| Berwick Castle | |
|---|---|
| Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England | |
 Berwick Castle 'Breakneck Path' and castle wall | |
  Berwick Castle | |
| Coordinates | 55°46′26″N2°00′42″W / 55.7738°N 2.0116°W |
| Grid reference | grid reference NT992535 |
| Type | Motte and bailey |
| Site information | |
| Owner | English Heritage |
| Open to the public | Yes |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Site history | |
| Materials | Stone |
| Events | Wars of Scottish Independence |
Berwick Castle is a ruined castle in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England.
The castle was commissioned by the Scottish King David I in the 1120s. [1] It was taken by the English forces under the terms of the Treaty of Falaise in 1175 [1] but then sold back to Scotland by the English King Richard I to fund the Third Crusade in around 1190. [1]
In November 1292, representatives of the English King Edward I arrived in Berwick and announced, in the great hall of the castle, King Edward's adjudication in favour of John Balliol of the dispute between him, Robert the Bruce and the count of Holland for the Crown of Scotland. [2] The castle was retaken by the forces of King Edward I in March 1296 during the First War of Scottish Independence. [3] However, the forces of Robert the Bruce recovered the castle for Scotland in April 1318. [1]
In 1330, "Roberto de Lawedre" of the Bass, described as Custodian or Keeper of the Marches and the Castle of Berwick, received, apparently upon the termination of his employment there, £33.6s.8d, plus a similar amount, from the Scottish Exchequer. [4]
Robert Ogle was captain of the castle in 1435. The castle was worth circa £194 in peacetime, with another £200 to be paid in time of war. [5]
In 1464, the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland record that Robert Lauder of Edrington was paid £20 for repairs made to Berwick Castle. [6] The castle finally fell into English hands in the last week of August 1482, when Richard, Duke of Gloucester captured the castle from Patrick Hepburn, 1st Lord Hailes, during his invasion of Scotland. [7] Planned repairs to the castle in 1483 were entrusted to Alexander Lee, a royal chaplain. The master carpenter of Berwick, George Porter, was ordered to build 120 houses in the town, and chambers, a hall, and a lodging in the castle. [8]
The castle was rendered obsolete by the construction of modern ramparts around Berwick during the reign of Elizabeth I in the late 16th century and it went into steady decline. [9] In August 1590 John Selby reported that a round tower used as the castle's only gun emplacement had collapsed in wet weather. [10] The cost of repair in 1597 was estimated at £200, and John Carey wrote that work was necessary because the gap was wide open to Scotland. [11]
The surveyor of fortifications recommended the demolition of the castle, but in October 1600 Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, Governor of Berwick, was said to have rebuilt some structures for his own use and pleasure. [12]
After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, the military presence in Berwick was scaled down. The Scottish courtier, George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar began to build a house on the site of Berwick Castle. The master of royal building work in Scotland, James Murray of Kilbaberton was involved in the construction. [13] [14] The mansion was never finished but was widely rumoured to be magnificent. George Chaworth wrote to the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1607 about its size, height, views, and good proportions and that its long gallery would make that at Worksop Manor look like a garret or attic. [15] According to William Brereton, who visited Berwick in 1633, the building work ended at the Earl's death in 1611. A stately "platform" was begun, and a long gallery with a large mantlepiece (5 yards long) had a flat roof for promenaders to view the landscape. [16]
Large parts of the castle structure were reused as masonry in the 17th century, including for the construction of the parish church, Holy Trinity, during the Commonwealth. [17]
In 1847 the Great Hall of Berwick Castle was demolished to make way for Berwick-upon-Tweed railway station on the North British Railway. [18]
The castle features in The Scottish Chiefs. [27]
The former Royal Burgh of Lauder is a town in the Scottish Borders in the historic county of Berwickshire. On the Southern Upland Way, the burgh lies 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Edinburgh, on the western edge of the Lammermuir Hills.
Patrick de Dunbar, 9th Earl of March, was a prominent Scottish magnate during the reigns of Robert the Bruce and David II.
Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell was Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He rose to political prominence after supporting James IV against his father, and was proxy at the King's marriage.
Dunglass is a hamlet in East Lothian, Scotland, lying east of the Lammermuir Hills on the North Sea coast, within the parish of Oldhamstocks. It has a 15th-century collegiate church, now in the care of Historic Scotland. Dunglass is the birthplace of Sir James Hall, an 18th-century Scottish geologist and geophysicist. The name Dunglass comes from the Brittonic for "grey-green hill".
