For more than 400 years, the area was central to historic border wars between the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, and several times possession of Berwick changed hands between the two kingdoms. The last time it changed hands was when Richard of Gloucester retook it for England in 1482.<ref>Macdougall, Norman, James III, (1982), p. 169: Devon, Frederick, ed., Issues of the Exchequer, (1837), p. 501</ref> To this day, many Berwickers feel a close affinity to Scotland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Both Berwick Rangers Football Club and Berwick Rugby Football Club play in Scottish leagues.
Berwick's name is of the same origin as the word berewick,<ref name=ekwall>Template:Cite book</ref> denoting a portion of farmland which was detached from a manor and reserved for a lord's own use.<ref>Template:Cite Merriam-Webster</ref> This comes from the Old Englishberewíc, meaning "corn farm" (more specifically, bere refers to barley).<ref>Template:Cite OED</ref> Its earliest recorded spelling, as Berewich, dates from 1167.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> There are several places in Britain with the same name;<ref name=ekwall/> one such is North Berwick in Scotland, and Berwick-upon-Tweed has also been called "South Berwick" in Scottish sources.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The medieval seal of the town showed a bear and a wych tree as a pun on the name.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Between the late 10th and early 11th centuries, the land between the rivers Forth and Tweed came under Scottish control, either through conquest by Scotland or through cession by England.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Berwick was made a royal burgh by David I (reigned 1124–1153).<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Page needed</ref> David also established many of the shires of Scotland, with Berwick becoming the county town of Berwickshire, which covered the town and a largely rural area to the north-west of it.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A mint was present in the town by 1153.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1276, William de Baddeby was Constable of Berwick.<ref name="Historic Manuscripts Commission 1902, p.225">Historic Manuscripts Commission, MSS of Col. David Milne Home of Wedderburn Castle, N.B., HMSO, London, 1902, pg. 225.</ref>
While under Scottish control, Berwick was referred to as "South Berwick" to differentiate it from the town of North Berwick, East Lothian, near Edinburgh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Berwick had a medieval hospital for the sick and poor, which the Church administered. A charter under the Great Seal of Scotland, confirmed by King James I of Scotland, grants the king's chaplain "Thomas Lauder of the House of God or Hospital lying in the burgh of Berwick-upon-Tweed, to be held to him for the whole time of his life with all lands, teinds, rents and profits, etc., belonging to the said hospital, as freely as is granted to any other hospital in the Kingdom of Scotland; the king also commands all those concerned to pay to the grantee all things necessary for the support of the hospital. Dated at Edinburgh June 8, in the 20th year of his reign."Template:Citation needed
Berwick's strategic position on the Anglo-Scottish border during centuries of war between the two nations and its relatively great wealth led to a succession of raids, sieges and takeovers. William I of Scotland invaded and attempted to capture northern England in 1173–74.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After his defeat in 1174, Berwick was ceded to Henry II of England under the Treaty of Falaise, along with four other castles at Edinburgh, Jedburgh, Roxburgh, and Stirling, with the five castles to be garrisoned with English troops paid for at Scottish expense.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Treaty of Falaise was annulled in 1189 when William paid Richard I of England 10,000 marks sterling to contribute towards the latter's crusade.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Berwick had become a prosperous town by the middle of the 13th century. According to William Edington, a bishop and chancellor of England, Berwick was "so populous and of such commercial importance that it might rightly be called another Alexandria, whose riches were the sea and the water its walls".<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref>
In 1296, England went to war with France, with which Scotland was in alliance. Balliol invaded England in response, sacking Cumberland.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Edward, in turn, invaded Scotland and captured Berwick, destroying much of the town and massacring the burgesses, merchants and artisans of the town.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Edward I went again to Berwick in August 1296 to receive formal homage from some 2,000 Scottish nobles, after defeating the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar in April and forcing John Balliol to abdicate at Kincardine Castle the following July. At this time, work began on building the town walls (and rebuilding the earlier Castle); these fortifications were complete by 1318 and subsequently improved under Scottish rule. An arm of William Wallace was displayed at Berwick after his execution and quartering on 23 August 1305.
