading harbor.  In 1848, The Schooner Inn in Alnmouth is mentioned in Samuel Lewis’s  “A Topographical Dictionary of England”, citing “hot baths are always in readiness at the Schooner inn”, indicative that one of Alnmouth’s main attractions at the time was the beginning of the tourist industry and that “..the village is resorted to for bathing, and the sands, being very firm, form a fine promenade”. By this time Alnmouth was classed as only a small sea port as well as a township and comprised an area of 180 acres of land, both arable and pasture, with shipbuilding by then non-existent and trade dealing mainly with imported timber and iron as well as the growing tourist industry (Lewis 1848). 

Alnmouth was taken by the French who fortified the town during the reign of Elizabeth I, and at this time the harbour was described as “small and inconvenient, although safe for small vessels and fishing craft” (Smedley 1845). 1864 saw the building of the Duchess’s Bridge over the Aln, funded by Eleanor, fourth Duchess of Northumberland, and was constructed in line with connecting the village to the railway station.

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