Six north country diaries - The MAN & Other Families

19
mouly l)y his (rreat nose : hoe had heene captain there under the
earle of Sussex divers yeares, yet now hee was not solel}- tnisted but
had Cajitain HodLie Ihadshaw joyned him. Hee gave us such courteous
wellconie as his poore habitation would affoord.
[May] 28. Hence wee went to Barwick the same nifrht, 1)eeing G
mile, and found the towne soe thronged that wee had much adoe to
get lodging. The king was yet in towne at an ould ruined house of
his owne called the Castle, but his privy counsell, I believe, were
jealous of his safetie there, or els of disorders in the campe if his
majestie were not present in it.
[May 30.] Soe upon the Thursday following, beeing the 30th of
May, the king's pavillion was pitchd, and hee himselfe went to lodge
in the army, and continued in it from that time till it broke up.
Barwick:—Hath beene the ould partition wall betweene the two
kingdomes, and, since the union, King James cashierd the garrison
and slighted the woorkes, much against the mindes of some English,
especially one. Captain [a space is left here], who wrote a witty discourse
how necessary it was to maintaine a garrison still there, and did
allmost prophecy the rebellion of the Scotts in future times. The
scituation heereof is readily knowne by all : it stands on the further
side Tweede, and hatha stone bridge leading to it of 15 arches. The
haven, at high water, will receive a shipp of great burden, but 'tis a
towne of noe trade, because it affoords noe commodities for transportation
; fishing is theire best, but they wholly necglectit, except onely for
salmon, which is veiy plentifull. The sea lyes oj^en to them to the east,
and, flowing up two or three miles above their bridge, is a good defence
to that side of the towne. Tlie building is veiy meane, yet it hath
good stoore of houses in it, and one poore chapiJell on the north east
side. It had a faire church in it but, during the enmity betweene the
two nations, it was taken downe, for feare of battering, and this
chappell built of the materialls and some part of the walls. There
was aunciently a castle on the north west side of the towne, but King
James bestowed it on the earle of Dunbarr,'*^^ who began to build a
stately house in the very place wjtere the auncient ca.stle stood, out of
its ruins and left it unfinished. The seate seiTes properly for a defence
to the towne .still, and soe it was now used, there loeeing two bulwarkes
made upon the side walls by filling their inward parts with earth, on
the one was three iron peeces mounted, on the other two. The
castle hath a very deepe dry ditch about it and a gate over it leading
into it out of the towne.
The walls of the towne were not soe slighted but that with small
the fort, who is as famous for his generous and free entertainment of strangers,
as for his great bottle nose which is tlie largest I have seen.' Brereton, Joiiniei/
through Durhmn and Xorlhuntlier/auil in the year 16.35, p. 33.
^' Cj. 'Notes on Berwick Castle and the Modern Owners thereof,' by
William Maddau, History of the Berwickshire Xaturalist-^ Club, vol. xix., p. .348.