Notice Board..............................1
Roddam Rigg............................ 1
Large houses............................. 2
Sustainable Transport.............. 2
Chapel Lane.............................. 3
Barnyards Walk.........................4
Ravenslaw listing decision...... 4
News in brief.............................5
Picture quiz............................... 5
County Council Property........6
Conservation and heritage
budgets.......................................6
Planning matters...................... 7
20mph limit............................... 7
About Alnwick Civic Society..8
Who's Who?.............................. 8
Diary dates................................ 8
Quiz answers.............................8
Old debts................................... 8
Freelands
Freelands is located on the south side of Alnwick, Northumberland to the east of the main (north-south) road through the town (as shown on the map below).
The house was built in 1837 and saw several owners before taking part in the Newman family saga (see below)
In April (or October?) 1868 Edwin Newman travelled to Alnwick (which is located in the far Northeast corner of England) from his home in Somerset some 400 miles away in the south-west of the country, where he attended an auction at the Swan Hotel (photo right), in the centre of town and bought Freelands for the sum of £2300. He then placed the house in trust to his 22 year-old son-in-law Henry Paynter who was by then living in nearby Alnmouth with Henry's youngest child, and only daughter, the 18 year-old Henrietta (who had recently given birth to her first child). Freelands became Henry's and Henrietta's home for the rest of their married life, and where their other 11 children were born and all 12 raised. A wonderful description of life there in those days is given by their second-youngest daughter Edith.
Historic England listing: Freelands
Keys to the past: Freelands