An archive illustrating English coastal defence against French invasion, 1794 to 1796

121 signed bills and receipts from the accounts of the Trustees of the Northumberland Coast Committee (also described as 'Trustees for Guarding the Coast', 'The Honourable Coast Committee Alnwick', 'The Honnble. Coasting Committe [sic]'). Very little is to be discovered about this organisation, with no contemporary references in The Times. From this archive it would appear that the Committee was set up by private subscription, and that its funds were disbursed to agents Joseph Oxley and James Russell (whose six-page account to the Committee gives a useful overview of the collection) by Thomas Adams, Attorney-at-Law of Alnwick. A letter to Adams from William Watson (below) in August 1796 states that 'Mr. Widdrington mentioned to the Grand Jury the circumstance of the Fund being nearly exhausted & the propriety of taking some steps for the further support of the Beacon's but the proposal did not seem to be relished. Chas. Grey in particular express'd a dislike to all private subscriptions'The bills and receipts, many of them semi-literate, cast light on the method in which a series of beacons along the coast of Northumberland (at sites including Dunstanburgh Castle, Hawksley Point, Newbiggin, Seaton Sluice) were established and maintained, as well as on the activities of the local workers and tradesmen employed in the work. Services include loading, carriage and planting firs (with a bill for the workmen's allowance of ale); materials and items range from gunpowder and cloth for flags to a telescope.The collection is in good condition, with items on lightly-aged paper, unbound and unattached to one another. A handful have negligible wear to extremities, and a few have contemporary cropping. LIST OF ITEMS AVAILABLE.