History of Berwick-upon-Tweed ... to which are added notices of Tweedmouth, Spittal, etc

Preface

. There ave few subjects more interesting to the gene rality of readers than topography. Every person is de sirous of knowing the history of his native town, which is at the least a commendable curiosity. If he resides therein, he is anxious to add to his stock of information con cerning it ; and should his abode be far distant, this circum stance makes him doubly desirous of becoming acquainted with its past history, and to learn what changes and what improvements have taken place since the days of his childhood. The love of home is a feeling planted in the heart of man by the great hand of Nature itself, aud commences with his infancy. Yet some there are who feel not that love of home, that heart-sickness, which makes their sojourn in a foreign land, surrounded though they are with riches, little better than splendid banishment.

To such we speak not ; let them live on the " hireling Swiss" of the earth. In the perusal of a history, most classes of readers (those " native and to the manner born," as well as strangers to the place), experience too often a disap pointment. The partiality they entertain towards the

PREFACE.

. VI town which gave them birth, the recollections they trea sure up of many leading events of its history, generally conveyed through the uncertain and exaggerated medium of stories of the olden time, lead them in too many in stances to expect too much from the author. Perfection is like happiness, difficult of obtainment ; and that author does well who writes worthily. It is generally over looked by readers, that the very nature of the subject, particularly of cities or towns, whose origin may be tracedback several centuries, denies that fulness of information and abundance of materials, which should furnish a certain knowledge of every part of their eventful history. This remark particularly applies to the history of Ber wick. Placed by nature in a situation exposed to the hostile attacks both of England and Scotland, forming as it did the frontier town of either kingdom, whoever possessed it having the key, as it were, to his foeman's territories, it need no longer become a wonder that this old town was for so long a period of time the scene of so many bloody wars, sieges, battles, escalades, skirmishes, &c. Other towns in the heart of the sister king doms may have been the scene of as hot a battle, as bloody a skirmish, and as sore a siege, as ever happened to Berwick, but never such a succession of battles and passages of arms, as the old and weather-beaten capital of the debatcable land.

There is scarcely a name famous in English or Scottish history, whether warrior, politician, or prelate, that in some measure is not mixed up and connected with Berwick upon-Twced. Rising from a per-

PREFACE.

. VII usal of its history, it appears that every early English or Scottish monarch thought it his duty to lay siege to the old time-stained walls of Aberwick ; and that his mi litary reputation was not deemed sufficient, unless he had subdued by assault the walls of the old borough. Look at the lives of the mighty and illustrious dead, who, in their dream on earth, fought, revelled, and left its venerable buildings. The early Kings of Denmark and Norway, the Saxon Thanes and Eldormen, the Norman conqueror, and his brood of " Crowned Kings," his ruddy son Rufus, the truculent John, the three Edwards, each fur nishing a series of terrible legends relating to the town, the patient and serene Henry VI., his dauntless Queen, Margaret of Anjou, King-making Warwick, Surrey, Somerset, Norfolk, Russell, Dacres, " belted Will How ard," Bolingbroke, Northumberland, all of them " house hold words" in die mouths of generations.

Then came the days of the civil wars. The beautiful and erring Queen Mary of Scotland, her pedantic son, Jamie the First of England, the " melancholic" Charles I., with his oval countenance, the very prototype of the woe about to overtake and end his royal life ; his gallant and reckless son, the licentious Charles II., then the stern and uncompromising Oliver Cromwell, a name to set all nations in a blaze of wonder and fear, with the prophetic reformer, John Knox, and a host of gallant Scotch Kings and warriors ; David, Gregory, Donald, Alexander, Bruce the iron-hearted, with the galaxy of bravery he drew after him, Douglas, Randolph, Mar, Steward, &c,

PREFACE.

