Berwickshire

“ Robert Chambers, "is a small primitive-looking parish-village in the centre of Berwickshire, with a green, in the centre of which three thorns grow within a little enclosure. These trees are the successors of one aged thorn, which, after keeping its place there for centuries, was blown down some years ago. ”

“ The rich soil of Berwickshire soon invited the inhabitants to the arts of agriculture.—Even in the days of Lesley, the nobles and barons of the Merse differed in manners from the other borderers, administered justice with regularity, and abstained from plunder and depredation.—De moribus Scotorum, p. 7. But, on the middle and western marches, the inhabitants were unrestrained moss-troopers and cattle drivers, knowing no measure of law, says Camden, but the length of their swords. The sterility of the mountainous country, which they inhabited, offered little encouragement to industry ”

“ The Brownie is believed in Berwickshire to be the ordained helper of mankind in the drudgery entailed by sin: hence he is forbidden to receive wages. [2] He is allowed his little treats, however, and the chief of these are knuckled cakes made of meal warm from the mill, toasted over the embers and spread with honey. The housewife will prepare these, and lay them carefully where he may find them by chance. When a titbit is given to a child, parents will still say to him, “There’s a piece wad please a Brownie.” ”

“ Graphic, xxviii 608 (1883) , portrait.
MARJORIBANKS, David Robertson, 1 Baron (youngest son of sir John Marjoribanks, 1 baronet 1763–1833) . b. Eccles, Berwickshire 2 April 1797; ed. at high school and univ. of Edinb.; merchant London; assumed surname of Robertson in lieu of Marjoribanks by r.l. 2 Sep. 1834; M.P. Berwickshire 1859–73; lord lieut. of Berwickshire 10 Dec. 1860 to death; created baron Marjoribanks of Ladykirk, co. Berwick 12 June 1873. d. 56 Upper Brook st. London 19 June 1873 when title became extinct; personalty sworn under £300,000, 1 Nov. 1873. ”

“ As nothing is positively known respecting the origin of Berwick, it is impossible that an uninspired antiquary should be able to decide whether it was "undignified" or not. Its first "kirk and mill"—the primary conditions of a town—were more likely to be founded by a noble than by a serf.
In 1174, Berwick, with the castles of Jedburgh, Roxburgh, Stirling, and Edinburgh, was delivered up to Henry II. as security for payment of the ransom of William the Lion, King of Scotland, who had been taken prisoner when besieging Alnwick ”

“ During Saxon times the greater part of Berkshire came under cultivation, and agriculture has ever since been the main industry of our county. The Vale of White Horse and its neighbourhood is one of the most fertile tracts in England, and there is also some rich pasture land on the alluvium by the rivers at Abingdon, Purley, Newbury, Woolhampton, Theale, Reading, and Twyford. ”

“ All the country-side in this region is rich. At Long Houghton a grand church uprears its vast square tower, lonely and solemn in its place of graves. Royal Berwick comes next, stately and serene upon its ocean crag, with the white-crested waves curling on its beach and the glad waters of the Tweed kissing the fringes of its sovereign mantle, as they rush into the sea. The sun is sinking now, and over the many-coloured meadows, red and brown and golden and green, the long, thin shadows of the trees slope eastward and softly hint the death of day. ”

“ Richard Warner—afterwards the author of a work on the Waverley Novels—describes the lower half of the river between Berwick and Kelso: 'The country around Berwick, though swelling into hills and sinking into vales, has neither beauty nor variety, the one being uniform and lumpish, the other wide and unwooded. A naked surface everywhere presents itself, unadorned with those indispensable features in agreeable landscape, lofty trees and spreading shrubs. ”

“ Each ruined keep and moss-grown pile, each village green and scattered hamlet, has a history all its own, often buried beneath the weight of years, and little heeded by the present race of pilgrims.
Many of these shrines of an elder age it is now our privilege to visit, and to recall the memories of bygone times that cluster round the revered spots of ancient Berkshire. And as we muse upon her glorious past, we shall hold in pious memory the valour of her sons who have writ her name so large in history, and strive to retain untarnished the honour and good name of the Royal County. ”

