The remains of Twizel Castle, in the parish of Duddo, stand on the north side of the River Till, close to the Tudor Twizel Bridge and the modern bridge which now carries the A698 road between Berwick and Coldstream. A half-mile to the north-west of the castle lies the River Tweed and the Scottish border.
It is mentioned in Sir Walter Scott’s Marmion (Canto Sixth, XIX), as the Scots watch the English army crossing Twizel Bridge in preparation for the battle of Flodden:
“And heedful watch’d them as they cross’d
The Till by Twisel Bridge.
High sight it is, and haughty, while
They dive into the deep defile;
Beneath the cavern’d cliff they fall,
Beneath the castle’s airy wall.”
Twizel’s variant spellings through time have been numerous: Twizell; Twyzell; Twysill; Twisel; Twisle. The archaic word “twisel” means a point at which something divides into branches, a fork, and in this context it may refer to the place where the River Till meets the Tweed.
The Brief History of Twizel “Castle” below was written by Dr Catherine Kent (2020). The following section entitled Family Histories was researched by Kevin Graham. Photography by Richard Ormston (Berwick-upon-Tweed). SPIRITS english soldiers & border reivers.