In 1482, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) recaptured the town.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Thomas Gower (Template:Floruit) was the English marshal of Berwick 1543-1552. The Scots did not accept this conquest evidenced by innumerable charters for at least two centuries after this date, but never regained control of the town.<ref name="Historic Manuscripts Commission 1902, p.225"/> over a little more than 400 years, Berwick had changed hands more than a dozen times.Template:Sfn
Much of southern Scotland was again invaded by England during the "Rough Wooing" (also known as the Eight Years' War) of 1543–1551. The war ended with the Treaty of Norham in 1551, which saw England withdraw back to the border as had existed before the war began, and so retaining Berwick. Under the treaty, Berwick was declared to be a free town, independent of either kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In practice it was controlled by England and sent members of parliament to the English parliament, but as an independent borough, outside the authority of the sheriffs of any English county, similar to a county corporate.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, vast sums – one source reports "£128,648, the most expensive undertaking of the Elizabethan period"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> – were spent on its fortifications, in a new Italian style (trace italienne), designed both to withstand artillery and to facilitate its use from within the fortifications. These fortifications have been described as "the only surviving walls of their kind".<ref name=Cannon474/> Sir Richard Lee designed some of the Elizabethan works,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the Italian military engineer Giovanni Portinari was also involved in the project.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Berwick's role as a border fortress town ended with England and Scotland's Union of the Crowns. On 6 April 1603, James VI of Scotland crossed the Border on his journey southwards to be crowned James I of England. He was met at Lamberton by the Lord Governor of Berwick with a mounted party from the garrison and was conducted into the town.<ref>Maureen Meikle, A British frontier? Lairds and Gentlemen in the Eastern Borders (Tuckwell, 2004), p. 272.</ref> In December 1603, the Crown ordered the dissolution of the garrison of Berwick and the number of soldiers was reduced to 100 men and pensioners.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1707, the Act of Union united England and Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. Since then, Berwick has remained within the laws and legal system of England and Wales. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 (since repealed) deemed that whenever legislation referred to England, it applied to Berwick without the need for a specific reference to the town.
Until the 1830s the borough boundaries of the town were identical to the parish of Berwick, which lay entirely on the north side of the River Tweed, covering the main part of the built-up area and the rural areas immediately north-west of it. By that time, Tweedmouth on the south side of the river had grown to a sizeable population, effectively as a suburb of the town but outside the borough boundaries. Under the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 the parliamentary borough (constituency) of Berwick was enlarged to include the townships of Tweedmouth and Spittal south of the Tweed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A couple of years later, the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 standardised how boroughs were governed across England and Wales, and Berwick's municipal boundaries were enlarged to match the parliamentary borough, bringing Tweedmouth and Spittal under the jurisdiction of Berwick's town council. The same act also formalised Berwick's status as an independent county corporate.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The population of the borough in 1841 was 12,578, and that of the parish was 8,484.<ref>The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol III, London, Charles Knight, 1847, p.256</ref>
In the 1840s, Samuel Lewis included similar entries for Berwick-upon-Tweed in both his England and Scotland Topographical Dictionary.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Berwick remained a county in its own right, and remained a separate parliamentary constituency until 1885 when it was merged to become a division of Northumberland under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. In 1889 elected county councils were established under the Local Government Act 1888, which were based on the parliamentary boundaries of counties, and so Berwick was brought under the jurisdiction of Northumberland County Council, with the town council thereafter being a lower-tier authority subordinate to the county council.<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref>
England now is officially defined as "subject to any alteration of boundaries under Part IV of the Local Government Act 1972, the area consisting of the counties established by section 1 of that Act, Greater London and the Isles of Scilly",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which thus includes Berwick. In the 1972 act's reorganisation of English local government from 1 April 1974, the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed was created by the merger of the previous borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed with Belford Rural District, Glendale Rural District and Norham and Islandshires Rural District.