The Battle of Nesbit Moor was a small but significant clash between Scottish and English forces in the borders area north of the River Tweed. Specifically this clash took place on the Kimmerghame Estate in a field now named Slaughter Field. The estate is in the possession of the Swinton Family.
Walter Stewart was the 6th Hereditary High Steward of Scotland and was the father of King Robert II of Scotland, the first Stewart monarch.
George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar, KG, PC was, in the last decade of his life, the most prominent and most influential Scotsman in England. His work lay in the King's Household and in the control of the State Affairs of Scotland and he was the King's chief Scottish advisor. With the full backing and trust of King James he travelled regularly from London to Edinburgh via Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Sir Robert Lauder of the Bass was a Scottish knight, armiger, and Governor of the Castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed. He was also a member of the old Scottish Parliament. The Lauders held the feudal barony of The Bass, East Lothian, Edrington Castle and lands in the parish of Mordington, Berwickshire, Tyninghame in Haddingtonshire, and numerous other estates and properties elsewhere in Scotland.
Dunbar Castle was one of the strongest fortresses in Scotland, situated in a prominent position overlooking the harbour of the town of Dunbar, in East Lothian. Several fortifications were built successively on the site, near the English-Scottish border. The last was slighted in 1567; it is a ruin today.
Edrington is a medieval estate occupying the lower part of Mordington parish in Berwickshire, Scotland, five miles (8.0 km) west of Berwick-upon-Tweed. From probably the 14th century, if not earlier, a castle occupied the steep hill above the mill of the same name on the Whiteadder Water. The castle ruin is still marked on today's Ordnance Survey maps, and still appears in locality references in The Berwickshire News. The principal farm of the estate is Edrington Mains.
George de Lawedreof Haltoun was a Burgess and Provost of Edinburgh in the early 15th century.
Thomas Lauder was a 15th-century Scottish churchman. A graduate of the University of Paris, he served the Scottish king at the Council of Basel in the 1430s. Before he rose to the position of Bishop of Dunkeld, he had been Master of the famous hospital at Soutra Aisle, and the tutor to King James II of Scotland.
Sir James Douglas, 1st Lord Mordington was the second son of William Douglas, 10th Earl of Angus by his spouse Elizabeth, daughter of Laurence Oliphant, 4th Lord Oliphant. He was created, by King Charles I, a Lord of Parliament on 14 November 1641 as Lord Mordington.
Robert Lauder of The Bass was an important noble in Haddingtonshire, the Merse, and Fife. Stodart remarks that "to 1600 the barons of the Bass sat in almost every parliament". He was a firm supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots whom he accompanied to Carberry Hill on 14 June 1567, and fought for at the battle of Langside.
Sir Robert de Lawedre (Lauder), Knt., of Quarrelwood, Edrington, and the Bass was Justiciar of Scotia, a Scottish soldier of great prominence and Captain of Urquhart Castle. He is recorded by Fordun, in his Scotichronicon, and in Extracta ex variis Cronicis Scocie as "Robertus de Lavedir 'the good'"
George de Dunbar, 11th Earl of Dunbar & March, 13th Lord of Annandale, and Lord of the Isle of Man, was the last of his family to hold these titles.
Sir Robert de Lawedre (Lauder) of Edrington & The Bass, Knt., was a Burgess of Edinburgh and a confidant of King Robert III and sometime Guardian of his son, the future James I of Scotland.
In July 1482 an English army invaded Scotland during the Anglo-Scottish Wars. The town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and its castle were captured and the English army briefly occupied Edinburgh. These events followed the signing of the Treaty of Fotheringhay, 11 June 1482, in which Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, the brother of James III of Scotland declared himself King of Scotland and swore loyalty to Edward IV of England. The follow-up invasion of Scotland under the command of Edward's brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester failed to install Albany on the throne, but Berwick has remained English ever since the castle surrendered on 24 August. The English army left Edinburgh with a promise for the repayment of the dowry paid for the marriage of Princess Cecily of England to the Scottish Prince.
John Carey, 3rd Baron Hunsdon was an English peer, politician and Governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Sir Alexander Seton, also known as Alexander de Seton was the Governor of Berwick.
