'Berwick-upon-Tweed' , situated in the county of
Northumberland, is the northernmost town in
England, on the east coast at the mouth of the river
Tweed, situated 2.5 miles (4 km) south of the
Scottish border.
In
2001 the town had a population of 11,665. The population has remained roughly constant since 1911 or so. It is the administrative centre of the borough of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, which had a population of 25,949. Berwick town is an
unparished area, the least populated one in
England. The borough council has recommended the parishing of this area.
[1]
Although in that region the Tweed forms the border between England and
Scotland, and the historic heart of the town of Berwick is located on the northern, formerly Scottish, side, the modern (post-1482) boundary diverts itself around the town to keep it in England. The town proper lies on the north bank and to the north of the
River Tweed, and was formerly the county town of
Berwickshire in Scotland, with which it still has strong economic and retail ties. Apart from the town proper, some nearby
hinterland is also included in England and was considered part of the pre-1974
municipal borough, which had an area of about 25 km².
Berwick is a market town and, if it is taken to include the village of
Tweedmouth on the southern bank of the Tweed (which formed part of the municipal borough), a very modest international
seaport. For a period of 300 and more years from the mid 11th century the town was an extremely important strategic asset in the wars between England and
Scotland. The architecture of the town reflects its past, in particular in having one of the finest remaining defensive ramparts (of 1555, though much repaired in the late 18th century), and in the Barracks buildings, begun in 1717 and the first such buildings in Britain.
Nikolaus Pevsner writes that "Berwick is one of the most exciting towns in the country, with scarcely an irritating building anywhere, and the most intricate changes of level."
Including Spittal, Tweedmouth, and
Ord, the town's population in the
2001 Census was 11,665; this within a borough population of 25,949. 59.5% of the population are employed, and 3.6% unemployed. 19% are retired.
[2]. Slightly more than 60% of the population is employed in the service sector, including shops, hotels and catering, financial services and most government activity, including health care. About 13% is in manufacturing; 10% in agriculture, and 8% in construction
[3]. Some current and recent Berwick economic activities include
salmon fishing, shipbuilding, engineering,
sawmilling,
fertilizer production, and the manufacture of tweed and hosiery.
It is unique for an English town in that its
football team,
Berwick Rangers, plays its matches in the
Scottish Football League and its
Rugby Union team,
Berwick RFC play in
Scottish Rugby Union's
BT Premiership 3; owing to the south-west to north-east direction of the border, it is located further north than several Scottish league clubs including
Gretna,
Queen of the South (
Dumfries),
Stranraer,
Ayr United and
Kilmarnock.
The local
dialect, known as 'Berwick', is a combination of
Lowland Scots and the
Northumbrian accent.
The old
A1 passes through Berwick. The
A1 bypass road goes around the town to the west of the Settlement.
History
Berwick-upon-Tweed from across the river
Early history
The origin of the town's name is probably
Norse, or
Anglo-Saxon, with the second element "wick" either coming from "vik" meaning a
bay, or a "wic" meaning a settlement. The first element is also ambiguous, and may refer to either
barley (baer) or the headland ("bar") which cuts across the Tweed estuary.
Berwick in Norse = berrybay.
It has been suggested that the Romans may have some kind of port here. Roman control of the regions north of
Hadrian's Wall, such as Berwick, would have been intermittent.
In the post-Roman period, the area would have been inhabited by the
Brythons of
Bryneich, who were in turn conquered by the Anglo-Saxons, who created the kingdom of
Bernicia, which united with the Kingdom of
Deira to form
Northumbria. The area was then settled by the Norse, mainly
Danes.
In 1018, Northumbria north of the Tweed was ceded to Scotland, after the Scots defeated the Northumbrians at the
Battle of Carham, which occurred across the
River Tweed opposite
Coldstream.
Middle Ages
Berwick station stands on the site of an historic mediaeval castle, where Robert Bruce's claim was originally declined, and John Balliol's accepted
Berwick's strategic position on the English-Scottish border during centuries of war between the two nations and its relatively great wealth led to a succession of raids, sieges and take-overs. Between
1147 and
1482 the town changed hands between England and
Scotland more than 13 times, and was the location of a number of momentous events in the English-Scottish border wars. One of the most brutal sackings was by King
Edward I of England in 1296, and set the precedent for bitter border conflict in the
Scottish Wars of Independence.
Berwick's position under Scottish rule tended to be much more prominent, for example, in the
13th century Berwick was one of the most wealthy trading ports in Scotland, providing an annual customs value of £2,190, equivalent to a quarter of all customs revenues received north of the border. A contemporary description of the town asserted that "so populous and of such commercial importance that it might rightly be called another
Alexandria, whose riches were the sea and the water its walls".