. all have " fretted their hour" on life's stage at Berwick, and bestowed an immortal honour on the old borough, merely by the connections existing between their noble names, and the old still and silent stones of Berwick upon-Tweed, — and such names too ! Genius can never die, for it has wings to soar above the petty and gro velling vale of worldly difficulties. Genius can never fade, for it is a perpetual evergreen, watered daily with the tears of a thousand admirers. It is a living fire, a well of neverceasing water, unapproachable, indestructible, and immortal ! It was not until the accession of James the Sixth of Scotland to the Crown of England in 1603, that an end was put to the distractious woes, alarms, and slaughters, to which the inhabitants of Berwick were constantly exposed. War has ever been a determined enemy to the cultivation of those arts which require leisure to promote, and security to pursue.

And in that species of predatory warfare, which was more especially carried on along the borders of England and Scotland, the use of the swrord completely superseded the employment of the pen ; living in a comparative stormy period, when for one clerkly scholar there were hundreds of warriors, the fierce soldier obtained a preference over the learned scribe, in the eyes of the multitude. The soldier may be compared to the tall and tapering poplar, that speedily acquires its strength, and shoots upwards in grace and comeliness. The scribe's wisdom was of slower growth, and resembled the yearly, but sure, age of the oak ; the scholar's writings, like its timber, en-

PREFACE.

. IX during the shock of many hundred years. In the very scanty materials scattered among the earlier chronicles of the Scotch and English historians, it has always been a subject of regret there are not sufficient to give that detailed and uninterrupted account, which the importance of Berwick, as a key to both kingdoms, warrants the reader of its history to expect. But when we examine the causes which produced these effects, we shall no longer feel surprised at the scantiness and paucity of detads handed down to us, but rather wonder there were any at all left from the devour ing clutches of barbarians, excited foemen, flames, and the corroding touch of time. All the Guild books and pubhc papers of Berwick reach no farther back than Edward IV. There is literally nothing explanatory of its ancient origin to be met with in the archives of the town.

The charter constituting it a Scotch borough has not been met with, and various others are " not." The many times Berwick was sacked and set in flames ex plains the want of documents necessary to throw a light on its early history ; and as what we know is transmitted down to us through the writings of partial English or Scottish historians, aU that we read is tinged and em bued with the various prejudices and dislikes of the early authors to whom we are indebted for the scanty information. Modify it as we may, still we insensibly adopt the oft-repeated story, and vain almost is any exertion on the part of the reader to shake off the im pression the reading of it has produced.

PREFACE.

. X For instance, is there any reader, who, on rising from the perusal of Boece's History of the Scottish War, does not fully believe in the judicial murder of Seton's sons, and execrates Edward III. as a tyrant . Who for a moment disputes the fact (still perusing the bluff old Boece) that Edward I., surnamed Longshanks, hung the Countess of Buchan over Berwick Castle's turrets in an iron cage % Or is there any partizan of the above-men tioned Edward, who will dare to affirm, after the perusal of blind Harry Barbour's life of Wallace, that that peer less Scottish champion, the deliverer of his country, was not basely betrayed into his foeman's hands, and after brutally murdered, without the shadow of a doubt . Cer tainly not. And if we peruse the courtly and candid Cla rendon, shall we not look upon the Scots as a treacherous and fawning nation, guilty of every crime under the sun, " smacking of every sin," for them no vice too great, no dissimulation too mean, and no falsehood too glaring .

A nation who sold their lawful King for certain pieces of silver, Judas-like, and whose chastisement by the bloody hands of the usurper Cromwell, was a piece of retributive justice 1 Who feels not and knows all this ? It may be exaggerated, and we beat it from our minds, but still the impression is left, though the die is de stroyed. That in the present history we have endeavoured to glide impartially between the prejudicial accounts of the various English and Scottish writers, the reader may judge for himself, in spite of those glaring absur dities which creep into our chapters regarding the his-

PREFACE.

