The town of
Berwick-Upon-Tweed is at the mouth of the river Tweed and
has been a strategic location for a long time. Edward I built the first
walls in the 1200s, which were strengthened by Robert the Bruce in
1318. Elizabeth I hired an Italian engineer to rebuild the walls from
1558 to 1569. They are still in fantastic shape and can easily be walked
upon by visitors. The views are quite special.
Our hotel was not far from the walls and we were able to climb up and see the river easily.
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View of river and family from the Elizabethan Ramparts |
We followed the walls to the left, where we found a lot of buildings right on the walls. Someone was grilling and we could smell the delicious charcoal-cooked meat, even if we couldn't see it from above. We looked down from the wall and got a dirty look coming up at us! We worked our way around the walls to see the mouth of the Tweed spilling into the North Sea.
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The lighthouse |
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More of the town across the low-tide bay |
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The walls snaking around the bay front |
The Russian Gun is the only piece of artillery that we found on the walls. It points out to see, probably waiting for enemies to try to land.
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The Russian Gun |
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Gun's-eye view |
At the eastern end of the walls is King's Mount, a bastion with some of the old rooms still visible since the roofs fell in. Bastions were heavily fortified corners of the defensive walls, often housing the soldiers who guarded the town.
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Wall path to King's Mount |
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Former military rooms |
Over on the other side of town, we found a statue to
Lady Jerningham. She was a much beloved local philanthropist. Her husband, the politician Sir Hubert Jerningham, erected the statue in her honor in 1902.
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Lady Jerningham |
The walls do make a complete circuit around the town but we did not walk the whole way. As usual, the children wanted to have a snack, necessitating a descent into the town for a treat. We didn't complain since we were hungry too!
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