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Berwick Castle
Also known as, or recorded in historical
documents as; The White Wall; Constable Tower
In the civil parish of Berwick upon Tweed.
In the historic county of Berwick upon Tweed (Modern Authority of Northumberland, 1974 county of Northumberland).
The standing remains of Berwick Castle which includes the west wall of the castle, the south east angle tower known as the Constable Tower and a length of curtain wall adjacent to it, as well as the flanking wall known as the White Wall. A castle at Berwick is first mentioned in documents dating to C12, although most of the remains which are visible today date from a re-modelling of the structure in the late C13 and subsequent centuries. When Edward I captured the town of Berwick from the Scots in 1296 the existing castle was strengthened. At this time an additional length of wall known as the White Wall was constructed. Large sections of this wall have been levelled and survive as foundations however the west wall and parts of the east wall of the castle survive as standing structures. Attached to the southern end of this wall is the south east angle tower, known as the Constable Tower. The upper courses of this tower are constructed of weathered ashlar blocks and are equipped with arrow slits suggesting a late C13 date. The lower courses of the tower are rougher and less regular and are thought to represent the base of an earlier C12 tower. At the northern end of this length of wall is a second tower standing to a height of six courses above the raised ground level. The west wall of the castle is also visible above ground standing to a maximum height of 6m and up to 4m thick. At its northern end are the remains of a semi-circular tower visible as rubble core 12m high. This tower is known as Barmekin Tower. At the southern end of the west wall there is a semi circular mid C16 gun turret. Attached to the south west angle of the castle, the White Wall descends the steep slopes of the Tweed where it terminated at a large wooden gate. A tower constructed at the same time on the site of its medieval predecessor survives well at the present edge of the river. (PastScape)
Despite the Henrician modifications to the castle to accommodate artillery, the survey of Berwick's defences in 1533 had concluded that if the town fell to Scottish or rebel hands, the castle was ill-equipped as a place to retake it, and the town was well-positioned to threaten a loyal garrison in the castle. A further survey of 1550 reached the same conclusion, and the remedy decided on was to create a defendable citadel within Berwick's walls, and the abandonment of the castle as a defensive structure. (HKW, 1982)
This site is a scheduled
monument protected by law. This is a
Grade 1 listed
building protected by law*. (Images
of England number 237247; 237249)
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NT99395340
This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is
4154
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly
Sites and Monuments Record) number is N2424; N2425 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s
is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.
- Web site links
- Books
- Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Keepdate Publishing) p22-7
Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles and Tower Houses of Northumberland (Malvern) p25-6
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p176-7
Jackson, M.J.,1992, Castles of Northumbria (Carlise) p26-30 [plan]
Rowland, T.H., 1987 [reprint1994], Medieval Castles, Towers, Peles and Bastles of Northumberland (Sandhill Press) p12-14
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p327-8
Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works Vol4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p613-64
Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p188
Clack, P. and Gosling, P., 1976 , Archaeology in the North p147-64
Graham, Frank, 1976, The Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Frank Graham) p62
Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1975, The history of the King's Works, Vol3: 1485-1660 (part 1) (London) p232n
Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p109
Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p63-7
Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p563-71
Eddington, A., 1949 (2 edn), Castles and Historic Homes of the Border p58-62
Hugill, R.,1939, Borderland Castles and Peles [1970 Reprint by Frank Graham] p44-5
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p434-42
Scott, 1888, Berwick-upon-Tweed (London) [history only]
Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol3 (London) p343-7
Howitt, W., c1850 (new edn 1896), Visits to Remarkable Places p401, 409
- Journal Articles
- Bradley, J and Gaimster, M. (eds), 2004, 'Medieval Britain and Ireland in 2003' Medieval Archaeology Vol48 p282-3 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
Collins, M., 2003, 'Berwick train station' Archaeology in Northumberland 2002-2003 p2-3
Young, R.E., 2000, 'Berwick Castle' Archaeology in Northumberland 1999-2000 p27
Henry Summerson. 1995. 'From Border Stronghold to Railway Station: The Fortunes of Berwick Castle 1560-1850' Archaeologia Aeliana [ser5] Vol23 p235-248
Bishop, M.C., 1992, 'The White Wall, Berwick-upon-Tweed' Archaeologia Aeliana [ser5] Vol20 p117-19
1982, Antiquaries Journal Vol63 p615, 633, 636, 642
MacIvor, I., 1976, 'The fortifications, Berwick-upon-Tweed' Archaeological Journal Vol133 p [slight but good plan of castle in relation to town]
MacIvor, I., 1965. 'The Elizabethan Fortifications of Berwick upon Tweed.' Antiquaries Journal Vol45 p64-66
Nicholson, 1961, Scottish Historical Review Vol11 p19-42
MacLauchlan, H., 1919-22. History of the Berwickshire Naturalists Club Vol24 p461
1914, 'North country diaries' Publications of the Surtees Society Vol124 p25
1910, Publications of the Surtees Society Vol118 p19
1906-8, History of the Berwickshire Naturalist Club Vol20 p253 plate xii
1892-3, History of the Berwickshire Naturalist Club Vol14 p182-6 [survey of 1535-6]
1856-7, Archaeologia Aeliana [new ser] Vol1 p87-94
Smith (ed), 1794, 'The indenture of the castell of Berwyke, Sir William Ewre, alias Ivers, Capytayn of the sayd castell.' Archaeologia Vol11 p433-40
- Guidebooks
- Grove, Doreen, 1999, Berwick Barracks and Fortifications (London: English Heritage)
MacIvor, Iain, 1990, The fortifications of Berwick-upon-Tweed (London: English Heritage)
MacIvor, Iain, 1967, The fortifications of Berwick-upon-Tweed (HMSO) p5-8, 26
Norman, F.M., 1907, Official Guide to the Fortifications of Berwick upon Tweed (London)
- Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents
- This section is far from complete and the secondary
sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
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and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner
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The information on this web page
may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English
Heritage and other individuals and organisations. All the sources
given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder
and permission obtained from them before use of the information
on this site for commercial purposes. I do
not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by
John Kenyon for the Council
for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
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*The listed building
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of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
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