. XI tory, and though with a ruthless hand we pluck them up as fast as they gain root, yet, hydra-like, they increase the more for being destroyed ; and as often as we hew some preposterous legend to the ground, like Antæus the giant, it rebounds once more to our hands, refreshed and invigorated by the embraces of its mother earth ! We are told that at the siege and taking of Berwick by the first Edward, 60,000 men were slain (the 60,000 men were of the same flesh and blood as Falstaff's 1 1 men in buckram, we suspect), that the castle mill ran with the blood of the slain (a new motive power), that seven men took the castle by surprise, and held it a week against Hotspur aud 7,000 men ! ! with various other legends. Now there must have been some foundation for these assertions, which probably there was, but hke the story of the " three black crows," they have been so magnified and distorted by succeeding historians, that the simple facts from which they were derived are forgotten ere the first addition to the original story has been appended.

All is lost in the gloom of ages and uncertainty, all chaos and undiminished darkness ; " the dews of the morning are fled, and we vainly try to continue the chace by the meridian splendour." " And such is history," exclaimed Raleigh, as he threw the labour of many years into the fire, as he found how difficult it was to obtain the intelligence of some brawl that had taken place beneath his window ; and well may a modern author say so too. The monkish writers, the chivalric historians, each one a seraph — their pens, " a waving reed tipt TREFACE. XII with fire," having failed to picture forth the early histories of Berwick, how can so unnoted an individual as the author hope to compass it . If I have failed in my de sign to set forth an entertaining account of this ancient town, it has neither been the fault of my heart or will, since I have omitted nothing that I thought might in some manner cast a ray of intelligence over the feudal times of the old debateable town.

In presenting this new history of Berwick to the public, the author has as nearly as possible given an original work. From Dr. Fuller's diffuse but at times interesting history, he has drawn largely ; to the Rev. Thomas Johnstone's abridgment, and Good's Directory, he may also be indebted for a stray figure or so, but they are so scanty of information in themselves, that very little was to be gleaned. Dr. Fuller's history (the rest of the historians follow in his wake) commences in the reign of Henry II., and finishes, as far as the ancient history of the town is concerned, with the accession of James I. to the throne of England. Of the earlier history of the town, prior to the re-building of the Castle, nothing is said. And after the union of the two kingdoms, the worthy doctor is silent, and merely confines himself to a few statistics of the borough, &c. Of the history of the town from the days of James I. until George II., the author has given the fruits of his re search in this volume. He desires to express especially the obligation he is under to the able account of Ber wick in the Penny Cyclopædia, written by that indc-

PREFACE.

. XIII fatigable antiquary, Robert Weddell, Esq. ; to that gentleman and his worthy brother he is under many and great obligations, never withholding their assistance when solicited, or documents, &c, calculated to throw any light upon the subject. Had Mr. Weddell complied with the wishes of his friends, aud published " a History of Berwick-upon-Tweed," it is superfluous to add that this little volume would have never been written. But as the former histories are mostly out of print, and a new one much wanted, the present volume is with consider able diffidence presented to the public, not with a view of entirely supplying the deficiency, but in the hope it may induce some one with greater ability to write a work more worthy of the public approbation. The author has imagined what may have been the origin of Aberwicke, and peopled it with the rude and simple Otadini.

That such a people inhabited the town and country adjacent, is proved almost by the remains of chronicles yet existing. Whether it is better to follow the monkish historians for the beginning of the history, or merely to break the ice and dismiss the subject, as Dr. Fuller has done, " The antiquity of the town of Berwick is beyond doubt very great," remains to be proved. Berwick may be proud of its ancient glories, and even her fast-failing walls may be entitled to some respect ; of her burgesses it is not my purpose to speak ; that they enjoy various privileges, and by the munifi cence of James I. " Meadows and Stints," according to their seniority, there is no question ; whether this money

PREFACE.

