Berwick-upon-Tweed - Landmarks

Landmarks

• Berwick Barracks, now maintained by English Heritage, and built between 1717 and 1721, the design attributed to Hawksmoor.
• The ramparts or defensive wall around the town centre.
• The Old Bridge, 15-span sandstone arch bridge measuring 1,164 feet in length, built between 1610 and 1624, at a cost of £15,000. The bridge continues to serve road traffic, but in one direction only. The bridge, part of the main route from London to Edinburgh was ordered by James VI of Scotland.
• The Royal Border Bridge, designed and built under the supervision of Robert Stephenson in 1847 at a cost of £253,000, is a 720-yard-long railway viaduct with 28 arches, carrying the East Coast Main Line 126 feet above the River Tweed. It was opened by Queen Victoria in 1850.
• The Royal Tweed Bridge, built in 1925 and in its time having the longest concrete span in the country at 361 feet, was originally designed to carry the A1 road across the Tweed; the town now has a road bypass to the west. In the early 2000s, its fabric was renovated, the road and pavement layout amended, and new street lighting added.
• The Union Bridge (five miles upstream), the world's oldest surviving suspension bridge.
• The Guildhall, built in 1750 in a Classical style, and formerly housing the town's prison on the top floor.
• Berwick Parish Church, unique for having been built during the Commonwealth of Oliver Cromwell. The building, constructed around 1650 using stone from the 13th century castle (parts of which still stand by the railway station), began as a plain preaching box, with no steeple, stained glass or other decorations. Much altered with a conventional interior layout, contents include a pulpit thought to have been built for John Knox during his stay in the town.
• Dewars Lane Runs down Back Street just off Bridge Street, and, like other Berwick locations, was painted by LS Lowry. The painter was a frequent visitor to Berwick, especially in the 1930s, when he stayed at the Castle Hotel.
• Marshall Meadows Country House Hotel, Georgian mansion to the north of the town is the most northern hotel in England, located just 275 metres from the Scottish border.