This was built back in the day when the lord of the manor could convince the village idiots he was wonderful by taking an extra shilling off them and giving them a penny back. It was a roaring success, they even built this column to his honour. Now, of course, the village idiots can communicate via the internet and worship the lords of the manor muchly morey and be even more stupid and put them in charge of the whole bloody country.
Alnwick was raided on numerous occasions by Scottish armies. Malcolm III was defeated & killed here in 1093, & William the Lion was defeated & captured here in 1174. William Wallace also attacked Alnwick in 1297. Town walls and gates were constructed from 1434 onwards.
Named after the famous Sir Henry Hotspur (who has a football team named after him.. 😲) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Percy_(Hotspur)
Been to Alnwick today to swap a box of kids books for a handful of weightier tomes at Barter Books. We then popped into town to search out a new independent bookshop. What a brilliant find. The Accidental Bookshop is well worth a visit. Article here from its opening in 2022.