“ Berwick town is seen, on entering its streets, to be unexpectedly modern and matter-of-fact. The classically steepled building that bulks commandingly in the main thoroughfare and looks like a church is the Town Hall, and displays the arms of Berwick prominently, the municipal escutcheon supported on either side by a sculptured bear sitting on his rump and surrounded by trees. ”

“ North Berwick, however, is the golfer’s Mecca on this side of the Firth; and bathers, artists, and other seekers after the pleasures of the sea-shore succumb to its attractions in increasing numbers every season. The sands and the links, the sea lapping upon the beach, or chafing round Craigleith and the other rocky islets and points, exercise a potent spell. But North Berwick’s great lion, and a conspicuous landmark over sea and country for a score of miles around, is the natural pyramid of the “Law.” ”

“ The King is purposely omitted in this brief list:—his possessions as a landed proprietor being well known. Agriculture so much engrosses the attention of the people of Berkshire, that very little trade, unconnected with these pursuits is carried on. There are, however, some manufactories of sail-cloth, kerseys, canvass, and malt; and there are also several pretty large breweries in various parts of the county: the Windsor ale having acquired considerable celebrity; and at the Temple mills, near Bisham, there is a copper manufacture, and a manufacture of potash at Milton. ”

“ Berkshire is an inland county separated from the English Channel by the full width of Hampshire. The river Thames, however, gives a waterway to the sea, and the county town, Reading, is especially well served by railways and has mainly on that account become the centre of trades of great importance. Reading biscuits and Reading seeds have a world-wide celebrity, and printing is now extensively carried on in the town. ”

“ The other manufactures are all connected with agriculture, such as distilleries, breweries, tanneries, &c. The trade is also mainly agricultural. Fairs are held at Duns, Lauder, Coldstream and Greenlaw; but the sales of cattle and sheep mostly take place at the auction marts at Reston, Duns and Earlston. There are grain markets at Duns and Earlston. Berwick, from which the county derives its name, is still its chief market. There is, however, no legal or fiscal connexion between the county and the borough.
The North British railway monopolizes the communications of the county. ”

“ HUME AND THE GOVERNOR OF BERWICK. It has been asserted by at least one historian, that it has been observed, that the inhabitants of towns which have undergone a cruel siege, and experienced all the horrors of storm and pillage, have retained for ages the traces of the effects of their sufferings, in a detestation of war, indications of pusillanimity, and decline of trade. If there be any truth in this observation, what caitiffs must the inhabitants of Berwick be! No town in the world has been so often exposed to the "ills that wait on the red chariot of war;" ”

“ Until the beginning of the 14th century Berwick was one of the four royal boroughs of Scotland, and although it possesses no charter granted before that time, an inquisition taken in Edward III.’s reign shows that it was governed by a mayor and bailiffs in the reign of Alexander III., who granted the town to the said mayor and the commonalty for an annual rent. After Edward I. had conquered Berwick in 1302 he gave the burgesses another charter, no longer existing but quoted in several confirmations, by which the town was made a free borough with a gild merchant. ”

“ An unlovely waterside road, it is true, a maze of railway arches spanning it, and shabby houses hiding all but the merest glimpses of Tweedmouth church and its gilded salmon vane, referring to the salmon-fishery of the Tweed, but leading to a point of view whence the outlook to the north-west is really grand. There, across the broad estuary of the Tweed, lies Berwick, behind its quays and its enclosing defences. Across the river, in the middle distance, goes Berwick Bridge, its massive piers and arches looking as though carved out of the rock, rather than built up of single stones. ”

“ Indeed, its proud distinctive title may be traced to a period more remote than that of the building of the Castle by the Plantagenet Kings; Alfred the Great was born in Berkshire, and there were royal palaces in Saxon times at Farringdon and Old Windsor. Here the Confessor King oft resided. Here the Conqueror hunted the tall stags whom he loved "as though [Pg 2] he were their father." Hence from Saxon times to the present day Berkshire has deserved its royal title, and has been pre-eminently the county which kings delight to honour.
The history of Berkshire is indeed the history of England. ”

