General

Building Berwick Old Bridge (Twixt Thistle and Rose)

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Old Berwick Bridge has recently re-opened after essential repairs and a further £250,000 has been allocated for maintenance during 2019/2020. It is a well-used crossing of the Tweed, popular with visitors and locals alike and it has a very well documented history – including a record of all the names of the people who built it and what it cost.

Increase in costs for tide work

The old bridge has linked both sides of the Tweed at Berwick for about 380 years. According to Fuller’s History of Berwick work ended on the 24 October 1634 having taken “twenty-four years four months and four days”. The construction was a major feat of engineering – working around tides and the powerful surges of the river. Although at times convoluted, both the King and the Guild saw the building of permanent crossing of the Tweed at Berwick as a crucial investment and symbolic too.

Supplies of building materials for Berwick Bridge, 1613

The building of a stone bridge over the Tweed at Berwick marked the end of hostilities with Scotland on the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne in 1603. Berwick had been, for centuries, a town at war. From 1482 to 1601 it had a Governor appointed by the Crown and was occupied by a large garrison. The crown paid for repairs to the castle, the fortifications and the old wooden bridge (which was often washed away in floods) as it was a strategic military base.

Summary bridge accounts 1612-1613 (H1/1)

The Earl of Dunbar – George Home – who held a series of royal appointments in Scotland and England under James I/VI had been granted the fortifications of Berwick when the garrison was disbanded. He was instrumental in making the case for the building of a stone bridge, proposing how it should be funded and appointing, for life, the bridge surveyor and designer, James Burrell. Home’s funding scheme gave way to other arrangements but Burrell stayed the course.

Particular payments for work beginning the 11 May 1622

The “particular accounts” for the building of the bridge from 1611-1635 (H1/1-4) survive in the borough archives – volumes that Fuller cites extensively in his History of Berwick. The other side to the story is found in records held at The National Archives (such as The Exchequer Pipe Rolls – declared accounts for the building of Berwick Bridge ref: E 351/3585) as this was a crown enterprise. Indeed, the bridge building accounts held in the Berwick Archives might not be so”particular” had they – and the works – not been routinely audited by royal inspectors. These included the Bishop of Durham and the poet Fulke Greville in his role as Chancellor of the Exchequer (Source: The History of the Kings Works Vol IV (part II), Colvin et al pp.774-775, HMSO 1982).

Payment to Foulke Reynards Master of the good ship the “Boweringe of Stavering” for freight of oak trees, coal, oakum, holly wood, rope and steel from Newcastle to Berwick, to John Wylde the pilot from Newcastle to Berwick and to Henry Scott and his “fellowes for their pains and their bote” in helping the ship up Berwick River, 1614

The accounts describe materials used at different points in the construction, the use of oak from the royal estate at Chopwell near Blaydon, the freight of coal, oyster shells and stone by sea, and the people – men, women and boys (all named) – who built the bridge.

Timber from Chopwell Woods, 1613

The accounts for subsequent repairs by Guild and the Town Council are also held by the Berwick Records Office to 1835 as Bridge Account volumes, later as part of the annual reporting of accounts.

Today the bridge is the smallest of the three that span the Tweed at Berwick but in it’s day it would have made a significant impact on the landscape. It was clearly a source of civic pride as funds were routinely levied on the burgesses for it’s upkeep – in addition to the Crown costs of around £13,000 which is the equivalent of about £1.5 million today.

Illustration depicting the bridge about 1799 from Fuller’s History of Berwick

Escape from Camp 18

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On the 1st April 1945 Austrian Prisoner of War Joseph Kirchdorfer, aged nineteen, and seven others escaped from Camp 18 at Featherstone Park, near Haltwhistle. The daring plot had been planned over months by the eight escapees, but would end swiftly in recapture and death.

Camp 18, Featherstone Park near Haltwhistle was opened in 1944 to house American soldiers arriving as part of the Normandy invasions and later became one of the largest POW camps in Britain, with two hundred huts over four compounds that could house up to four thousand officers and six hundred German orderlies. The camp held a broad range of prisoners from the German Army, Navy, U-boat Officers and Luftwaffe pilots, as well as diplomats and bureaucrats were represented amongst the camps growing population in the mid to late 1940s.

Camp 18 ran programmes of ‘denazification’ in the hope that when German POWs returned to Germany they would have been re-educated along democratic lines. POWs were often screened to assess their ideological sympathies. They were then placed into three groups: ‘white’ (anti-Nazi), ‘grey’ (in-between), and ‘black’ (hardline Nazi). ‘Black Nazis’ were often sent to Camp 18 for re-education. The ‘denazification’ programs at the camp were considered to be a huge success and towards the end of the 1940s prisoners were allowed to undertake work in the local community. Maureen Smith remembers German POWs being allowed to attend the village dance on a Saturday night. She recalls one man, ‘Peter, a German prisoner, [who] used to work on the fields near [their] allotment’ and if it was raining he would sit in their shed and eat his sandwiches. The POWs of Camp 18 also produced their own German newspaper ‘Die Zeit am Tyne’ that was printed on the presses of the the Hexham Courant. The Northumberland Archives hold original copies along with some transcriptions of issues one to six of the newspaper. Alongside the German newspaper and community work, prisoners in the Camp also held stage plays, radio broadcasts and football matches.

