Welcome to Berwick-upon-Tweed!
Berwick-upon-Tweed (pronounced "Berrick") is a historic town in Northumberland, two miles south of the border with Scotland. Between 1174 and 1482 it changed hands between England and Scotland over a dozen times, either by conquest or by treaty, and it was protected with stout walls since medieval times. These disputes ended with the Union of Crowns in 1603, whereby King James VI / I ruled both countries, and this was entrenched by the Act of Union of 1707 which created a single nation.
Berwick is therefore in England, forming a combined town with Tweedbank and Spittal on the south bank of the River Tweed, and in 2011 had a population of 12,043. But it's also the main town for nearby villages in the Scottish Borders, the former Scottish county of Berwickshire, along the Tweed valley inland and the rugged coast to the north. Their attractions are also described on this page.
The TIC is on Walkergate, open daily 10:00-16:00.
Berwick-upon-Tweed, sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England. Located 2+1⁄2 miles (4 kilometres) south of the Anglo-Scottish border, it is the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recorded Berwick's population as 12,043.The town is situated at the mouth of the River Tweed on the east coast, approximately 56 mi (90 km) east-south east of Edinburgh, 65 mi (105 km) north of Newcastle upon Tyne, and 345 mi (555 km) north of London. Uniquely for England, the town is located slightly further north than Denmark's capital Copenhagen and the southern tip of Sweden further east of the North Sea, which Berwick borders.
Berwick was founded as an Anglo-Saxon settlement during the time of the Kingdom of Northumbria, which was annexed by England in the 10th century. A civil parish and town council were formed in 2008 comprising the communities of Berwick, Spittal and Tweedmouth. It is the northernmost civil parish in England.
The area was for more than 400 years 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. To this day many Berwickers feel a close affinity to Scotland. Both Berwick Rangers Football Club and Berwick Rugby Football Club play in Scottish leagues.
Berwick remains a traditional market town and also has some notable architectural features, in particular its medieval town walls, its Georgian Town Hall, its Elizabethan ramparts, and Britain's earliest barracks buildings, which Nicholas Hawksmoor built (1717–1721) for the Board of Ordnance.