Berwick is one of Britain's most historic towns, picturesquely situated at the northern apex of Northumberland. Approached from the south by road or rail it presents a striking appearance on the north bank of the Tweed. Within the narrow confines of the town are more buildings of historic and artistic interest than can be found in any similar sized town in the British Isles.
The town was most probably founded by the Saxons but in those days would have been of little importance as compared with Bamburgh, 15 miles to the south, which was a royal city. The name, Berwick, has been variously described as meaning "corn farm", which suggests a small agricultural settlement However other writers claim the name stems from Aber-wick, "the town at the mouth of a river".
It is thought that a bridge spanned the river here even in pre-Roman days, and that this bridge which was repaired successively by Romans, Saxons and Danes was probably the one which was washed away in the floods of 1199.
The first authentic notice of Berwick is a charter of Edgar, King of Scotland, conferring the village in 1097 on the Bishop of Durham. During the reign of King David of Scotland (1124-1153) it became a Scottish royal burgh. During the years that were to follow Berwick changed hands between England and Scotland thirteen times. In 1214 it was laid waste by King John but quickly recovered. In the reign of Alexander III (1247-1286) it reached the height of its prosperity, the Lanercost Chronicle describing it as a city so populous and of such commercial importance that it might justly be called another Alexandria, whose riches were the sea and the water was its walls. In 1286 the customs of Berwick amounted to £2,190 annually paid into the Scottish Exchequer The customs of the whole of England were only four times as large.
When in 1292 Edward I gave Scotland to Baliol in the great hall of Berwick Castle eighty substantial burghers of Berwick took the oath of allegiance to Edward. But in 1296 war broke out between the two kingdoms and Berwick was the first to suffer. About 7,000 of the inhabitants were massacred. The last to hold out were a body of Flemings, who had done much to develop the trade of the town. They held out in the "Red Hall of Commerce" until it was destroyed by fire. The town was ruined and the greatest merchant city of Northern Britain sank from that time into a petty seaport. It was re-peopled with English traders and the remnants of the Scots who swore allegiance to the King. The Countess of Buchan who had crowned Bruce at Scone was kept in a cage in Berwick Castle where for four years she was exposed to public view.
In 1297, William Wallace, the Scottish hero, captured the town, but was unable to take the castle, and was forced to retreat. Following his execution, Wallace was hung, drawn and quartered - and the four quarters of his body sent to the four corners of the kingdom. His arm was hung on the bridge at Berwick as a warning to others not to defy the English kings.
We need not describe in detail the battles that were fought over Berwick for the following decades. Early in the fourteenth century the town walls were built and English merchants encouraged to settle. During the Wars of the Roses Berwick was given to Scotland in return for help against the Yorkists. For twentyone years it remained in their hands, but in 1482 an English army took the town without any resistance being offered and thereafter it remained in English hands.
The town was a county in itself and not part of Northumberland. The "Berwick Bounds" were constituted by Henry IV as an entirely independent district with a Government separate from that of either England or Scotland, and a Court of its own embracing a Lord Chancellor, a Lord Chamberlain and other officials. There was even a mint in Berwick, and examples of Berwick coins are in the town's museum. The "bounds" include an area of eight square miles. At the north end is Lamberton Toll where for many years, as at Gretna, runaway couples were married.