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IT(>X-T\\ 



BERWICKSHIRE. 



s. 



1MQ 



Gate on the north ; the Cowport, leading to the Magdalen Fields ; 

 the Shore flute, leuling to the quay; an 1 <, which in of 



recent date. The cantle was in complete repair iu the reign of 

 ElUtbeth ; but by the time of Charles I. it had become a rain. 

 " The fortifloatiomt are aaid to protect the town from the extreme 

 Tiolenoe of the north and east winds ; but they also prevent any 

 extension on these side*, and hare certainly tended to cramp the 

 town in upon itaelf. . . . The removal of the old fortifications, 

 or portions of them, would be of great advantage not only to the 

 health of the inhabitants but to the trade and growth of the town." 

 (' Report of the Superintending Inspector to the General Board of 

 Health.') 



The town is in general well built, nml the principal streets are 

 wide and airy. The entrance from the south, which was formerly 

 narrow and incommodious, has been improved. The parish church 

 is a commodious and elegant building, calculated to accommodate 

 upwards of 1000 persons. It was built between the years 1648 and 

 1652, and like some others erected in the days of the Puritans has no 

 pire or tower. There are chnpels of the Kirk of Scotland, the United 

 Prrnbyl -rians, English Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Methodists, 

 Bapti^, an<l Independents. 



The i:uH-l-h til belongs to the burgesses, and in it are held their 

 public meeting* and the courts of justice. It is a handsome structure, 

 with a atately spire 150 feet high, in which is a peal of eight belK 

 It was erected between 17SO and 1760. Above the public rooms is 

 the prison. Balow is the market-place for the sale of butcher's meat, 

 poultry, eggs, butter, 4c. The barracks, which were built in 1719, 

 form a neat quadrangle, and atfjr.l good accommodation for 600 or 

 700 infantry. The governor's house is now appended to them for 

 officers' barracks. The bridge over the Tweed, consisting of fifteen 

 arches, is 924 feet long from the bridge gate to the landing abutment 

 on the Tweedmouth aide, but it is only 17 feet wide. It was built in 

 the reigns of James I. and Charles I., and is the property of the crown. 

 An annual allowance is paid by the treasury to the corporation for 

 keeping it in repair. 



Berwick is very insufficiently drained. The supply of water 

 consists of springs, surface land-drains, and private wells of very hard 

 wat-r. The corporation are owners of the water-works and pipes 

 from the springs and lani-drains. The public reservoirs are open to 

 all without cost. Fuel is abundant and cheap. The town is lighted 

 with ga* supplied by two companies, established in 1822 and 1845. 



The members of the old corporation are preserved distinct from 

 their fellow-townsmen under the name of Freemen, an.l ivt.-iin tin- 

 privilege of voting in the election of members of Parliament Their 

 ch I Iran are educated in the Corporation Academy at the ex|- 

 the borough fund. Between 300 and 400 children have this privilege; 

 they receive a plain English education. The burge.-wos have also the 

 pttronaje of an end wed Free (jr.uumar fhool, in which L \tinand 

 Oreek are taught. The school was founded in 1605 ; the income 

 from endowment is 1421., from which the master receive* 

 year with a home. The school is free to sons of burgesses. It is 

 under a master and an annuitant, and ha i 40 scholars iu 1S52. There 

 is a Charity school which was founded in 1725 for educating and 

 clothing poor children above eii<ht years of age, who must be inhabit- 

 ants of Berwick and attend the Church of England. There are also 

 a British and an Infant school. Among the institutions of U-i--.ii.-k 

 is the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. Its object is to examine with 

 care and accuracy the natural productions of the district. There are 

 in the town a public subscription library and news-room, a savings 

 bank, a combined dispensary and infirmary, and an hospital. A 

 county court is held in Berwick. 



Kr .ui the reign of Edward I. to that of Elizabeth the principal 

 export trade continued to be wool, wool fells, hides, and salmon ; and 

 lerchants were long distinguished for their riches anil the 

 extent of their traffic. They enjoyed almost a monopoly iu th. -ir 

 exports to Calais and other foreign ports, to the city of Bruges, Ac. 

 It is to the liberality of James I. that the citizens of Berwick are 

 indebted for nearly the whole of their present wealth. In the second 

 year of his reign James granted them by charter, confirmed by Act of 

 Parliament, the seignory of the town and all the lands within lh.> 

 borough, except certain estates which he Lad previously giv. 

 Oeorge Hume, and the burgage tenements within the wall* wliii-h 

 belonged to private individuals. This territory measures about 8077 

 acres, being two-thirds of the whole land within the Imi^nd*, and at 

 present yields an annual revenue which with other sources of 

 municipal income amounts to about 10,0007. It is by this charter 

 that the town and liberties are now governs), modified in some of 

 its provisions by the Municipal Reform Act 



The Tweed is a navigable river as high as the bridge, and the tide 

 Sows about 7 mils* farther, but the entrance of the river is narrowed 

 by sand-banks. To remedy this inconvenience a stone pier nearly 

 half a mile in length and terminated by a lighthouse has been built 

 on the projecting rocks at the north entrance of the Tweed. Thu 

 ordinary sprinp-tides rise 15 fet. The quays ami warehouses art 

 cxU-n-ivi- :, lious, and there is a patent slip for the i 



Tegl ' tons may ride in safety at the .jiny. The 



principal manufactures are those connected with shippi.. 

 foundries, said manufactories of steam-engine*, sacking, cotton hosiery, 



damask, diaper, carpets, lmt<, and shoes. The pier and harbour are 

 MII I i the management of commissioners. 