. they receive annually is for good or evil, is a question requiring deliberation ere it is answered. That it conies in the light of a bequest to some poor widow or orphans, and as such is blessed, is gratifying alike to the memory of the donor and humanity in general ; but on the other hand, that it serves to keep a great number of the burgesses in a condition little above pauperism, who, relying on the little income, forego the advantages which youth and application would bring forth, is at the same time a mournful fact. While it is looked upon as the chief in come of their lives, it is ruinous, instead of being used as something supplementary, — a small fund to be laid by for the common misfortunes of life, not as the sole depen dence of existence. For the rent of the various fisheries, the corn and export returns, the statistical knowledge of the town, &c, I am indebted to various gentlemen connected with them.

That many errors have unavoidably crept into this work the author is fully aware, and prays the reader will excuse them. Nothing has been said in anger against any parties, but more in sorrow ; truth, the un defiled truth, the anchor of good men in all weathers, I have scrupulously adhered to ; and in conclusion I de sire all critics to review my work like scholars, not man gle it hke butchers, " To make it a dish for the gods, not a carcase for the hounds." And with this exhor tation I remain, The Public's very humble servant, Frederick Sheldon. Berwick-. ton-Tweed, November 20, 1818. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

paoi. Of the Origin of Berwick— Etymology of the Name — Its Ancient Inhabitants — The Otadini — Invasion of Agricola — Withdrawal of the Romans — Landing of the Saxons — A berwicke conquered by them — Introduction of Christianity into Aberwicke by Aidan — Aberwicke stormed by Donald — Slaughter of the King and Troops by the Inhabitants — Lothian surrendered to Kenneth II. of Scotland — Landing of the Danes at Spittal — Aberwicke conquered by them — The Danish Sway commences in Bernicia, 1

Chapter II

Gregory of Scotland invests Berwicke — The Inhabitants open the Gates — Terrible slaughter of the Danes — Burning of Bamborough — Battle of Hastings — Commencement of the Norman Sway — Treaty of Peace between William and Malcolm signed at Berwicke — Malcolm takes Berwicke by assault — Growing Trade of Berwicke — Cnute a Royal Merchant — Convent of Cistertian Nuns founded — Berwicke burnt by Bohun, Constable of England — Berwicke forfeited to Henry III. — Rebuilding of the Castle — Richard sells Berwicke for 10,000 merks to Scotland — John burns and sacks the Town — The Bridge destroyed and rebuilt, 25

Chapter III

Berwick Rebuilt — The Archbishop of York removes the Sentence of Excommunication from Alexander the Second — Gilbert, Earl of Pembroke, marries Marion, Sister of Alexander, in Barwicke — Barwicke in the time of Alexander the Third — His birth-day— The states of England and Scotland assemble in Barwicke — Edward awards the Crown of Scotland to Baliol, who refuses allegiance — Edward invades Barwicke, and takes it by assault — The Red Hall burnt with its gallant defenders — Edward holds a Parliament in Barwicke — The oath of fealty — Establishes an Exchequer in Barwicke — William Wallace besieges the Castle — Raises the siege on the approach of Edward — Wallace betray- CONTENTS. PA'»_. _4 69 SS 119 ed ; executed— A quarter exposed on Barwicke Bridge— Niel Bruce and others executed at the Gallows Knowe— Punishment of the Countess of Buchan— Death of Edward the First,

Chapter IV

Edward II. visits Berwicke — Passes a winter there — Robert Bruce attempts to seize the town by an escalade, but fails — Edward assembles his mighty army for the subjugation of Scotland at Berwicke, and marches into Scotland — Battle of Bannockburn — King Edward re-enters Berwicke a Fugitive — Burial of the Earl of Gloucester, and Lord Robert Clifford — Edward departs — Bruce encamps at Auld Cambus, and prepares to attack Berwicke — Denies audience to the Pope's messenger — Treachery of Spalding — Douglas surprises Berwicke — Arrival of Bruce at the Castle, who makes an inroad into England as far as Ripon,

