For governance purposes it is divided between the village of Neguac, the Indian reserves of Esgenoôpetitj 14 and Tabusintac 9, the incorporated rural community of Alnwick, and the regional municipality of Tracadie.
Prior to the 2023 governance reform, the rural community of Alnwick was divided between four local service districts: Fair Isle, Oak Point - Bartibog Bridge, Tabusintac, and the parish of Alnwick, which also included the islands that are now part of Neguac.
Origin of name
Alnwick and Newcastle Parishes were erected simultaneously. Alnwick and Newcastle are the county town and largest city of Northumberland County, England. This is probably the origin of the two parishes' names.
History
Alnwick was erected in 1786 as one of the original parishes of the county, with very different boundaries from today. The modern communities of Burnt Church and Bartibog were near or on the southern edge of the parish, which was nearly rectangular and ran west past the Nepisiguit River.
The 1814 reorganisation of Northumberland County's parishes gave Alnwick its modern shape, removing all territory in what's now Gloucester but adding modern Barryville, Oak Point, The Willows, Bartibog Bridge, and Winston.
Boundaries
Alnwick Parish is bounded:
- on the north by the Gloucester County line;
- on the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence;
- on the south by Miramichi Bay, Miramichi Inner Bay, and Miramichi River;
- on the west by a line beginning at the mouth of the Bartibog River, then running upriver to the Route 8 bridge, then north