Celebrating 900 years of Berwick's history and cultural heritage.
Saturday, 31 October 2015
The Errington Inquiry, 1715
Here's another video from the 1715 Northumbrian Jacobite Rising weekend with John Nicholls, MBE, talking about the Northumbrian Jacobites and what happened to the unsuccessful rebel ringleaders, Kendal Leask about the reproduction printing press, excerpts from poetry readings in English and French in Berwick Literary Festival, Derek Sharman about the Berwick 900 Festival and a drama, The Errington Inquiry set in the Court room above Berwick Guildhall.
The inquiry was presided over by the Mayor of Berwick and features Mrs Wilson, a tavern-keeper on Holy Island, Corporal Francis Amos, Alexander Unthank, the jail-keeper and tavern-keeper of the Berwick Arms. Most of their evidence is about Lancelot Errington, the principal ringleader who seized Holy Island castle with his nephew.
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
The Men Who Marched Away - Stories from the Berwick World War I Research Project
It'll be at 7pm on Friday, 6 November in at Holy Trinity Parish Centre, The Parade, Berwick-upon-Tweed (in the grounds of Holy Trinity Parish Church).
Open to everyone. Free admission.
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
A Replica 18th Century Printing Press in Action
This is a replica of the type of printing press used in the 17th and early 18th century used to produce a reproduction of the Berwick Patriot broadsheet about the capture of Holy Island by the Jacobites.
It was set up at 2 Hide Hill, Berwick-upon-Tweed on the 1715 Jacobite Rising weekend, 10 & 11 October.
The ink should have been chimney soot mixed with boiled linseed oil but they didn't have any apprentices to mix it, so they used a modern water-based ink.
It was interesting that they were using an engraved steel plate rather than blocks of type and while I watched, it was rather slow production; though the printer claimed that an experienced 18th century printer with a full staff could produce 180 printed sheets an hour, which is somewhat faster than my dot-matrix printer, on my computer system, could produce in 1985.
The initial narrator is Derek Sharman, the subsequent narrator, talking about the press is Kendal Leask.
A Gallery of Photos from the Berwick 900 Family History Festival
These images are of the Berwick 900 Family History Festival held on 3 and 4 October.
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| Davina on the Borders FHS stall |
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| John Murray talking to Alan Turnbull about family history |
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| Berwick Record Office Display about the Brown and Willoby Families |
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| Northumberland Archives Display |
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| Berwick Record Office Display about Dr Philp MacLagan |
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| Berwick Record Office Display about Thomas Grey, the Railway Poet |
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| Northumberland & Durham Family History Society |
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| Northumberland & Durham Family History Society Display |
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| Northumberland & Durham Family History Society Display |
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| Telling a Family Story on the Great Performing Rope stand |
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| Berwick Stamp Club Display |
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| New Book: The Postal History of Berwick-upon-Tweed |
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| Refreshments |
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| Scottish Genealogical Society Display |
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| Scottish Genealogical Society Display |
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| Borders Family History Society Display about the former Peel Hospital, near Clovenfords |
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| John Murray talking to Alan Turnbull about family history |
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| Berwick Record Office Display |
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| Gregory Lauder-Frost providing advice (by courtesy of Valerie Glass) |
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| (by courtesy of Valerie Glass) |
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| Having a Chat on the Northumberland & Durham Family History Society Stand (by courtesy of Valerie Glass) |
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| Northumberland & Durham Family History Society Display (by courtesy of Valerie Glass) |
Arty-Facts Finale to Berwick 900 at Berwick Town Hall - 24 and 25 October
There will also be family history displays.
It's not quite the finale, because the Berwick 900 Our Families project will be continuing to record family stories and provide training in family history and related subjects over the winter and into next spring.
Also, go and visit the memories and family stories of Berwick-upon-Tweed tied to a rope from 22 to 25 October.
Tuesday, 20 October 2015
Memories and Family Stories of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Tied to a Rope – 22-25 October
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| Carl von Weiler making a section of rope |
Visit Berwick, this Thursday to Sunday (22-25 October), to see a 900 metre sculptural rope threaded through the centre of Berwick with family stories and memories of Berwick attached to the rope on luggage-type label pieces of card as well as other objects.
I’ve had a hard time imagining it but I’m looking forward to seeing the rope, handling the objects and reading the stories.
The idea is inspired by the town’s history of rope making and the legendary rope walks that residents and visitors to Berwick-upon-Tweed still remember.
The rope will be in place from 22nd to 25th October but the family stories will stay on The Great Performing Rope website for at least a year.
There’s still time to get your family story included. If you miss their deadline, send your story to
Also, visit the art and crafts exhibition in Berwick Town Hall from 11am to 4pm on Saturday, 24 October and Sunday. 25 October.
The Willoby Family ‘Pedigree’
From Julia Day:
In connection with the Greenses/Ravensdowne families project, I have been researching the Willoby family, whose male line came to an end with the death of Edward Willoby in 1922. He was a land agent, but his brother William Gray, father Edward, his grandfather William and great-grandfather Edward were all solicitors, and his father, grandfather and great-grandfather served the office of Town Clerk.
I have found many records to help build a fuller picture of the family, but some of the most interesting have been newspaper articles.
On Edward’s death in 1922, an article was published in the Berwick Advertiser describing him and listing his interests. It describes him as reserved and dignified, with ‘simple old-world manners’. However, a keen horseman, it also paints a picture of him ‘in blue coat and white buckskin breeches’ riding up Hide Hill towards his stables at the top of Woolmarket on a ‘tired and mudstained’ horse.
Edward never married, neither did his brother, William, or his sister, Mary Lee Willoby.
His other sister, Jane Gray Willoby, married William Anderson and lived in Dunbar. She died in 1927, her death notice in the Berwick Advertiser stating that she was ‘the only surviving member of the Willoby family resident in Berwick since the sixteenth century.
In 1923, an article on the Willoby Family appeared in the Berwick Advertiser, drawing up a family tree going back to around 1603. It relies in part on parish records, most of which I have checked, but also draws on a pedigree ‘in the possession of the late Mr Edward Willoby’.
I wonder where it is now.
Have you heard of this pedigree, and whether it still exists?
In connection with the Greenses/Ravensdowne families project, I have been researching the Willoby family, whose male line came to an end with the death of Edward Willoby in 1922. He was a land agent, but his brother William Gray, father Edward, his grandfather William and great-grandfather Edward were all solicitors, and his father, grandfather and great-grandfather served the office of Town Clerk.
I have found many records to help build a fuller picture of the family, but some of the most interesting have been newspaper articles.
On Edward’s death in 1922, an article was published in the Berwick Advertiser describing him and listing his interests. It describes him as reserved and dignified, with ‘simple old-world manners’. However, a keen horseman, it also paints a picture of him ‘in blue coat and white buckskin breeches’ riding up Hide Hill towards his stables at the top of Woolmarket on a ‘tired and mudstained’ horse.
Edward never married, neither did his brother, William, or his sister, Mary Lee Willoby.
His other sister, Jane Gray Willoby, married William Anderson and lived in Dunbar. She died in 1927, her death notice in the Berwick Advertiser stating that she was ‘the only surviving member of the Willoby family resident in Berwick since the sixteenth century.
In 1923, an article on the Willoby Family appeared in the Berwick Advertiser, drawing up a family tree going back to around 1603. It relies in part on parish records, most of which I have checked, but also draws on a pedigree ‘in the possession of the late Mr Edward Willoby’.
I wonder where it is now.
Have you heard of this pedigree, and whether it still exists?
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