The Interpretation Act 1978 provides that in legislation passed between 1967 and 1974, "a reference to England includes Berwick upon Tweed and Monmouthshire".
During periods of Scottish administration, Berwick was the county town of Berwickshire, to which the town gave its name. Thus at various points in the Middle Ages and from 1482 (when Berwick became administered by England), Berwickshire had the unique distinction of being the only county in the British Isles to be named after a town in another country.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
A new Berwick-upon-Tweed Town Council was created on 1 April 2008 covering Berwick-upon-Tweed, Tweedmouth, and Spittal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has taken over the former Borough's mayoralty and regalia. The mayor for 2022–2023 is Mike Greener.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Slightly more than 60% of the population is employed in the service sector, including shops, hotels and catering, financial services and most government activity, including health care. Some current and recent Berwick economic activities include salmon fishing, shipbuilding, engineering, sawmilling, fertilizer production, malting and the manufacture of tweed and hosiery.
Berwick town centre comprises the Mary Gate and High Street where many local shops and some retail chains exist. New office development has been built in the Walker Gate beside the library, which combined space with the Northumberland Adult Learning Centre and Tourism centre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
There is a retail park in Tweedmouth consisting of a Homebase, Farm Foods, Marks and Spencer, Argos, Next, and Lidl. Berwick Borough Council refused a proposal from Asda in 2006 to build a store near the site,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but in 2008 gave Tesco planning permission for its new store in the town,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which opened on 13 September 2010. Asda went on to take over the Co-op shop unit in Tweedmouth in early 2010.
A Morrisons supermarket with a petrol station, alongside a branch of McDonald's, a Travelodge UK and an Aldi all exist on Loaning Meadows close to the outskirts of the town near the current A1. The Aldi outlet moved its operations to a new location in the newly constructed Loaning Meadows Retail Park which also hosts KFC and Costa Coffee drive-throughs, A Food Warehouse wholesale store, Greggs and a Home Bargains supermarket. The retail park is located adjacent to the Morrisons store.
The old A1 road passes through Berwick. The modern A1 goes around the town to the west. The town is on the East Coast Main Line railway and is served by Berwick-upon-Tweed railway station. A small seaport at Tweedmouth facilitates the import and export of goods but provides no passenger services. The port is protected by a long breakwater built in the 19th century, at the end of which is a red and white lighthouse. Completed in 1826, the Template:Cvt tower emits a white light every five seconds from a window overlooking the sea.<ref name=rowlett>Template:Cite rowlett</ref> Seafarers' charity Apostleship of the Sea has a chaplain to support the needs of mariners arriving at the port.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Bus services are mostly operated by Borders Buses (part of West Coast Motors) and Arriva providing both local and longer links. The town is also served by National Express coaches.
