The Liberties of Berwick are coterminous with the parish of Holy Trinity and St. Mary. They comprise 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 ...

and a rural area to the north and west. For several centuries the ''Bounds'' of the liberties have been ridden on horseback each year on May Day.Web site of Berwick Parish Church berwickparishchurch.btck.co.uk retrieved March 2017 The liberties and Berwick parish do not encompass the suburbs of Berwick on the south bank of the Tweed, which are contained in the separate parishes of Spittal and Tweedmouth.Norham Deanery web site www.norhamdeanery.org.uk/index.php/deanery-churches retrieved March 2017; lists the parishes in the Berwick area The population in 2011 was 4.500. After

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

acquired the area in 1020, Berwick became the chief town of the country between

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

and the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

and grew into a great seaport, becoming one of the four major

royal burghs A royal burgh () was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished by law in 1975, the term is still used by many former royal burghs. Most royal burghs were either created by ...

of Scotland. Coveted by England, it was seized during the disputed succession to the Scottish throne after the demise of Alexander III and was thenceforth the object of jealousy and subject to various seizures and negotiated transfers. The Liberties of Berwick were relinquished by Scotland in 1482 and by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 became part of the county of Northumberland.Gazetteer of Scotland, 2nd edition, by W. Groome, publ. 1896, p. 155 (Berwickshire)

References

{{reflist Parishes in Berwickshire Civil parishes in Northumberland History of Berwick-upon-Tweed