Chapter V

Arrival of Edward II. at Berwicke — He besieges it by land and sea — The garrison under Walter Stewart gallantly defend it — Edward raises the siege, and departs from Berwicke — His death — Solemnization of marriage performed in Berwicke between Joan, sister of Edward III., and David, son of Robert Bruce— Baliol lays claim to the Crown of Scotland — Edward summons David to pay him homage — His refusal — Edward - invests Berwicke with a strong blockade — Distress of the inhabitants — Seton's sons taken prisoners — A truce concluded — Edward hangs Seton's sons — Arrival of Douglas — Battle of Halydown HiU,

Chapter VI

Edward enters Berwicke in triumph — Strengthens the fortifications — Proceeds to France— Arrives in Berwicke — Holds a splendid tournament at Easter in the Castle-yard — Death of Sir John de Twiford and two Scottish knights— The slaughter of Scots invited to a banquet in Berwicke, by Neville and Percy — The Earl of Angus surprises Berwicke, but abandons it on tho approach of Edward — Sir Thomas Musgrave made prisoner hy the Scots— Death of Edward — Berwicke Castle surprised by a party of borderers — The Castle taken and retaken — Battle of Ottcrburn — Arrival of Queen Margaret in Berwicke — Bolingbroke besieges the Castle, and hangs Sir William Graystock — Berwicke besieged by James III., who abandons the enterprise,

Chapter VII

Wars of tho Red and White Roses — Queen Margaret arrives at Berwicke — Warwioke seizes upon the Town, the Scots gain possession of it — Besieged by the English— The Bell Tower— Introduction of Gunnery— The English raise the Siege— Albany usurps the throne of Scotland— CONTENTS. XVII i \<._ Berwicke surprised by the English — Lord Hailes defends the Castle— The Scots army disperses — Hailes surrenders — Berwicke given up for the last time to the English— Reign' of Richard 111. — The Debateable Land — Treaty of Marriage between Jam es IV. and Margaret of England — James invades England in support of Perkin Warbeck — Surrey pursues him into Scotland — Dismantles the Towers of Ayton, Reston, Edring ton, &c. — Treaty of Peace — The Princess Margaret journeys to Scot land, is married at Lamberton to James IV. — Rejoicings, &c, 139

Chapter VIII

The battle of Flodden Field — James IV.'s body brought to Berwicke — Queen Margaret sues for protection — Peace with Scotland — Margaret marries the Earl of Angus — Flies to Berwicke, and is sent to the Castle of Harbottle — Re-enters Scotland — Fends on the Border — Henry VIII. makes an inroad into Scotland — Treachery of Angus — Norfolk marches to Berwicke, and burns Kelso, &c. — Death of James V. — Death of Henry VIII. — Somerset the Protector marches to Berwicke — Armies by land and sea — Battle of Pinkey — Northumberland inspects the fortifications — John Knox preaches in Berwicke — Mary Stuart marries the Dauphin — War between England and Scotland — Skirmish on Halidon Hill — Trial by combat between the Laird of Grange and Sir Ralph Eure — -Accession of Elizabeth — The walls rebuilt — Norfolk's complaints — A statement of the garrison — Their pay and number, 154

Chapter IX

The English besiege Leith, and are repulsed— Norfolk leaves Berwicke — Decay of the Castle — Mary Stuart visits the bounds of Berwicke — Sussex marches northward, and subdues and wastes the bordars — The " Raid of the Redswire," between Sir John Forrester and Carmichael — Execution of Queen Mary — James VI. visits the bounds of Berwicke — Death of Queen Elizabeth, and accession of James VI. to the throne of England — His journey to Berwicke — Rejoicings — His departure — Granting of the charter to Berwicke — Building of the Bridge — The King's letters patent authorising the same — Letters of the Bishop of Durham to the Chancellor of the Exchequer — Death of James I., 172