Berwick is famous for its hesitation over whether it is part of Scotland or England.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some people are adamant they are English and their loyalty lies with Northumberland, while others feel an affinity with Scotland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Whilst it has been argued that the town's geographic and historic place between the two has led to it developing a distinctive identity of its own,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> many people in Berwick also have mixed Anglo-Scottish families which contributes to a sense of separate identity.<ref>Visitberwick.com. What we are.Template:Webarchive Retrieved 2 December 2018.</ref> Historian Derek Sharman said "The people of Berwick feel really independent. You are a Berwicker first, Scottish or English second."<ref name=":0" /> Former mayor Mike Elliot said "25% of the town consider themselves English, 25% Scottish and 50% Berwickers."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Professor Dominic Watt of the University of Aberdeen noted that: "Older people view themselves more as Scots than the younger people in Berwick, and this can be heard in their accents."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2008, SNPMember of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Christine Grahame made calls in the Scottish Parliament for Berwick to become part of Scotland again.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Liberal Democrat MSP Jeremy Purvis, who was born and brought up in Berwick, asked for the border to be moved twenty miles south, stating: "There's a strong feeling that Berwick should be in Scotland. Until recently, I had a gran in Berwick and another in Kelso, and they could see that there were better public services in Scotland."<ref>'Template:Cite news</ref> However, Alan Beith, the former MP for Berwick, said the move would require a massive legal upheaval and is not realistic.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Beith's successor as MP, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said: "Voters in Berwick-upon-Tweed do not believe it is whether they are in England or Scotland that is important."<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>
The local speech of Berwick-upon-Tweed shares many characteristics with both other rural Northumberland dialects and East Central Scots.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1892, linguistRichard Oliver Heslop divided the county of Northumberland into four dialect zones and placed the Berwick dialect in the "north-Northumbrian" region, an area extending from Berwick down to the River Coquet.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Likewise, Charles Jones (1997) classes the dialect as "predominantly North-Northumbrian" with "a few features shared with Scots".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Features of this dialect include the "Northumbrian burr", a distinct pronunciation of the letter R historically common to many dialects of North East England; and predominant non-rhoticity: older speakers tend to be slightly rhotic, while younger speakers are universally non-rhotic.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A sociological study of the Anglo-Scottish border region conducted in 2000 found that locals of Alnwick, Template:Cvt south of Berwick, associated the Berwick accent with Scottish influence. Conversely, those from Eyemouth, Scotland, Template:Cvt north of Berwick, firmly classed Berwick speech as English, identifying it as "Northumbrian or Geordie".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
A newer team in the town Tweedmouth Rangers Football Club has played in the East of Scotland Football League since 2016. Before this, they were members of the North Northumberland League.<ref name="New Club in East of Scotland"/><ref name="Club joins East of Scotland League"/> Their home ground is Old Shielfield Park, which the club uses under an agreement with Berwick Rangers Football Club.
Speedway has taken place in Berwick in two separate eras. The sport was introduced to Shielfield Park in May 1968. A dispute between the speedway club and the stadium owners ended the first spell. The sport returned to Shielfield Park in the mid-1990s. The lack of a venue in the town saw the team move to a rural location called Berrington Lough. The team, known as the Bandits, have raced at all levels from First Division to Conference League (first to third levels).
There is an apocryphal story that Berwick is (or recently has been) officially at war with Russia.<ref name="QI">Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> According to a story by George Hawthorne in The Guardian of 28 December 1966, the London correspondent of Pravda visited the Mayor of Berwick, Councillor Robert Knox, and the two made a mutual declaration of peace. Knox said, "Please tell the Russian people through your newspaper that they can sleep peacefully in their beds." The same story, cited to the Associated Press, appeared in The Baltimore Sun of 17 December 1966; The Washington Post of 18 December 1966; and The Christian Science Monitor of 22 December 1966. At some point, the real events seem to have been turned into a story of a "Soviet official" having signed a "peace treaty" with Mayor Knox; Knox's remark to the Pravda correspondent was preserved in this version.<ref name="QI"/><ref name=Culture>Template:Cite web</ref>
The basis for such status was the claim that Berwick had changed hands several times, was traditionally regarded as a special, separate entity, and some proclamations referred to "England, Scotland and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed". One such was the declaration of the Crimean War against Russia in 1853, which Queen Victoria supposedly signed as "Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, Ireland, Berwick-upon-Tweed and all British Dominions". When the Treaty of Paris was signed to conclude the war, "Berwick-upon-Tweed" was left out. This meant that, supposedly, one of Britain's smallest towns was officially at war with one of the world's largest powers – and the conflict extended by the lack of a peace treaty for over a century.<ref name=Culture/> In reality, Berwick-upon-Tweed was not mentioned in either the declaration of war or the final peace treaty and was legally part of the United Kingdom for both.
