Walking Berwick's Elizabethan Wall |
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Join us on a lovely spring walk around the Elizabethan defensive walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Berwick’s town walls were built over 400 years ago, but they are still almost completely intact and stand today, as strong as they ever did. They are 1¼ miles in length and they completely surround the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Originally Edward I commissioned a defensive wall around the town, but only a few crumbled remains of that wall still exist. New ramparts were commissioned by Elizabeth I to create an impregnable defence against the marauding Scots who wanted Berwick to be part of Scotland.
Today Berwick’s Elizabethan Walls are a world famous piece of architecture. They are the only example of bastioned town walls in Britain and one of the best preserved examples in Europe. At the time they were built in 1558, they were the most expensive undertaking of England’s Golden Age. They were built to an Italian design containing bastions which were designed to allow gunfire to cover every part of the wall. Outside of the curtain wall and bastions, there were wide ditches, filled with water designed to deter any potential invader.
Access to the town itself was via 4 heavily guarded gates. These gates remain the main accesses to the town today.
Berwick-upon-Tweed is the most northerly town in England. Situated at the mouth of the River Tweed near the border between Scotland and England, the town suffered centuries of conflict as control of this strategic town passed back and forth between the two rival Kingdoms until the late 1600s. The walls were also used for defence during the Jacobite Risings of 1745-46, the Napoleonic invasions of 1799-1815, and during the World Wars, where guns and canons were sited here to protect from attack via the North Sea. These ramparts were not only incredibly important in the defence of our country, they make Berwick one of the most important fortified towns in Europe.
This statue was erected in 1908 in memory of Lady Jerningham (1850-1902). Her first husband was Charles Mather of Longridge Towers, Berwick. Her second husband, Hubert Jerningham, was a British diplomat and Member of Parliament for Berwick. He later became Governor of Mauritius, then Trinidad and Tobago, where he was knighted for services in a cyclone. Lady Jerningham was a very kind and generous, philanthropic lady whom her husband and the town of Berwick wished to commemorate after her death in 1902.
The Bank Hill Ice House was built in the early 18th century to store blocks of ice which were used for packing fish, usually salmon, for onward transportation to London. It was still in use as an ice house in the 1930s, before being designated as an air raid shelter during WWII.
At various points along the walls, you’ll find references to the famous Manchester artist, L.S. Lowry. Lowry was famous for his matchstick-men paintings. He often holidayed in Berwick and the Lowry Trail follows in his footsteps and shows you many of the places in town that he liked to visit. The trail also identifies his lesser known works of the cobbled streets and seaside scenes of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the surrounding area.
The ramparts are open all year round and entry is free. The walls are well maintained with fully accessible paths. Be careful though - there are a number of hidden drops and in some places the walls are 11 metres high - don’t fall off!
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Thanks for taking us around the walls. We have done the Lowrie trail before. Berwicks a nice place 👌
What a lovely walk - in an equally lovely area. Your storytelling ( I know I've said it before🤣) is awesome Ellie. You had a really nice day for this adventure. I've learnt another wee thing or two today. Now to keep in stored 🤣.! Thanks for this enjoyable interlude in Berwick. 🇳🇱🙋♀🥝
Lovely place, and what a lovely day you had. great explore 🙂
Hi Ellie and Martyn
Great video and history of Berwick-upon-Tweed
Looks like you both had a great day 😊 and it looked very quiet.
We only did a whistle stop tour of Berwick-upon-Tweed and watching this makes us want to go back 😊
Hope you're both well
Have a great week 😊
Hi Bears
You are such a fabulous history teller
I am not familiar with the location...so much to take in
I love architecture including this arched brick bridge...wow it gives me goosebump 3:26
BTW, may I ask why the Lady, statute was favored by many PPL here?
wow Ice storage for fish 4:45...hmm...just like my latest waterfall film. The tunnel was used in Blue cheese making..Have you watched it?
Woowow I love visiting a lighthouse. Is that available touring inside? 10:27 you visited at low tide
The UK has such a great history of defending its country with the great Navy
Your film tells it all. Fabulous photo 11:34 You made my day, I thank YOU bears.
I am such bad at finding notifications..or living different time zone？
Really interesting, I had no idea that the UK has so many towns and cities with intact defensive walls until I started watching UK based youtubers. I only knew of Londonderry and that was only because I had been there!
Now that looks a great town to wander around. Love the views across the river and the viaduct is very impressive. Good info Ellie. Especially the Lowry link.
👍🏻🚶🏻♂️🚶♀️
It does look like a great place for a wander. There's so much more than we were able to see in the short time we had there. We'll be going back for sure!
I never knew Lowry was a regular visitor to Berwick. Everyday is an education. Great tour of the walls. When you are next in the area Chainbridge Honey Farm is worth a look and Paxton House is just the other side of the Tweed, cross the historic Chainbridge.
We didn't know Lowry often went there either. There is so much more to Berwick than we were able to see in the couple of hours that we had. Think we'll be coming back!
That was a wonderful look around. Beautiful area 😊
@@nationalparksprincess3216 Hello 👋 thanks for watching. It is a beautiful area. We'd not been before, but we'll defo be going back to check out the other historic sites in the area. 🧸🐻
I so want to visit Berwick-upon-Tweed. The history is amazing.I didn't know the Lowery connection, but I dud recognise his works.
Hi Alice, thanks for watching! We'd never been to Berwick-upon-Tweed before. It's a lovely place and you're right it has an amazing history, far too much to mention in our short video. There's so much more to it that we wanted to explore but we only had limited time. I didn't know Lowry visited there either.