Wagonway Road takes its name from the wagonway that was con structed in 1809 to bring coal from Shilbottle Colliery to the edge of town. The line of the road is ancient. A lane already existed in 1624 which connected with the Great North Road then continued to Shil bottle. Today’s Wagonway Road follows the same line as that ancient footpath until it reaches St James Roundabout. Since the beginning of the 19th century Wagonway Road has been shaped by successive waves of development. Various facilities located at the edge of town were later surrounded by housing and absorbed into the built-up area. The road was never planned with sufficient capacity to meet the demand generated by all these developments. Once the Alnwick Poor Law Union was formed in 1836 the parish Workhouse on Green Batt was too small and Alnwick Union Workhouse was built on the edge of town in 1841. A century later it became an old people’s home, then offices and is now residential. Alnwick Railway Station first opened in 1850. By then the wagonway which gave its name to the road had been in operation for more than 40 years, but was no longer needed. It closed. By the end of the 19th century the town was spreading along Wagonway Road, and beyond Swansfield Park Road to capitalise on land with easy access to the new railway.
- “Bye-law” terraced houses were built around Duke Street, and Bridge Street between 1881 and 1899 to address a short age of decent housing for working people.
- Swansfield Park Road was proposed in 1892, and by 1897 it was being parcelled for house building. • The North-Eastern Railway built 20 cottages for railwaymen in 1898 on Seaview Terrace.
Meanwhile more facilities were needed at the edge of town:
- The Auction Mart was constructed in 1880 (the site was redeveloped in the 1980’s).
- Alnwick Fever Hospital needed a location that was a good distance from affluent residential areas, and was built in 1888, on land that would later be used for Lindisfarne School.
- The Alnwick Union built a pair of semi-detached houses in 1913 as cottage homes for 12 boys and 12 girls. Between the wars “Homes fit for heroes” spread further from the town centre. With larger gardens on bigger plots, they reached Greensfield Avenue by the start of the second world war.
- St George’s Crescent and the York Cres cent / York Road area were completed between 1921 and 1926. • Wagonway Road Co-op dates from 1924, for Amble Cooperative Society.
- Alnwick County Secondary School (later Lindisfarne Middle School) opened in 1939. It closed in 2017, and a Community Campus opened in 2023 on the site.
- Greensfield Avenue was built between 1939 and 1953. During, and immediately after the war ended there was a temporary hostel at the eastern end that housed agricultural workers.
- After the war 50 temporary prefabricated bungalows were constructed on Augur Terrace. These were replaced by Cornhill Estate in the 1970s.
- In 1975 Alnwick District Council was authorised to build 13 houses and 52 flats south of St James Estate. This became Cawledge View.
The A1 bypassed Alnwick in 1971, and the section from Willowburn to Denwick was upgraded to dual carriageway in 2003. By the time St James estate was planned in the 1970s, there were already sports fields at St James. From St James roundabout the route of the old wagonway can still be followed via the path that runs along the boundary of the Rugby Club to Taylor Drive. By now it has diverged from the main road down Willowburn Avenue. This was designed as a “Southern Link Road” to connect with the new Alnwick bypass. Construction in 1984 was associated with a number of other developments:
- Alnwick Research Centre (originally for Sterling Winthrop, now Quotient Sciences): 1980.
- Greensfield industrial development: 1987 and Greensfield Park offices: 1991.
- Willowburn Retail Park: 1993 and Willowburn Leisure Centre: 1997.
- Car dealership (Tustain Motors): 2007.
- Duchess Community High School: 2016
- New Willowburn retail development: 2017
Today Wagonway Road is a mixed residential area. It is not the primary corridor between the town centre and the south, but it provides important connections for residents between the town and a range of facilities including the Lindisfarne Community Centre, Willowburn Leisure Centre, the Duchess’s Community High School, out of town retail and employment sites on both sides of the A1. The question now is whether it’s going to be possible to maintain, or even improve, the quality of life for residents along Wagonway Road while retaining vital local travel connections. We will be particularly interested to see the conclusion of a feasibility study that is exploring a possible active travel alternative route along the former Cornhill trackbed, linking Willowburn Retail Park and the town centre