Tweedmouth is part of the town of

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, England. It is located on the south bank of the River Tweed and is connected to Berwick town centre, on the north bank, by two road bridges and a railway bridge. Tweedmouth has historically always been part of England, in contrast to the walled town of Berwick which came under Scottish control for several periods in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The local nickname for people from Tweedmouth is ''"Twempies"''. In 1951 the parish had a population of 6410.

Governance

Tweedmouth is part of Berwick-upon-Tweed Town Council, which also includes neighbouring Spittal. It is in the parliamentary constituency of North Northumberland. The

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

for the area is

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Northumberland in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having also ...

. It was historically part of Islandshire, which was an

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, before becoming a

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Northumberland in 1844. On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished and became part of Berwick upon Tweed unparished area.

Attractions

In an annual ceremony dating back to 1292, Tweedmouth schools elect a ''Salmon Queen'' to mark the start of ''Salmon Week'', a traditional celebration which dates to medieval times. The event is a reminder that Tweedmouth has a long history of salmon fishing on the river. There is a procession from Berwick town hall across the Old Bridge to Tweedmouth where the incoming ''Salmon Queen'' is crowned. The parish church of St Bartholomew and St Boisil dates to the late 18th century. It stands on the site of an earlier church built in 1145, which was in turn on the site of an earlier 7th century church. The church's weather-vane is in the form of a

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

. The most obvious historic landmark is the 15-arched Old Bridge, built of local sandstone in 1610. The bridge was built by order of

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 M ...

, and formed part of the Great North Road between London and Edinburgh. The Old Bridge still carries traffic across the River Tweed. The Royal Tweed Bridge and Royal Border Railway Bridge also span the river at Tweedmouth, the latter being opened by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

in 1850.

The Tweed Dock

The Tweed Dock officially opened in October 1876, replacing the older port on the north bank of the river which had become inadequate. Following improvement works in 1993 vessels with a maximum beam of 16 metres are now able to enter the dock. Due to its geographical location the port primarily handles cargoes linked to the agricultural industry, with fertilisers, malting barley, feed barley and oilseed rape the principal commodities.

Sport and recreation

Berwick Rangers football club plays at Shielfield Park in Tweedmouth. The stadium also hosts

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

, in the form of Berwick Bandits. The neighbouring ground of Old Shielfield Park is home to Tweedmouth Rangers F.C., who play in the East of Scotland Football League. ''The Swan Leisure Centre'' is a multi-purpose leisure facility with a swimming pool, gym, sports hall and all-weather outdoor pitch.

Photographs of Tweedmouth

Swans in the dock at Berwick on Tweed - geograph.org.uk - 97921.jpg, Shielfield Park, Home of Berwick Rangers FC - geograph.org.uk - 409958.jpg, Royal Border Bridge at sunset (9000334802).jpg, Royal Tweed Bridge.jpg,

References

{{reflist

External links

''Tweedmouth Conservation Area''
Populated coastal places in Northumberland Former civil parishes in Northumberland Populated places on the River Tweed Ports and harbours of Northumberland Berwick-upon-Tweed