Berwick-upon-Tweed

 

We set off this morning from our hotel in Hide Hill to tour the walls and were surprised to find that our first interesting sighting was this wonderful art deco façade of what was surely a cinema.

 

We headed uphill into Marygate (see the picture at the head of this post), where the tall, narrow Town Hall dominates the scene. A helpful plaque explains that there is a fine painting of the scene by Lowry.

At the top, we turned right and then left to join the top of the walls in an ante-clockwise direction.

We walked along to the grassy area known as Meg’s Mount and looking back got our first view of the imposing railway bridge over the Tweed. Its proper names is the Royal Border Bridge. It was built in 1857-1860 by Robert Stephenson, the son of the railway pioneer George Stephenson and opened by Queen Victoria. Despite its name, the bridge does not in fact span the border between England and Scotland - this is three miles further north.

Continuing anti-clockwise we came to our first view of the New Bridge, with the Old Bridge hidden behind it. The New Bridge is properly called the Royal Tweed Bridge and was built between 1925 and 1928.

A bit further on we looked ahead to the modern road bridge, with the old bridge just behind it. This is the view of the handsome Old Bridge, known correctly as Berwick Bridge. After various tribulations, a permanent stone bridge was completed in 1624. It is a lovely sight.

Next we saw a plaque telling us that we were passing a one-time Ice House built mainly to store Salmon to be sent to London. At its peak it would had held three double decker buses (if they had been invented by then). Now there is just a cave-like hole.

We continued along the quayside to pass the newly renovated Gallery and Bistro. It was previously a Granary, built in 1769.

We passed the former Custom’s House, which was plainer than they usually are.

Next up was the interesting Main Guard building dating from the 18^th century when it was located in Marygate, the main road heading north into Scotland. The guard’s main function was to maintain order among the troops (there was a garrison at the time). Later it was relocated to its present location, unused but still rather pleasing.

We passed a impressive short terrace of three imposing houses - Wellington Terrace. We had been following the edge of the River Tweed but now we were looking towards the sea ...

... and to structures which were much more defensive, like these substantial bastions ...

... and this gun.

We continued curving round to the left to reach the powder storage building.

The large and imposing garrison buildings stood behind grassy banks which held the massive defensive works. The barracks were built between 1717 and 1721 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, better known for his work in London to protect the town during the Jacobite rising. The buildings are now a museum, maintained by English Heritage.

Berwick's Elizabethan Walls are the only example of bastioned town walls in Britain and one of the best preserved examples in Europe. They were built in 1558 and were designed to keep out the marauding Scots who regularly laid claim to the town. The walls were built to an Italian design and contained bastions which were designed to allow gunfire covering every part of the wall. Outside the curtain wall and bastions, there were wide water-filled ditches to deter potential invaders.

The final sight was Holy Trinity Church which dates from 1652. It is a rare example of a church built in the Commonwealth era.