Chapter X

Reign of Charles I. — Quarrels with the Parliament — Arrives in Berwicke on his way to Scotland to be crowned — Speech of the Recorder — The Liturgy appointed to be read in Churches — Riots in the Cathedral in Edinburgh— The affairs of Scotland— The Covenanters raise an army —Essex marches to Berwicke— The King follows and encamps in the " Berks"— The Earl of Essex retires before Leslie at Dunse— Treaty of Pacification— The King grants a brief for the building a Church in Berwicke— Civil war— Charles I. deposed— Cromwell and his party— CONTENTS. PAO« 193 208 226 Hi Sir Marmaduke Langdale surprizes Berwick— Many of the gentlemen join him— He delivers up the town to a garrison sent by the Duke of Hamilton, and marches to Carlisle,

Chapter XI

Murder of Charles I.— The Church finished by Colonel George Fenwicke— His Epitaph— Order of Guild for destroying of Witches — Decay of the Castle — It is seized by the Parliamentary Commissioners and dismantled — Protectorship of Cromwell, who defeats Langdale and Hamilton at Preston — Marches to the Borders — His orders when on March — Enters Berwicke and quarters his army there — Publishes a Manifesto — Marches to Edinburgh — Two years after again visits Berwicke — War with Scotland — Quarters at Mordington House — Marches into Scotland — Battle of Dunbar — His " Crowniug Mercy" — Pursues Charles Stuart into England— Battle of Worcester — Death of Oliver Cromwell — Awful Storm, and Restoration of Charles I.,

Chapter XII

Description of Berwicke by Monsieur Jorvin — The Vicar's last Sermon — Murder of his wife — His execution on the Gallows Knowe — Quarrel of Hume with the Laird of Newmills — Protection for the Salmon — Death of Charles II. — Reigu of James II. — The Scottish Parliament passes an act of security — Berwicke fits out a " Letter of Marque" — Rebellion of 1715 — Confiscation of the Earl of Ratcliffe's Estates at Scremerston — The Burghers of Berwieke enrol themselves — Lance Errington surprizes Holy Island Castle — The garrison of Berwicke takes him prisoner — Confined in the Tolbooth — He escapes — Thomas Bowring outlawed,

Chapter XIII

The " Turn-out" in '45 — Charles Edward lands in Inverness-shire — Unfurls his standard — Terror of the Burghers at Berwick — Priuce Charles enters Edinburgh— Berwick garrisoned — Battle of Prestonpaus— Flight of Johnny Cope to Berwick, followed by his soldiers — Alarm of the inhabitants — Prince Charles invades England— General Hawley arrives in Berwick, marches to the north — Liberality of the inhabitants of Berwick to the English army — Battle of Falkirk — The Duke of Cumberland hurries to the north, and takes command of the army — Terrible battle of Culloden — Total extinction of the Rebellion — Removal of the old Tolbooth — Erection of the Town-hull — Description of it— Antiquities of the old Tolbooth- Jamie Allan the Piper visits Berwick— fie enlists— His stratagem— Escapes and swims over the Tweed, CONTENTS. XIX i u._

Chapter XIV

Visit of the Duke of Cumberland to Berwick — Presented with the freedom of the town — Ball at the Town-hall — Determination of Government to Garrison Berwick — The Barracks built — The Governor's House— Description of the Ramparts and Walls— The False Alarm- Assembling of Militia, Fencibles, and Yeomanry at Berwick— Military character of Berwick— Removal of the Main Guard— Gates shut at Curfew time — Dr. Fuller's complaints — General Peace— Removal of the Cannon from the Walls — Discharge of the Garrison, 262

