a county in the south-east situation of Scotland, bounded by East-Lothian on the north, the German Ocean on the east, Mid-Lothian on the north-west, Roxburghshire on the west and south-west, and by the Tweed, which separates it at first from Roxburghshire, and afterwards from England, and by the township of Berwick on the south and south-east; is situated in the 56th degree of north latitude, its central parts two degrees west from London; and contains 446 square miles or 285,440 acres, Extent. of which more than a third is cultivated, or fit for cultivation.
It has usually been described as consisting of Divisions, three great divisions, Lammermoor, Lauderdale, and the Merse, of which the boundaries are by no means accurately defined (see article in the body of the work); but for every useful purpose, Lauderdale may be held as included in the other two divisions, and the greater part of it as belonging to Lammermoor. This mountainous district, on which Berwickshire meets with East-Lothian, commences at St Abb's Head on the north-east of the county, and passes into Mid-Lothian on the north-west. That part of it which belongs to Berwickshire is in many places from 1000 to 1500 feet above the level of the sea; but as it sinks towards the low grounds of the Merse, for the most part by an easy declivity, and is intersected by several small valleys through which its streams flow, it contains a considerable extent of good pasturage, with many smaller tracts of arable land. This whole range, however, and particularly the higher parts, covered with heath and the coarsest grasses, is, generally speaking, very barren; and both the climate and the soil are unpropitious to vegetation in a greater degree than its elevation alone would lead one to expect. The gradual rise of the mountains and their continuity afford little natural shelter; and it is only in particular spots, themselves somewhat sheltered, that trees can be made to grow to any height. The winters, therefore, are more severe and protracted, cultivated crops more precarious, and the pastures much less rich and verdant, than at the same altitude on the hills around Cheviot, on the opposite side of the Tweed; which springing suddenly and separately from their bases in a conical form, protect one another in every direction. This extensive district is accordingly chiefly occupied with the hardy coarse woollen mountain sheep, and yields but a small revenue to its proprietors, and to its thinly scattered husbandmen.
The Merse. The Merse, the other great division, comprises all the low lands of the county. From the Tweed the country rises gradually towards Lammemoor; and the sea coast on the east is also high, bold, and precipitous, being accessible only at Eyemouth, Coldingham and a few other places. The general appearance, therefore, of this district, when viewed from some commanding eminence, is that of an unbroken plane, slightly inclined towards the south, surrounded on all other sides by high grounds; but on which, when seen nearer, there is perceived a considerable diversity of surface;—hills rising from gently undulating swells, of which that on which Honne Castle stands is among the most conspicuous, and winding vales, along which the Whitadder, Blackadder, Leader, and a number of smaller streams, urge their course to the Tweed. The whole of this tract, computed at about 170 square miles, well cultivated, and generally fertile, inclosed and subdivided by whitethorn hedges, sheltered by thriving plantations, and adorned by many seats and pleasure-grounds, and still more, everywhere, by excellent farm-houses, presents a scene of peaceful industry and of rural prosperity, which is not perhaps exceeded on so large a scale in any part of Britain,—forming a striking contrast to the habits of plunder, and the general wretchedness by which, till the union of the British crowns, the inhabitants of this, as of all the border districts, had never ceased to be distinguished.
The rivulets already noticed, with the Eye and a few others, are all too inconsiderable to merit any particular description; and the Tweed, by which the county is for the most part bounded on the south, rising in another district, and discharging itself into the sea three miles beyond its limits, can hardly be said to belong to Berwickshire. The salmon-fishery on this river, a source of employment to a great number of people in its different stages, is shared with the inhabitants of the opposite bank as far as it forms the boundary; but nearer the mouth of the river the fishery is by far the most productive. The fish are sent to Berwick, where they are pickled, dried, or, more generally of late, packed in ice and shipped for the London market. The fishery on the coast employs about a hundred men with twenty boats, at eight small fishing stations. Herrings visit this coast occasionally.
No seams of coal worth working have been found in this county; and this necessary article is procured partly by sea, but chiefly by a most expensive land carriage from the south side of the Tweed, and from the Lothians. A few veins of limestone, which have been discovered in the inland parts, cannot be worked with advantage owing to the want of coal; and the immense quantity of lime required by its spirited system of agriculture, must also be brought from a distance, and from almost the same quarters. Clay-marl, found along the banks of the Whitadder and Blackadder, was once extensively employed as a manure, but has for many years been superseded by lime. Shell-marl, discovered in small quantities in many places, is worked to some extent in the western parish of Merton. Sandstone of different colours, some of it of a very fine grain, occurs in different parts, particularly at Dryburgh, on the Tweed; from whence, it is probable, stones had been procured for the beautiful structure of Melrose Abbey. The outer pier of the harbour of Eyemouth is built without cement, of a coarse pudding-stone, found in a rocky promontory contiguous; and has withstood, for almost 40 years, the fury of the German Ocean, without any apparent waste.—A mineral spring in the parish of Edrom, about a mile from the town of Dunse, and known by the name of the Dunse Spa, was at one time in much repute, but has been almost entirely neglected for many years.