[4]. Amongst the town's exports were
wool, grain and
salmon, while merchants from
Germany and the
Low Countries set up businesses in the town in order to trade.
The Scots also had a mint at Berwick, producing
Scottish coinage. In contrast, under English rule, Berwick was a garrison town first, and a port second. In around 1120, King
David I of Scotland made Berwick one of Scotland's four
royal burghs, which allowed the town's freemen a number of rights and privileges.
Berwick had a mediaeval hospital for the sick and poor which was administered by the Church. A charter under the
Great Seal of Scotland, confirmed by King
James I of Scotland, grants the king's chaplain
Thomas Lauder of the House of God or Hospital lying in the burgh of Berwick-upon-Tweed, to be held to him for the whole time of his life with all lands, teinds, rents and profits, etc., belonging to the said hospital, as freely as is granted to any other hospital in the Kingdom of Scotland; the king also commands all those concerned to pay to the grantee all things necessary for the support of the hospital. Dated at Edinburgh June 8, in the 20th year of his reign.
Struggles for control
In 1174, Berwick was paid as part of the ransom of
William I of Scotland to
Henry II of England. It was sold back to Scotland by
Richard I of England, to raise money to pay for
Crusades. It was destroyed in
1216 by King
John of England, who attended in person the razing of the town with some barbarity.
Eddington remarks "Berwick, by the middle of the 13th century, was considered a second Alexandria, so extensive was its commerce". However, Berwick appended its signature to King
John Balliol's new treaty with France, England's old enemy, and on
March 30,
1296,
Edward I stormed Berwick after a prolonged siege, sacking it with much bloodshed. His army slaughtered almost everyone who resided in the town, even if they fled to the churches. Some eight thousand inhabitants being put to the sword. "From that time", states Eddington, "the greatest merchant city in Scotland sank into a small seaport."
Edward I went again to Berwick in August 1296 to receive formal homage from some 2,000 Scottish nobles, after defeating the Scots at the
Battle of Dunbar in April and forcing
John I of Scotland (John Balliol) to abdicate at
Kincardine Castle the following July. (The first town walls were built during the reign of Edward I.) The "homage" was not received well, and the ''Ragman Roll'' as it was known, earned itself a name of notoriety in the post-independence period of Scotland. Some believe it to be the origin of the term "rigmarole", although this may be a
folk etymology.
An arm of
William Wallace was displayed at Berwick after his execution and quartering on
5 August 1305. In 1314
Edward II of England mustered 25,000 men at Berwick, who later fought in (and lost) the
Battle of Bannockburn.
On
1 April 1318, it was captured by the Scottish;
Berwick Castle was also taken after a three-month siege. In 1330 "Domino Roberto de Lawedre" of
The Bass, described as Custodian or Keeper of the Marches and the
Castle of Berwick-upon-Tweed, received, apparently upon the termination of his employment there, £33.6
s.8
d, plus a similar amount, from the Scottish Exchequer.
[1]
The English retook Berwick some time shortly after the
Battle of Halidon Hill in
1333. In October
1357, a treaty was signed at Berwick by which the Scottish estates undertook to pay 100,000 marks as a ransom for
David II of Scotland, who had been taken prisoner at the
Battle of Neville's Cross on
17 October 1346.
In 1461/2 Berwick was recovered by the Scots and Robert Lauder of
Edrington was put in charge of the castle. Scott relates: "About
1462 Berwick Castle was put into the hands of Robert Lauder of Edrington, an important official and soldier in Scotland at that time. Lauder kept his position uninterruptedly until 1474 when he was succeeded by
David, Earl of Crawford. In 1464 Robert Lauder was paid £20 for repairs made to Berwick Castle."
On February 3,
1478 Robert Lauder of The Bass and Edrington was again appointed Keeper of the castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed with a retainer of £250 per annum. He continued in that position until the last year of Scottish occupation, when
Patrick Hepburn, 1st Lord Hailes, had possession.
English rule
Part of the town walls
In
1482 the town was captured by Richard Duke of Gloucester, the future
King Richard III, although not officially merged into England. England has administered the town since this date.
In
1551, the town was made a
county corporate. In
1603, Berwick was the first English town to greet
James VI of Scotland on his way to being crowned James I of England - upon crossing Berwick Bridge, that King is supposed to have declared the town neither belonging to England nor belonging to Scotland but part of the united Crown's domain.
During the reign of Queen
Elizabeth I of England, vast sums — one source reports "£128,648, the most expensive undertaking of the Elizabethan period"
[5] — were spent on its fortifications, in a new Italian style (''
trace italienne''), designed both to withstand artillery and to facilitate its use from within the fortifications. Although most of
Berwick Castle was demolished in the 19th century to make way for the
railway, the military barracks remain, as do the town's rampart walls — one of the finest remaining examples of its type in the country.
