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Until the beginning of the 19th century, the peninsula on which Alnmouth stands extended approximately 500 metres further south than it does today. Much of the land was tidal marsh, flanked by sand dunes on the seaward side, but a small but prominent and surprisingly steep hill stood above the western shoreline. This was Church Hill which measured about 200 metres by 80 metres and rose to an altitude of about 25 metres above sea level. A church stood on the hill from the 7th century, to be replaced by another Church dedicated to St Waleric in the 12th century which served the village and apparently stood on the north-eastern flank of the hill.

One dark and stormy night at Christmas in 1806, the River Aln broke through the low-lying land to the north of Church Hill to form a new estuary, thereby both isolating the church from village which it served and destroying the building which was already in a ruinous state. An oak cross was erected on the summit of the hill which is clearly visible from the village. A new church dedicated to St John the Baptist was built in the village and consecrated in 1876.

An attempt was made to establish a cemetery on the west side of the hill and a mortuary chapel was built in 1869-70 to serve the cemetery, but because of problems of access did not survive for long. The chapel is Grade II listed but was deroofed in later years to deter squatters.

There appear to have been two crossing points of the estuary. The "low ford" and stepping stones ran south-westwards from Riverside Road to link with the bridleway which runs up to Wooden Farm. Another possible ford identified by stubs of bridleway on either bank ran north-south across the estuary direct to Church Hill. For a while a ferry plied this crossing. The low ford, stepping stones and ferry are all shown on the OS six-inch plan dating from the 1920s although it is quite possible that they had fallen into disuse by then.

Numerous notices are posted in the locality warn of the dangers of entering the water within the vicinity of the estuary. Reports by those few foolhardy souls who have attempted to cross directly to Church Hill invariably record that the experience was sufficiently scary that they would not make the attempt a second time.