Joseph Kirchdorfer, a Luftwaffe pilot, was determined to escape Camp 18. In his memoirs he claims that the escape was born out of a youthful urge for action, rather than any sort of heroics. He had been arrested behind enemy lines in Holland in 1944. He was of special interest to his captors as he carried with him a letter from the world’s first female test pilot, Hanna Reitsch. Soon after arriving at Featherstone Park, Joseph became involved in a daring plot to escape the camp, hijack a plane and return to Germany. The young officer was well aware of the risks involved with an escape attempt; later writing in his memoirs that if the search light was switched on ‘you were a dead man’.

In the dead of night, using a thunderstorm for cover, Joseph and seven of his compatriots, dressed in make-shift outfits and using wire cutters fashioned out of a window latch, fled the camp. The men said their goodbyes at the fence and headed in their separate ways. Some of the men attempted to cross the South River Tyne that had become flooded in the thunderstorm. One POW, 24-year-old Karl Kropp, was last seen up to his neck in water, attempting to wade across the flooded river. His body was recovered by John Walton, who was out on a shooting trip, as the waters receded three days later. He was buried in the war graves section of Hexham cemetery, draped in a swastika flag and escorted by six German POWs who saluted as the coffin was lowered into the ground. Kropp’s body was disinterred and repatriated to Germany in 1958.   

Joseph and two other escapees in his group followed the South Tyne Railway to Alston. The group hid out in a guardsman’s hut during the day and continued their journey as darkness set. The three men travelled 12 miles in one day and made it into Cumbria. Their escape was ended by a local policeman, PC Wilson, who stopped the group and reported them to soldiers. PC Wilson also arrested four of the surviving POWs in Haldon’s Mill, outside of Alston.  Recaptured and returned to the Camp, Joseph was stripped naked and beaten by guards determined to locate the remaining escapees. After refusing to give up the names and locations of his fellow escapees, guards

Joseph and his fellow POWs escape attempt had ended in catastrophe. All at the men were recaptured and Karl Kropp paid for the attempt with his life.

Thank you to Derek Holcroft for suppling the colour images of a soggy Featherstone and also giving us the original idea for this story.

The Freemen of Berwick-upon-Tweed (Twixt Thistle and Rose)

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The Freemen of Berwick- upon -Tweed

The Freedom Ceremony

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend a Freedom Admissions ceremony at the Town Hall. Three members of the Reay family were admitted to the Guild of Freemen of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Admissions of Berwick Freemen are recorded in the borough records from the early 16th century but the tradition dates back to the Middle Ages. Today, the ceremony is presided over by the Mayor and Sheriff of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Freedom is conferred by the Chairman of the Guild of Freemen after oaths have been read aloud. Freemen-to-be must attend the ceremony in person. At the end of the ceremony the Guild Book – that I brought to the ceremony from the Archives – was signed by the newly admitted Freemen. It had been inscribed with their names by calligrapher Barbara Herdman.

Three newly admitted Freemen on the steps of Berwick-upon-Tweed Town Hall with (right to left) Chairman of the Guild of Freemen, Mayor and Sheriff – 28 Jan 2019 (copyright Steve Cozens)

Becoming a Freeman


All claims to become a Freeman must be researched thoroughly and the Berwick Archivist, Linda Bankier, provides this service to the Guild. She produces a descent (a proof of claim) by checking that details the applicant has provided match the Guild Minute Books and Apprenticeship records relating to their forebears.

Guild Book (B1/12)

The new freemen were admitted by birthright. Eligibility to become a Freeman has changed over the years. Originally only the eldest son, on reaching the age of 21, could become a Freeman this way. Younger sons would be apprenticed for seven years to a Freeman to gain their freedom but from 1782 all sons could be admitted by birthright. Now all children of a Freeman – including daughters – can apply to be admitted. However, succession must pass directly from one generation to the next or right is lost. A small number of Honorary Freemen may also be admitted by the Guild “by ticket” but their children have no right of admission.

An apprentice, Richard Swinhoe, petitions the Guild for a new master following the death of his old master Andrew Moore or the right to find one outside the town if the Guild can find no one suitable.

Freeman ancestry and history

If your ancestors came from Berwick, and you suspect they might have been Freemen, have a look at the searchable database of Berwick Families (1800-1940) published by the Guild. A history of the Berwick-upon-Tweed Guild of Freemen can be read on their website in the Green Book.

The historical records of the Guild form a significant part of the Borough of Berwick-upon Tweed collection that the Twixt Thistle and Rose Project team will re-catalogue. The Guild were responsible for the civic government of the town from 1604 to 1835 so their records contain a wealth of unique information.

A Guild Roll

From the earliest records , applications to be admitted Freemen (or apprenticed to a Freeman) are recorded as well as lists of guild members. It was important to be able to show who had a right to trade in the town or attend the Guild courts. There are references to the rules of the Guild in managing their estate. Freemen enjoy a number of privileges and rights that were keenly monitored and robustly defended. For example, the Riding of the Bounds, that has been an annual event almost without a break from 1609 to the present day, was a way of checking for encroachments on their lands and ejecting interlopers.

Orders of the Guild about Meadows and Stints 1754 (B 3/6)

Bringing the world to Berwick


Berwick-upon Tweed has been, throughout it’s history, an outward looking town and part of a huge trading community linked by the sea. It shares it’s Guild history with that of Scottish, English and European confraternities that from mediaeval times sought to protect their commercial interests whilst maintaining amicable relations with other trading communities. There was no profit in creating blocks to trade – instead guilds promoted a common understanding of how to regulate the landing, storing and trading of goods without inhibiting commerce. The records are full of curious details about how the Guild managed these relationships – more of which we will, no doubt, uncover in the process of re-cataloguing .

The Guild negotiates the price of a load of timber with the Master of a “Norway man”, 1667

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