Alnwick Castle in the period 1798–1814. The Abbot's Tower houses the Regimental Museum of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. An increase in public interest in the castle was generated by its use as a stand-in for the exterior and interior of Hogwarts in the "Harry Potter" films. Its appearance in the films has helped shape the public imagination regarding what castles should look like. Its condition contrasts with the vast majority of castles in the country, which are ruinous and unfit for habitation. The River Aln flows past the north side of the Castle. There is a deep ravine to the south and
Northumberland Gazette Hunter Blair in 1859. By 1864 it was a 4-page weekly. Historical copies of the "Alnwick Mercury", dating back to 1854, are available to search and view in digitised form at The British Newspaper Archive. In 1883 the paper merged with the "Alnwick and County Gazette" as an 8-page penny weekly, the politically Conservative Alnwick and County Gazette and Alnwick Mercury. It continued the numbering of the "Mercury". In 1924 the newspaper incorporated the "Alnwick Guardian", becoming the Alnwick and County Gazette and Guardian. The title changed to the Northumberland and Alnwick Gazette in 1943, and to the "Northumberland Gazette"