Berwickshire
Siorrachd Bhearaig | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Coordinates: 55°45′N 2°30′W / 55.750°N 2.500°W | |
| Country | Scotland |
| County town | Berwick (pre–1482) Greenlaw (1596–1661, 1696-1903) Duns (1661-1696,1903–1975) |
| Area | |
• Total | 457 sq mi (1,184 km2) |
| Ranked 20th of 34 | |
| Chapman code | BEW |
Berwickshire (/ˈbɛrɪkʃər, -ʃɪər/; Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the time of the county's formation in the twelfth century, but became part of England in 1482 after several centuries of swapping back and forth between the two kingdoms. After the loss of Berwick, Duns and Greenlaw both served as county town at different periods.
Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of the Borders region, with most of the historic county becoming part of the lower-tier Berwickshire district. Berwickshire district was abolished in 1996, when all the districts in the Borders region merged to become the Scottish Borders council area.
The low-lying part of Berwickshire between the Tweed and the Lammermuirs is known as "the Merse", from an old Scots word for a floodplain, and this name is sometimes extended to the county as a whole.[1] Inhabitants are called "Merse-men".[1] Berwickshire borders Midlothian to the west, East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, and Roxburghshire and the English county of Northumberland to the south.