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Northsunderland/Seahouses to give the village its full title, is remembered so well as a fishing village. Alas, very little is left of that illustrious heritage of the 1800's and the village now thrives under a new veil uniquely known as "Tourism". Initially the harbour was used for the shipment of considerable quantities of corn. Indeed during the summer of 1846 over 1000 tons of corn was shipped out. During the 1770's the quarrying of limestone and subsequent burning in the still evident lime kilns was an important industry. The quicklime was cargoed to Scotland mainly for fertiliser. The closing of the draw kilns in 1860 coincided with the upsurge of the fishing with which Seahouses is perhaps best known - Herring was king! This atmospheric period of Seahouses life brought all the wonderful innovations associated with its development. An enlarged harbour a huge visiting herring fleet, 10 herring yards, a railway to carry the herring, Woodgers kippers, even the two world wars didn't spoil the 'local' feel of Seahouses. The demise of the herring and other fishings altered the old world 'feel' of the village, but the ever resourceful inhabitants have adapted the situation to cater for the holiday maker and day tripper alike. Sea trips to the Farne Islands still provide the visitor a chance to imagine Seahouses and its historic past.
A guide book to Northumberland published in 1888 described Seahouses as "a malodorous place, where fish-curing is extensively carried on".
It is not difficult to imagine what the impact on one's senses would have been on this spot a century or more ago during the summer months when the harbour was full of herring boats unloading their catches which were then trundled uphill to the various herring sheds where gangs of 'herring lassies' were waiting to split open the silvery fish, clean and gut them and pack them into barrels of brine for export. In 1843-4 six thousand barrels of herring were shipped from the harbour.
The 'herring lassies', working in gangs of 3 or 4, followed the fishing fleet down Britain's East Coast from Orkney and Shetland in the spring until they reached Yarmouth and Lowestoft in the autumn, sleeping mainly in dormitories above the herring sheds. They could earn up to ten shillings (50p) per day - a princely sum in those days - for a job that was both strenuous and repetitive. While waiting for the fish to arrive the lasses would spend their time knitting the traditional fisher ganseys. Some Seahouses girls would leave home in the spring to join the gangs working their way south.
It was here in Seahouses that the world's first kipper is said to have been produced as the result of an accident when some split herring were left in a shed where a fire had been left on overnight. The following morning the accident was discovered with the fish all 'ruined' by the smoke. However, one was tasted and the kipper was born. Many of the herring sheds were then converted to smokehouses. The last remaining working example of a smokehouse is opposite this panel - the premises of Swallow Fish where fish is still smoked to this day.