Berwick Castle was built in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 1290s. It was in disrepair by the 17th century, and much of it was demolished in the 19th century to make way for the railway. However, substantial ruins remain just outside the town's rampart walls to the west by the river.
Berwick town walls and Tudor ramparts are some of the country's finest remaining examples of their type.
Holy Trinity Parish Church, unusual for having been built during the Commonwealth of England. It was built in 1648–1652 with stone from the 13th-century castle. It was originally a plain "preaching box", with no steeple, stained glass or other decorations. Contents include a pulpit thought to have been built for John Knox during his stay in the town. The church was much altered in 1855 with many new windows and the addition of a chancel.
Berwick Town Hall, designed by S&J Worrell and built in 1754–1760. The building is neoclassical, and originally the town's prison was on the top floor. The tower above the council chamber has a ring of eight bells and a curfew bell. Lester and Pack of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the tenor, third, fourth and treble bells in 1754 and the fifth and sixth bells in 1759. Charles Carr of Smethwick cast the second and curfew bells in 1894. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the seventh bell in 1901.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Dewars Lane Granary, built in 1769, now restored as a hotel and art gallery.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Corn Exchange in Sandgate, completed in 1858, and converted into apartments in the late 1990s.<ref>Template:NHLE</ref>
St Andrew's Church, Wallace Green was built in 1859 and is one of only eight Church of Scotland congregations in England.
The Masonic Hall was built in 1872 for the town's St David's Masonic Lodge for £1,800. The lodge still owns the hall and is also used by other Masonic lodges and orders. It is one of few purpose-built Masonic halls in the country and is a scarce example of Victorian Masonic architecture. It has a large pipe organ built in 1895. The Hall contains many artefacts and documents concerning Freemasonry in the town, which can be traced back to 1643.
The Royal Tweed Bridge, built in 1925 to carry the A1 road across the Tweed. Its span is Template:Cvt, which at the time was the longest concrete span. The A1 now bypasses the town to the west. In the early 2000s, the bridge was renovated, the road and pavement layout revised, and new street lighting added.
Dewars Lane runs down Back Street just off Bridge Street. Like other Berwick locations, it was painted by L. S. Lowry, who visited Berwick.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
There are numerous sea caves on the coastline to the north of Berwick, with lengths up to 67 metres. The caves are found in the cliffs from Green's Haven to the Scottish border at Marshall Meadows Bay.<ref>Scaife, Chris: The Caves of Northumberland, Sigma Leisure, 2019</ref>
John Leonard (born 1857), architect, born in Berwick-upon-Tweed
Eric Lomax, the author of The Railway Man, lived in Berwick-upon-Tweed
Alan Martin, co-creator of the comic and movie character Tank Girl, lives in Berwick
W. H. Paxton (1844–1887), prominent Australian businessman
Jeremy Purvis, Liberal Democrat MSP, and youngest person in Scottish Parliament at time of election. Since 2013 Purvis has been a life peer in the House of Lords, sitting on the Liberal Democrat benches.
James Redpath American anti-slavery activist and journalist, born in Berwick
Ian Sarfas, English darts player, played in the 1994 BDO World Darts Championships
Berwick-upon-Tweed has a maritime climate with narrow temperature differences between seasons. Because of its far northern position in England coupled with considerable North Sea influence, the area has very cool summers for an English location, with a subdued July (1981–2010) high of Template:Cvt, more resembling a Scottish climate. January, in turn, has a high of Template:Cvt with a low of Template:Cvt with occasional frosts averaging 38.1 times per annum. Rainfall is relatively low by British standards, with Template:Cvt on average; nonetheless, sunshine is limited to an average of 1508.5 hours per annum. All data are sourced from the Berwick-upon-Tweed station operated by the Met Office.<ref name="metoffice">Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Cite book Record that payments were made to Robert Lauder of The Bass as Captain and Keeper of the castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1480 and 1481.
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