Places UK

[Peter Hook]

Why was Berwick-on-Tweed mentioned in the 19th century as separate from GB?

[SRAYN1]

Berwick-on-Tweed changed hands 13 times between 1147, when William the Lion of Scotland surrendered the fortified town to Henry II of England, and 1482, when it was taken again by Edward IV for England. Peace was secured only when Berwick was acknowledged as a neutral and independent state by treaty between Henry VII and James IV. Hostilities ended when James VI of Scotland entered England at Berwick and, as James I, ordered many of the fortifications to be destroyed. Today it is a free town within the geographically in the county of Northumberland. As a result of its bizarre status, it is technically still at war with Imperial Russia. Legend has it that while war was declared by England, Scotland and Berwick-on-Tweed, only England and Scotland signed the Treaty of Paris that ended the Crimean War in 1856.