Berwick Castle

Berwick Castle stands in ruins beside the River Tweed in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland. King David I of Scotland ordered its construction in the 1120s. The castle changed hands repeatedly during the wars between England and Scotland. English forces took it in 1175 under the Treaty of Falaise. Richard I sold it back to Scotland around 1190 to pay for the Third Crusade. Edward I’s men seized it again in 1296 during the First War of Scottish Independence. The castle witnessed key moments in Scottish and English history. In 1292, Edward I’s representatives announced his decision in the great hall favouring John Balliol’s claim to the Scottish throne. Robert the Bruce recaptured it for Scotland in 1318. By the 15th century, the castle’s value reached £194 in peacetime and £200 in wartime. Robert Ogle served as captain in 1435. The castle finally fell to the English in 1482 when Richard, Duke of Gloucester took it from Patrick Hepburn. Visitors today see remnants of the castle’s once-grand structures. Parts of the walls and towers still stand near the railway station. The Great Hall was demolished in 1847 to make way for the station. Earlier, a mansion begun by George Home, Earl of Dunbar, was never completed but was said to be grand. The parish church reused castle stone in the 17th century. The Constable Tower’s ruins remain visible among the town’s modern streets.