“ We have already mentioned that Berkshire may be divided into three natural divisions. The northern or Vale of White Horse district is for the most part rather low-lying ground, but there is a small range of hills along the course of the Thames or Isis from Faringdon towards Oxford. Badbury Hill, 530 feet above the sea, and Faringdon Clump, 445 feet, are quite prominent from a distance, and some of the other hills from Buckland to Wytham look imposing when seen from the river. ”

“ Where the area is confined to the limit of a county, the difficulties are increased, as the dwellers near the borders would naturally be influenced by the characteristics of the neighbouring county. Thus Berkshire folk on the Wiltshire side of the county would differ in many respects from those on the Hampshire side; and while the verb to kite, for instance, would be unknown to the one, the adjective deedy would be equally strange to the other.
Probably, next to verbs and adjectives, the names given to birds and animals, implements, or any common object, would determine a man's county. ”

“ Then followed one of the most disastrous periods of our county's history. In 1642, the High Sheriff of Berkshire refused to obey the king's command; the town of Reading was fortified, and King Charles passed through the town on his way to Oxford, his headquarters. Garrisons for the king were established at Farringdon, Abingdon, Wallingford, Greenwell House, Reading, Newbury, Donnington, and [Pg 16] Hungerford. Windsor was held by the Parliamentarians. Many of the people of Reading espoused the cause of the parliament, and left the town because the mayor and other chief men supported the king. ”

“ A fair is held annually at the end of May. There are iron-works and boat-building yards.
The custom of specially mentioning Berwick-upon-Tweed after Wales, though abandoned in acts of parliament, is retained in certain proclamations. The title of “county in itself” also helps to recall its ancient history. The liberties of the borough, commonly called Berwick Bounds, include the towns of Spittal, at the mouth, and Tweedmouth immediately above it, on the south bank of the river. ”

“ A good deal of the district is stiff clay, and there is difficulty in getting a supply of good water, hence we find a number of towns and villages, like Wantage for instance, close to the chalk downs, where there are many springs.
The second or central division of Berkshire is the district of the chalk land. The downs of Berkshire are separated from the Chiltern Hills, which are the chalk hills of Oxfordshire, by the valley of the river Thames, whilst on the west the chalk downs run on into Wiltshire without any natural break. ”

“ I can scarcely remember the time when I did not know the story, which indeed all Berkshire boys—or at any rate all Bath-road Berkshire boys—took as regularly as measles [pg 459] in early youth. But let me explain to New-World readers what I mean by a Bath-road Berkshire boy. Our royal county of Berks is in shape somewhat like a highlow or ancle-jack boot with the toe toward London, and at the tip of the toe Windsor Castle, which, as we all know, looks down on the Thames as it finally leaves the county, of which it has formed the northern boundary for more than one hundred miles. ”

“ In no part of England have they left more enduring marks of their presence than in Berkshire. The names of [Pg 6] our towns and villages are nearly all Saxon, and mark the spot where their powerful families formed their settlements. We find the Rædingas at Reading, the Wokings at Wokingham, the Ardings at Ardington, the sons of Offa at Uffington, the Farringas at Farringdon, and scattered all over the county are the fields and hams, and steads and tons, which denote a Saxon origin. ”

“ Then several marches through the county were made, and the royal forces, after going to Bath and Oxford, came again to Donnington, and thence went by Lambourne to Wantage and Farringdon, and finally to Oxford.
The whole of Berkshire was in a deplorable condition; the necessities of war were so great; the supplies needed for the victualling of such large armies were so heavy, that scarcely "a sheep, hen, hog, oats, hay, wheat, or any other thing for man to eat" were left. Soldiers on both sides foraged for supplies, and seized with ruthless hand everything they could find. ”