In
1639 the army of
Charles I of England faced that of General
Alexander Leslie at Berwick in the
Bishops' Wars, which were concerned with bringing the
Presbyterian Church of Scotland under Charles' control. The two sides did not fight, but negotiated a settlement, "the Pacification of Berwick", in June, under which the King agreed that all disputed questions should be referred to another General Assembly or to the Scottish Parliament.
Holy Trinity Church was built in 1650–52, on the initiative of the governor, Colonel George Fenwicke. Churches of the Commonwealth period are very rare. The church has no steeple, supposedly at the behest of
Oliver Cromwell, who passed through the town in 1650 on his way to the
Battle of Dunbar.
Modern history
In
1746 the
Wales and Berwick Act (since repealed) was passed, which deemed that whenever legislation referred to England, this encompassed Berwick. The act did not attempt to formally annexe Berwick into England however and no act has yet done so. Berwick remained a county in its own right however, and was not included in
Northumberland for Parliamentary purposes until
1885.
The Redistribution Act, 1885, reduced the number of Members of Parliament [MPs] returned by the town from two to one.
On 1 April 1974, the current
borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed was created by the merger of the previous borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed with Belford Rural District, Glendale Rural District and
Norham and Islandshires Rural District.
The
Interpretation Act 1978 provides that in legislation passed between 1967 and 1974, "a reference to England includes Berwick upon Tweed and
Monmouthshire" (Monmouthshire is now fully in
Wales).
State of war with Russia
There is a curious
apocryphal story that Berwick is (or recently was) technically at war with Russia. The story tells that since Berwick had changed hands several times, it was traditionally regarded as a special, separate entity, and some proclamations referred to "England, Scotland and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed". One such was the declaration of the
Crimean War against
Russia in
1853, which
Queen Victoria supposedly signed as "Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, Ireland, Berwick-upon-Tweed and all British Dominions". However, when the
Treaty of Paris (1856) was signed to conclude the war, "Berwick-upon-Tweed" was left out. This meant that, supposedly, one of Britain's smallest towns was officially at war with one of the world's mightiest powers – and the conflict
extended by the lack of a peace treaty for over a century.
The
BBC programme ''
Nationwide'' investigated this story in the
1970s, and found that while Berwick was not mentioned in the Treaty of Paris, it was not mentioned in the declaration of war either. The question remained of whether Berwick had ever been at war with Russia in the first place. The true situation is that since the
Wales and Berwick Act 1746 had already made it clear that all references to England included Berwick, the town had no special status at either the start or end of the war.
Nevertheless, in
1966 a
Soviet official waited upon the Mayor of Berwick, Councillor Robert Knox, and a peace treaty was formally signed. Mr Knox is reputed to have said "Please tell the Russian people that they can sleep peacefully in their beds." To complicate the issue, some have noted that Knox did not have any authority with regard to
foreign relations, and thus may have
exceeded his powers as mayor in concluding a peace treaty. The whole curious scenario was the focus of a question on the third series of the gameshow
QI.
Local language
Berwick is an area rich in a diverse and varied form of
dialect or, as detractors put it,
slang. People from Berwick and its surroundings have a unique sound to their voice. The language is essentially a mixture of
Scots,
Geordie (both of which have had a long exchange of words), and
British English.
The words used are of diverse origins - many are of
Romani origin, such as Gadgie (originally a non-Romani), jougal and jiga; many are common to the borders dialect, and to the
Geordie,
Mackem and
Pitmatic dialects of North East England
Sport
Football
The town is represented by
Berwick Rangers F.C., who are currently playing in the
Scottish Football League, due to the closer proximity of Scottish football clubs (entry into the English Football League would result in a round-trip of almost 1,000 miles should Berwick be faced with playing potential rivals
Plymouth Argyle F.C., England's southernmost league team.). The club's home stadium is
Shielfield Park.
Speedway
Motorcycle speedway has taken place in Berwick in two separate eras. The sport was introduced to Shielfield Park, home of Berwick Rangers F.C. in May 1968. A dispute between the speedway club and the stadium owners ended the first spell. The sport returned to Shielfield Park in the mid 1990s. The lack of a venue in the town saw the team move to a deep rural location called Berrington Lough. The team, known as The Bandits have raced at all levels from First Division to Conference League. (Effectively first to third division.)
Places of interest
★
Berwick Barracks, now maintained by
English Heritage, and built between
1717 and
1721, the design attributed to
Vanbrugh.
★ The ramparts or
defensive wall around the town centre
★ The
Old Bridge, 15-span
sandstone arch bridge measuring 1,164 feet in length, built between
1610 and
1624, at a cost of
£15,000. The bridge continues to serve road traffic, in one direction only. The bridge was on the main route from
London to
Edinburgh and was ordered by
James VI of Scotland.
