Berwick upon Tweed

Berwick Upon Tweed is the most northerly town in England and as a Border Town, it changed hands between England and Scotland 13 times. Berwick with an English name meaning 'Corn Farm' began as a small settlement in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, in which it remained until the Battle of Carham in 1018 when it was taken by the Scots. From then on it became a hotly disputed territory. In 1174 Berwick was retaken by England in a ransom following the failure of a raid into Northumberland by the Scottish king, William the Lion.

The town returned to the northern side of the border in the reign of Richard I (1189-1199), who sold it to obtain money for the Crusades. At the beginning of the following century Berwick returned once more to England, after Richard's brother, King John sacked the town, but Berwick continued to change hands until 1482 when the town finally became part of England within which it still remains. After the union of the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603 Berwick was no longer a frontier town, but still kept its garrison.

It is said that when Queen Victoria signed the declaration of war on Russia in 1853, she did so in the name of "Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, Ireland, Berwick-upon-Tweed and the British Dominions beyond the sea.", but Berwick was accidentally omitted from the Treaty of Paris that concluded the Crimean War in 1856 leaving the town technically still at war with Russia. In 1966 a peace treaty was finally signed by a Russian diplomat and the the Mayor of Berwick.

The Barracks

Berwick was an important military town from the earliest days of war between the English and Scottish. Soldiers of the garrison were  billeted in local taverns and private houses for many years. Complaints to the Government eventually led to the barracks being built between 1717 and 1721, the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion may have also spurred the decision to build them. They were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and when first completed they accommodated 36 officers and 600 men in 16 barracks. It is presumed that they were the first purpose built infantry barracks in England.

Fortifications

In the 14th century Berwick became a walled town when King Edward I fortified it against Scottish attack. His defensive walls supplemented the stronghold of Berwick Castle.

Berwick's unique rampart and bastion fortifications were built early in the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). They were built to a new Italian design with great emphasis on effective use of artillery, they were designed by the engineer Portinari, and probably by Jacopo a Condo. The walls cost £128,648 and were the most expensive undertaking of the Elizabethan period. The Berwick walls are the only example of this style in Britain and among the earliest of the type in Europe. These massive artillery-proof defences replaced the medieval town walls and three of the projecting bastions, shaped like flat arrowheads still remain. Outside the curtain wall, as well as round the bastions, there was a ditch 200 feet in width, and in the midst of this another ditch twelve feet broad and eight feet deep, kept always full of water.

Holy Trinity Church

Berwick parish church, called Holy Trinity was built under Oliver Cromwell, it was the only parish church to be built in England in such a distinctive style during puritan times. It was built using stone and timber from the 13th century Berwick Castle by a London mason, John Young of Blackfriars. The foundation stone was laid in 1650 and the church was completed in 1652. There was no stained glass and no steeple as Cromwell didn’t approve either of church towers or church bells. Over the centuries fine stained glass windows have been added, including fine 16thC Flemish Roundels, sequestrated by The King from The Duke of Buckingham and given to Berwick. As there were no bells, three were installed in the Town Hall: "James Stewart", "Philip" and "Joseph" which were rung by the vicar, one bell worked using a foot pedal and the other two by their ropes. In 1951 a bell was installed in the church.

Union Suspension Bridge

The bridge is situated on the site of a former ford which was normally passable, at Horncliffe on the border between England and Scotland, at the upper tidal limit of the River Tweed.

The Union Bridge  was designed by Captain Samuel Brown and built in 1820, when it was the longest iron suspension bridge in the world. The roadway is timber suspended from pairs of wrought-iron chains with elongated bars connected by wrought iron. Since its opening it has become the oldest suspension bridge to still be carrying traffic in Britain.