In 1482, Berwick-upon-Tweed changed its nationality for the last time, from Scottish to English. Its ownership had swayed between the two countries no fewer than 14 times, and this almost constant warring led to a need for strong fortifications that can still be seen in the medieval town walls and the remains of Berwick Castle (where Edward I sat in judgment over claimants of the Scottish throne, and as punishment for crowning Robert the Bruce at Scone, Isabella, Countess of Buchan was imprisoned from 1306 to 1310 in a cage hung from the castle walls).
Today, Berwick railway station occupies the site of the Great Hall of Berwick Castle, which was finally demolished by Victorian engineers using explosives — completing the work of town builders and masons who, after the castle fell into disuse, treated the walls as a convenient quarry for ready-dressed stone.
The Elizabethan walls with their bastions never saw a shot fired in anger, becoming redundant 40 or 50 years after completion when James VI of Scotland became James I of England. Local legend has it that King James I ordered the Old Bridge (a 15-arch structure) to be founded upon woolsacks due to the difficulty in obtaining sound foundations, built to replace a rickety wooden one the King is said to have crossed "in fear of his life".
With its 28 sandstone arches and sweeping curve, the Royal Border Bridge designed by Robert Stephenson was a wonder of late 19th-century railway engineering and the final link of the London to Edinburgh railway, opened by Queen Victoria (who, much to the chagrin of local dignitaries, spent only 12 minutes on the task!).
At Berwick Barracks, once home of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, there are four separate museum exhibitions. Seldom out of sight anywhere in Berwick is the 150-foot (46 metre) spire of the Town Hall, one of the most outstanding examples of Georgian town hall architecture in Britain, open to visitors and containing old prison cells in the upper floors.
The town sits at the mouth of the River Tweed, one of the most famous salmon rivers in Britain. The salmon trade was once the mainstay of the town with netting stations alternating bank to bank; while many fisheries have been bought out by angling interests and conservation bodies, several (including White Sands Fishery by the Shiel) still survive.
There is impressive birdlife where the walk leads along the estuary including goldeneye and eider ducks alongside resident mallards and a fine community of swans, plus feral mink and a colourful range of wildflowers.
Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.
