Berwick Upon Tweed- Is It English or Scottish?

Berwickshire when it existed was a county in south eastern Scotland, with the changes to county boundaries and some being renamed completely Berwickshire ceased to exist after 1975. Northumberland was once known as Northumbria, and the area was involved in many cross border disputes between England and Scotland for many hundreds of years.

The last time Berwick changed nationalities was when it was re-conquered by the English in 1482. The small market town retains some of its traditional features in its defensive ramparts and buildings from the historical barracks. One last link to Scotland perhaps is that its football (or soccer) team chooses to play in the Scottish league and not in England.

The historical changing hands or nationalities was first recorded in 1174, when Henry II of England received the until then Scottish town as part payment for a ransom by William I of Scotland. The English king Richard I then sold it back to Scotland as he needed to raise enough money to pay for the upcoming expedition to the middle east and fight in the crusades. King John of England led a raid in 1216 when the town was destroyed in a act of some barbarism.

The Berwick of the 13th century had once again developed into an important sea port with plenty of continental commerce entering Scotland through that location. When John Balliol received the support of the town over his treaty with France against the English, the English king at that time Edward I attacked the port in March 1296 and once again the town was in ruins. Almost all the inhabitants of the town were slaughtered, an estimated 8,000.

The English king returned to the town just 5 months later this time to receive the homage of Scottish nobles after they had been defeated at the Battle of Dunbar. After the capture of William Wallace and his body being sent to different locations. Wallace’s arm was put on show at Berwick to dissuade anyone thinking of causing a revolt. The son of Edward I, Edward II assembled his army of 25,000 in Berwick in 1314 before going to lose at the Battle of Bannockburn.

Berwick was once again in Scottish hands in 1318 after they had recaptured the town, Berwick castle was also taken after a three month siege. After the English the won at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 they then went on to take back Berwick. A treaty was then signed in 1357 with the Scots paying a ransom for the return of David II of Scotland after he had been captured in Battle in 1346.

The Scots once again took the town after a battle in 1462, they then kept possession for the next twenty years until Richard, the Duke of Gloucester and future King Richard III recaptured Berwick in 1482. It has remained in English hands ever since, although not always since that time was in territorially in England. During the time that Elizabeth I was queen of England the town walls and castle were fortified and what remains today are some of the best examples of their type in England.

When James VI of Scotland also became James I of England in 1603 and the first monarch of both England and Scotland, he stopped in Berwick on his way to London to be crowned as the English king and declared that Berwick was neither English or Scottish.