Chapter XV

Salmon — Its history — Its importance as an article of Commerce — The ancient method of preserving Salmon — Boats employed in Fishing — Salmon preserved in Ice— Ice-houses— Capture of Salmon in the Tweed— The Method— Sale of Salmon— Statistics— Salmon Feast at Tweedmouth— Description of a "Kettle" up the River— Town Waits Bay of Berwick — White Fishing— Herrings — Mode of Capture— Sea-coast— Caves— Smuggling— Shipwrecks— Trade of Berwick— Berwick Smacks— Shipping — Non-freemen allowed to sell in Berwick — Corn— Table of the quantities shipped— Export of Eggs — Manufactories of Berwick — Ancient Pier in Queen Elizabeth's time— Building of the present Pier— Foundation of Roads, &c— Magdalen Fields— Cow Grass, 277

Chapter XVI

Springs— Water of Berwick— Reservoir in Castlegate— Letting of Watersprigs— Population— Number of Houses, &c— Burgesses— Freedom of the town — Their Privileges— Boundary of the Liberties of Berwick — Annual value of the Corporation fund — Meadows and Stints— The Charter— Guild — Expenses of Corporation — Schools— Education — Passing of the Municipal Corporation Reform Act— Charities— Bequests— Dispensary — Subscription Reading Room — Police — Poor-house — Ecclesiastical affairs of Berwick— Arrival of King George IV. in the Bay on his passage to Scotland, 300

Chapter XVII

Lamberton Races— Lamberton Toll— The Gretna Green of Berwick— Meeting of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society— Report and progress of the Meeting— The Show-yard— The great Pavilion and Dinner— Customs, &c., of Berwick— Christmas, New-year, and Easier Holidays— The literature of Berwick— Visit of the "Modern Androcle3"_\yreck of the " Pegasus"— Removal of old buildings— New Shambles— The old Butchers' Market in Fuller's time — James Stuart — His life and death, CONTENTS. XX I'.ct

Chapter XVIII

Excavations of the Castle Hill-Formation of the Railway Station-Relics, Discoveries, &e.-New Bridge over the Tweed-Its Height and Length— Probable cost-The Number of Workmen employed-General Remarks on the Air and Trade of Berwick, ... ... 361

Chapter XIX

Description of Tweedmouth— Its origin— King John founds a Castle-Destroyed by William the Lion— The Parliament of Edward I. held there — Jorvin's Account of Tweedmouth in 1762 — Grizzy Cochrane— Description of the surrounding Country— Cultivation of Tweedmouth Moor — Courts held at Tweedmouth— The Church— Springs, &c— Floods in the Tweed — Fisheries— Tweedmouth Feast— Boat Races- Railway Station and Bridges — Description of Spittal— The Sea-shore —Bathing— Spittal Salmon Feast, ... ... ... ... 379 IsLANDSHIRE, ... ... ... ... ... ... 393 Holy Island, ... ... ... ... •■■ ■■• 895 Norham, ... ... ••• — ■•• •■- 403 Flodden Field, ... ... ••• ••■ ■•• ••■ *H Mordinoton, ... ••• •■• ••• ••• ••• *-*? Ayton, ... ... ... ••■ •■• ••• •■• Etemodth, ... ... ••• ••• •■• — *2' CoLDINOHAM, ... ... ■•• •■• ■•• •■■ "7 Chirhside, ... •■• ■■• •■• •<■ ■■•

Chapter I

Of the Origin of Berwick — Etymology of the Name — Its Ancient Inhabitants — The Otadinii— Invasion of Agricola — Withdrawal of the Romans — Landing of the Saxons — Aberwicke conquered by them — Introduction of Christianity into Berwick by Aidan — Aberwicke stormed by Donald— Slaughter of the King and Troops by the Inhabitants — Lothian SURRENDERED TO KENNETH II. OF SCOTLAND LANDING OF THE DANES at Spittal — Aberwicke conquered by them— The Danish Sway commences in Beenicia. The etymology of the word Berwick has often been the subject of explanation by many authors ; but none of them have agreed satisfactorily upon the derivation of the word. Some have affirmed it is of Saxon origin, others that it is Teutonic ; and there are those who have not scrupled to ascribe its name to the ancient Britons.