During the war a highly lucrative trade was carried on in the 

 export of pork and eggs to Lonim, th- annual value of the eggs 

 shipped being at lesst 30,0001., and of pork about lo.oo-i'. Since the 

 peace of 1815 this trade his totally censed, and the metropolis is 

 supplied from Ireland and the Continent. The trade of 

 now principally confined to the exporting of salmon, opn 

 to London, to various ports in Scotland, and to foreign countries. 

 Considerable quantities of ale and whiskey are shipped to London. 

 The gross receipt of customs at Berwick in the year ending January 

 5th, 1851, was 16,4501. The smacks and small brigs which formerly 

 carried on the trade of the place have been superseded by large and 

 well-fitted schooners and clipper ships. There are regular traders 

 between Berwick, London, Kingston-up'm-Hull. I'yn.'. 



and Leith. The number of vessels registered as belonging to th 

 of Berwick on December 81st, 1852, was : Under 50 tons, 27 vessels, 

 tonnage 901 ; above 50 tons, 81 vessels, tonnage 3223 ; and one steam- 

 vessel of 21 9 tons. During 1863 the number and tonnage of vessels thct 

 entered and cleared at the port were in the coasting trade, inwards, 

 476 sailing vessels, tonnage 25,599; one steam vessel, tonnage 13: 

 outwards, 893 sailing vnsnels, tonnage 21,016: in the coloni 

 foreign trade, inwards, 53, tonnage 7 



The salmon fisheries in the Tweed have for many centuries been 

 very productive. The fishings on the south side of the river 

 possessed in early times by the bishop of Durham. The earliest 

 document we know of relating to the bishop's fishings is a grant in 

 Angln-Saxon from Ronulph Flambard (who held the see frum 

 A.D. 1099 until 1128) to St Cuthbert and his monks, of the fish 

 Haliwarestelle, at the mouth of tho river near Spittal. It is now 

 called Hallowstel!. Until about the year 1790 the salmon sent from 

 Berwick were either salted and dried or boiled and pickled with salt 

 and vinegar, except salmon-trout, which were occasionally kept alive 

 in wells or tanks in the ship's hold. At present the whole are sent 

 fresh to London packed in ice. 



Berwick lies on one of the great roads from London to Edinburgh. 

 The Caledonian railway has diverted the greater part of the traffic 

 from the road ; but the North British railway from Berwick to 

 Edinburgh, and the York and Berwick railway to the .- 

 town, still place Berwick ou one of the great lines of oommuni- 

 The railway bridge over the Tweed, is one of the largest and finest 

 works of the kind in this country. The railway from Berwick to 

 Krlso, continued beyond Kelso, and forming a junction with the 

 Edinburgh and Hawick railway, affords increased facilities of corn- 

 muniosd 



The liberties of Berwick are divided into two unequal portions by 

 Halidou Hill, which rises to the height of about 540 feet, and i 

 a westerly direction. The ground north of the Tweed rises con 

 ably and forms the Castle Hill, on the flat top of which much of the 

 town is built. The SUIT unding laud, with the exception of the 

 highest ridge of Halidon Hill, is in general rich, and ia in a state of 

 the highest cultivation. Tho small portion of the Tweed - 

 bounds the liberties affords the principal supply of salmon, for which 

 the river has been so long famous. The other fish are pnn 

 grilse (salmon of the first year), salmon-trout, bull-trout, whiting, 

 black-tail, and young cod ; sturgeons also occasionally enter the ri v.-r. 



The sea-coast is rocky and bold, though less so than 11 

 Berwickshire. The rocks belong to the coal formation, and consist 

 of various beds of limestone and sandstone. Those at the mouth of 

 the river, and for nearly a mile northward, are encrinol limestone, 

 composed almost entirely of eixrinikw, or St. Cuthbcrt's beads, tere- 

 britulio, and various species of productus. Northward tho rocks 

 gradually po>s into a red softish sandstone, in which the waves have 

 excavated numerous recesses or coves. Beneath this sandstone, 

 towards Marshall Meadows, there are again strata of limestone- 

 posed of encriuites in such enormous masses that no one can look on 

 them without surprise and w 



The bav abounds in fish of the finest quality. (',,,1, tuddook, 

 whiting, ling, halibut, skate, and two or three species of flat-fish or 

 11 -HIM lers, are those commonly brought to market. Crabs and lobsters 

 also abound ; most of the lobsters are sent to the London market. 



The borough, besides Berwick town, comprises Twue-lmonth and 

 Spittal. Tweeduiouth is a place of considerable trade south of the 

 river; there are m-lry and some boat-building 



Spittal is a small village much resorted to ill summer as a bathing 

 |. ;.<- 



(Hutchinson and VVallis's Jliitory of Northumberland ; Ridpath's 

 Border ruller and Johnston's Hittory of Bencirk .- Ni -hoi- 



son's Lega ifarckiarum ; Rymer's Feeders ; Rvtuli Scotia, anil the 

 other publications of the Record Commissioners; Communication 

 from / 



BERWICKSHIRE, a county in the south-eastern extremity of 

 Scotland, bounded E. b m Ocean, N. l-y Haddingtonshire, 



\V. liy I! i\l>ni>;h -nt of Rdinburghshire, s. Ky t.h- 



ighshire, an the township of 



X. la*., 



southern extremity, upon the Tweed, is V lat. Duiise, its 



largest town, situated nearly in the centre of the county, is 2 20' 