★ The
Royal Border Bridge, designed and built under the supervision of
Robert Stephenson between
1847 at a cost of £253,000, is a 720-yard-long
railway viaduct with 28 arches, carrying the
East Coast Main Line 126 feet above the River Tweed. It was opened by
Queen Victoria in
1850.
★ The
Royal Tweed Bridge, built in
1925 and in its time having the longest concrete span in the country at 361 feet, was originally designed to carry the
A1 road across the Tweed; the town now has a road bypass to the west. In the early
2000s, its fabric was renovated, the road and pavement layout amended, and new street lighting was added.
★ The
Union Bridge (five miles upstream), the world's oldest surviving suspension bridge.
★ The Guildhall, built in the
1750 in a Classical style, and formerly housing the town's prison on its top floor.
★
Berwick Parish Church, unique for having been built during the Commonwealth of Oliver Cromwell. The building, constructed around 1650 using stone from the 13th century Castle (parts of which still stand by the railway station), began as a plain preaching box, with no steeple, stained glass or other decorations. Much altered with a conventional interior layout, contents include a pulpit thought to have been built for John Knox during his stay the town.
★
Dewars Lane Run down Back Street just off Bridge Street, and was once painted by LS Lowry
[6]
People
★ Writer
Alan Martin, co-creator of the cult-comic and Hollywood movie character
Tank Girl currently lives and writes in Berwick.
★ Berwick was the first parish in which
John Knox, the 16th century Scottish religious reformer, who founded the
Presbyterian Church of Scotland, was appointed a preacher in the
Church of England
★
Mason Jackson,
engraver, was born in Berwick in about 1820
★
Alan Beith is currently the
Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed.
★ John Campbell Renton of
Lamberton and
Mordington (b. 1814), Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed.
★
Ian Ferguson -
Scottish former professional
footballer, ended his professional career in 2004 with
Berwick Rangers.
★
Alexander Knox,
Canadian actor, died at Berwick in 1995
★
Eric Lomax, famed author of ''The Railway Man'', lives in Berwick.
★
L. S. Lowry holidayed in Berwick regularly, and painted a number of pictures of the town and beaches.
[7]
★
Wendy Wood, controversial founder of the ''Scottish Patriots'' was arrested on more than one occasion for moving the border signs to the old bridge over the
Tweed.
★ The sitcom ''
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' also featured an episode where the 'lads' visited Berwick. Significantly, in it the two Northern Englishmen refer to Berwick as "Scottish".
★
Trevor Steven, (born Berwick-upon-Tweed,
September 21,
1963) was a highly-regarded England footballer who played in the Everton side of the 1980s
★
Peter Ramage lived in Berwick for the majority of his childhood. He is now a professional
football player for
Newcastle
★
Henry Travers, born in Berwick in 1874, was a character actor best known for his roles in
Hollywood film productions, most famously as Clarence the angel in ''
It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946)
★
Antony Lambton, Lord Lambton, was the controversial
Tory Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed from 1951 until 1973
★
Gavin Kerr lived in Berwick for most of his childhood, went on to play professional rugby for Leeds Tykes and now the Border Reivers, a regular in the Scotland Rugby Team has 36 caps and 1 try
★
Craig Smith lived in Berwick for most of his childhood, went on to play professional rugby for the Edinburgh Gunners (now just plain Edinburgh), a regular in the Scotland Rugby Team has 18 caps.
''See also''
Berwick Castle ''for Governors of the castle''.
References
★
Berwick-upon-Tweed, The History of the Town and Guild, , John, Scott, , 1888,
★
The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, , George (ed.), Burnett, , 1886, Record that payments were made to Robert Lauder of The Bass as Captain and Keeper of the castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1480 and 1481.
★
Castles and Historic Homes of the Border, , Alexander, Eddington, , 1926,
1. Stuart, John, LL.D., and Burnett, George, Lord Lyon King of Arms, ''The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland'', vol.1, 1264-1359, Edinburgh, 1878, pps 279,313,339
See also
★
Berwick-upon-Tweed (UK Parliament constituency)
★
Berwick-upon-Tweed railway station
★
Anglo-Scottish border
★
Debatable Lands
★
Scottish Marches
★
Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War
External links
★
The Lowry Trail around the town
★
Images and the history of Berwick's shipbuilding
★
Explore Berwick
★
Images of the 'Berwick Bounds' English-Scottish border
★
A tale of one town - 2004
BBC news story concerned with a tongue-in-cheek debate about whether Berwick should be part of England or Scotland.
★
Berwick Photos
★
A photographic tour of Berwick
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