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 re ...

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 ...

, England. It is located on the south bank of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water ( gd, Abhainn Thuaidh, sco, Watter o Tweid, cy, Tuedd), is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the R ...

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 The following cities have, or historically had, defensive walls. Africa Algeria * Algiers * Ghardaïa * Timimoun Egypt * Al-Fustat * Cairo * Damietta See List of Egypt castles, forts, fortifications and city walls. Ethiopia * Harar Libya *A ...

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 late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. 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

. The

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

for the area is

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is a unitary authority in North East England. The population of the non-metropolitan unitary authority at the 2011 census was 316,028. History It was formed in 1889 as the council for the administrative county of ...

. It was historically part of

Islandshire Islandshire was an area of Northumberland, England, comprising Lindisfarne or Holy Island, plus five parishes on the mainland. It is historically associated with the Bishop of Durham, and was administratively an exclave of County Palatinate of ...

, which was an

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, before becoming a

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

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.Britain Express. ''Tweedmouth''.
/ref> 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 Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; grc, Βαρθολομαῖος, translit=Bartholomaîos; la, Bartholomaeus; arm, Բարթողիմէոս; cop, ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; he, בר-תולמי, translit=bar-Tôlmay; ar, بَرثُولَماو� ...

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 () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

. 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 Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

, 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 her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

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 anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

, in the form of

Berwick Bandits The Berwick Bandits are a British speedway club, based in Berwick-upon-Tweed. They currently compete in the SGB Championship, racing at Shielfield Park, with home matches usually taking place on Saturday evenings. They also run a second team ...

. The neighbouring ground of Old Shielfield Park is home to

Tweedmouth Rangers F.C. Tweedmouth Rangers Football Club is a football team in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 2010, they currently play across the border in the East of Scotland Football League, having j ...

, who play in the

East of Scotland Football League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. ...

. ''The Swan Leisure Centre'' is a multi-purpose leisure facility with a swimming pool, gym, sports hall and all-weather outdoor pitch.Visitberwick.com. ''The Swan Leisure Centre''
/ref>

Photographs of Tweedmouth

File:Approaching the Royal Border Bridge. - geograph.org.uk - 964908.jpg, Shielfield Park, Home of Berwick Rangers FC - geograph.org.uk - 409958.jpg, Swans in the dock at Berwick on Tweed - geograph.org.uk - 97921.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