Berwick-upon-Tweed
 Castles |
The northernmost town of England lying in the northernmost tip of the county, Berwick is situated further north than a number of Scottish counties in what was very dangerous country. Few towns in Britain have had as turbulent a history as Berwick. Sited on the River Tweed, which forms part of the border of England and Scotland, it was fought over incessantly. Here, English and Scottish warlords battled with each other constantly for some 300 years until late in the 16th century. In fact, Berwick alternated between English and Scottish rule at least eleven times before becoming English territory in 1482; until 1746 Acts of Parliament did not apply to the town
Such an eventful history has moulded the shape and character of Berwick. It is a walled town with fortifications dating back to the 14th century, when the medieval wall had 19 towers and stood 22ft high. Elizabeth I had a new wall built on the northern and eastern sides of the town between 1558/9, when Scots and French armies were threatening England. The queen employed Italian engineers, experts in the design of defences that made full use of artillery; they constructed five bastions, which gave fire-cover for all parts of the wall. The original wall, following the line of the river, was rebuilt between 1760/70. Much of the earlier Elizabethan ramparts remain intact to this day, and are unique in Britain. The two-mile walk along the walls should not be missed by any visitor, most especially the stretch around the cliffs from Meg's Mt; here are spectacular views inland along the winding River Tweed, and across the town and harbour.
Berwick remained a military town even when the Scottish threat had subsided, and Britain's earliest barracks, designed by Vanbrugh in the 17th century, were built to house some 600 men. The building was erected after the townspeople protested against billeting soldiers in their homes. These barracks now house two museums, one of which includes an exhibition of British Infantry history. Little remains of Berwick Castle, built around 1150, for the Victorians almost completely demolished it to allow for construction of a railway station; they left us only part of the wall and a tower.
Within its walls, Berwick retains an old-world charm with grey-stone buildings, red-tiled roofs and cobbled roads. The town also has a number of elegant Georgian streets, and a square dominated by the 150ft spire of the 18th century town Hall - built in Classical style, the latter has a portico of four Tuscan columns. Opposite Ravensdowne Barracks is the parish church of Holy Trinity, a rarity, for it is one of only two Anglican churches built in the 1650's during the Commonwealth. Oliver Cromwell was a friend of the church's benefactor but, interestingly, he hated bells - as a result there is no bell tower.
Among the many landmarks in the town are the three bridges that span the Tweed. After a number of wooden bridges were washed away by the fury of the river, James I of England, in 1611, eventually paid for the magnificent 15 arch sandstone bridge seen today. This remained the only road bridge linking Berwick to the rest of England until the Royal Tweed Bridge was built in 1928. Equally splendid is Robert Stephenson's Royal Border Bridge, constructed in 1846 to carry the railway over 28 high arches.