ALNHAM

Identity: confirmed — The supplied record is confirmed as the Alnham manor in Northumberland: the Northumberland Archives Manor History File identifies ALNHAM, aliases Yeldom and Elnam, and places it within the Barony of Alnwick. Its documented court material corresponds to the Alnwick Barony records supplied in the research leads.
Representative point: 55.39125, -2.01448
Basis: documented_estate_centre — Alnham Castle, also called Alnham Earls Pele, is a documented medieval tower house at Alnham. Historic England identifies it as a tower house belonging to the Earl of Northumberland and records its location at National Grid Reference NT 99184 10812; this is the strongest surviving site evidence for the medieval manorial or estate centre.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern; extent evidence particularly survives for the 1615-1776 period
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The sources establish that Alnham was a distinct manor within the Barony of Alnwick and provide historical extent evidence through the 1615 manor survey, the 1619 Duke of Northumberland estate map, and the 1775-1776 enclosure material for Alnham and Alnham Common. However, no accessible source located in this research supplies a sufficiently clear, georeferenced manorial perimeter. The 1776 plan is catalogued by Northumberland Archives but the related plan in the Bell collection is recorded as missing, and the available evidence does not justify substituting the modern parish or township boundary for the historical manor.
Sources:
- Northumberland Archives Manor History File: ALNHAM: https://northumberlandarchives.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Manor-History-File-ALNHAM.pdf — Identifies the manor as ALNHAM, aliases Yeldom and Elnam, its inclusion in the Barony of Alnwick, descent from the de Vesci family to the Percy family, and surviving court-record coverage from 1474-1920.
- Alnham Castle: a medieval tower house, Historic England NHLE 1017057: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1017057 — Documents Alnham Castle as a medieval tower house at NT 99184 10812, states that it belonged to the Earl of Northumberland, and describes it as lying south of the medieval village remains.
- Tower House, Alnham, Historic England NHLE 1232573: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1232573 — Documents the surviving medieval tower house or vicar's pele at Alnham and provides an additional historical manorial-area landmark at NT 99026 10984.
- Northumberland Archives: Manorial Map: https://northumberlandarchives.com/manorial-project/manorial-map/ — Confirms that the Northumberland Manorial Documents Register map locates proven manors but expressly does not show their territorial extent or boundaries.
- Northumberland Archives: Enclosure Awards and Plans: https://northumberlandarchives.com/docs/ENCLOSURE%20AWARDS.pdf — Catalogues the Alnham Common Award of 1775 and Alnham Moor Award and Plan of 1776, demonstrating surviving historical extent sources without itself supplying a usable manorial polygon.
- Northumberland Archives catalogue: Alnham plans and surveys: https://calmview.northumberland.gov.uk/TreeBrowse.aspx?field=RefNo&key=SANT%2FBEQ%2F5%2F4%2F1%2F59&src=CalmView.Catalog — Catalogues a 1776 plan of Alnham and Alnham Common, a c.1850 plan of the Duke's Alnham Township Rough, and an 1809 plan of enclosed lands owned by the Duke of Northumberland; the catalogue states that the 1776 plan is missing.
- TNA/MDR record F282244: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F282244 — Registry record supplied for the exact Alnham manor, associated with Alnham, Northumberland, under authority/reference GB/NNAF/M305511.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is based on the documented Alnham Castle/Earls Pele estate centre, not a modern settlement centroid.
- No historically grounded, georeferenced manor perimeter could be established from the accessible evidence.
- Do not use the modern Alnham parish, civil parish, or township boundary as the manor boundary without examining the original surveys, estate map, enclosure award, or other archive plans.