Berwick-upon-Tweed

Berwick-upon-Tweed (/ˈbɛrɪk/ ^ⓘ BEH-rik), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, 2.5 mi (4 km) south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recorded Berwick's population as 12,043.

The town is at the mouth of the River Tweed on the east coast, 56 mi (90 km) 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 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 in 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.

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, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III) 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.

Berwick's name is of the same origin as the word berewick, denoting a portion of farmland which was detached from a manor and reserved for a lord's own use. This comes from the Old English berewíc, meaning "corn farm" (more specifically, bere refers to barley). Its earliest recorded spelling, as Berewich, dates from 1167. There are several places in Britain with the same name; one such is North Berwick in Scotland, and Berwick-upon-Tweed has also been called "South Berwick" in Scottish sources. The medieval seal of the town showed a bear and a wych tree as a pun on the name.

In the post-Roman period, the area was inhabited by the Brythons of Bryneich. Later, the region became part of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. Bernicia later united with the kingdom of Deira to form Northumbria, which in the mid-10th century entered the Kingdom of England under Eadred.

Berwick remained part of the Earldom of Northumbria until control passed to the Scots following the Battle of Carham of 1018. The town itself was founded as an Anglo-Saxon settlement during the time of the Kingdom of Northumbria.