In a general view of Berwickshire, its agriculture is by far the most prominent object. At a distance from a crowded population—without coal and lime—having a rocky coast, which confines its exports and imports to one or two places, 10 or 12 miles from the centre of the county,—and enjoying no peculiar advantages in soil or climate,—there are certainly few districts, at all accessible to cultivation, less favourably situated. Yet almost the whole of the Merse is cultivated in the best style of modern husbandry, and there are few, if any, districts of the same extent in Britain, where the most approved management of arable land is so skilfully and successfully combined with that of live stock and pasture. The leading feature in the husbandry of the south-east of Scotland is, the alternation of corn with pulse, herbage, or roots; or what is commonly called, white and green crops; but the farmers of Berwickshire, adopting this course invariably, have rendered it more productive, and better suited to their soil and climate, by reserving their cultivated herbage, red and white clovers, with ryegrass, from the plough, for two or more years, so that above half the cultivated land is always depastured by sheep and cattle. The sheep in the lower parts of the county are almost universally of the New Leicester variety; and the short-horned breed of cattle, introduced from the north of England, are now spreading fast over all its better pastures. Farms are of all sizes, from 40 to 1000 acres and upwards; but the more common size, in the Merse, is from 400 to 600 acres. All the farm-houses, out-buildings, and cottages recently erected, are most substantial, convenient, and well-situated, and contribute greatly to the beauty of the landscape.
The valued rent of Berwickshire is L178,366, 8s. 6\( \frac{2}{3} \)d. Scots; and the real rent, as assessed to the property-tax for the year ending April 1811, was, for the lands, L231,973, 2s. 7d.; and for the houses, L8,152, 17s. 6d. Sterling. About a third part of the valued rent is held under entail. In 1795, the rental was estimated at L112,000; so that it had more than doubled in sixteen years. It is universally paid in money; and the farms are held on leases for a term of years; here, as in every other part of Scotland, nineteen years being the most common period.
The manufactures of this county are quite inconsiderable; that of paper, made at two extensive works, being almost the only one that affords an article for exportation. There are bleachfields, breweries, corn-mills, and other small establishments for the home supply; and some of the millers are in the practice of purchasing grain, which they send chiefly to Berwick, and Dalkeith in Mid-Lothian, after converting it into flour, meal, or shelled barley. The commerce of the district is, therefore, necessarily confined to the export of raw produce, and the import of coals, lime, timber, iron, groceries, &c. Yet the value of the corn exported, of which the greater part is carried to Berwick, and of the cattle and sheep driven to Edinburgh, and to Morpeth, and other markets in England, must amount to a very large sum; the stationary live stock alone having been estimated, several years ago, at near half a million of pounds Sterling.
Berwickshire having been the scene of incessant Antiquities, warfare between the Scots and English for many ages, still exhibits traces of military stations and ruins of fortifications, which time and the progress of cultivation is fast obliterating. But the most interesting remains of antiquity are the monastery of Coldingham and Dryburgh Abbey, proofs, not more, perhaps, of the piety, than of the oppression of our ancestors.
The deep glen, called the Pease, in the north-east angle of the county, on the road from Edinburgh to Berwick, has been celebrated in history as one of the natural defences of Scotland. The bridge which has been thrown over it consists of four arches; and its romantic situation, and stupendous height of 123 feet from the small stream below, render it an object of some curiosity to travellers.
Berwickshire is divided into thirty-one parishes. There is no large town in it, and but a few villages of any extent. (See the Encyclopaedia.) It is one of the few Scottish counties in which regular assessments are made for the poor. In 1808, the average Poor's number in three parishes was one in fifty-five of the inhabitants. The rate, imposed equally upon landowners and tenants, amounted to 3\( \frac{1}{2} \)d. on the pound of rent.
The following tables exhibit a summary of the population returns for 1800 and 1811:
<table> <tr> <th colspan="2">HOUSES.</th> <th colspan="2">PERSONS.</th> <th colspan="3">OCCUPATIONS.</th> <th rowspan="2">Total of Persons.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Inhabited.</th> <th>By how many Families occupied.</th> <th>Uninhabited.</th> <th>Males.</th> <th>Females.</th> <th>Persons chiefly employed in Agriculture.</th> <th>Persons chiefly employed in Trade, Manufactures, or Handicraft.</th> <th>All other Persons not comprised in the two preceding classes.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>5965</td> <td>6835</td> <td>273</td> <td>14,094</td> <td>16,327</td> <td>6396</td> <td>3343</td> <td>19,767</td> <td>30,621</td> </tr> </table>
<table> <tr> <th colspan="2">HOUSES.</th> <th colspan="2">PERSONS.</th> <th colspan="3">OCCUPATIONS.</th> <th rowspan="2">Total of Persons.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Inhabited.</th> <th>By how many Families occupied.</th> <th>Uninhabited.</th> <th>Males.</th> <th>Females.</th> <th>Families chiefly employed in Agriculture.</th> <th>Families chiefly employed in Trade, Manufactures, or Handicraft.</th> <th>All other Families not comprised in the two preceding classes.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>5730</td> <td>6867</td> <td>308</td> <td>14,466</td> <td>16,313</td> <td>3124</td> <td>2013</td> <td>1730</td> <td>30,779</td> </tr> </table>
* The population of the parish of Stitchell, which lies partly in the shire of Roxburgh, is not included in this abstract of the returns for 1811.