What is Berwickshire?
[[File:Berwickshire Brit Isles Sect 3.svg|right|thumb|220px|Berwickshire]] '''Berwickshire''' is a [[county]] in [[Scotland]]. It is also the name of a [[committee area]] of the [[Scottish Borders Council]]. Berwickshire is on the boundary of Scotland with [[England]]. It is named after [[Berwick-upon-Tweed]], but Scotland lost Berwick to England in 1482. Berwickshire's first [[county town]] was the Royal Burgh of [[Berwick-upon-Tweed]]. In 1482 England seized Berwick. After that the shire's business was done at [[Duns]] or [[Lauder]] until [[Greenlaw]] became the county town in 1596.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43423#s2 |title=Berwick-upon-Tweed - Braidwood &#124; A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (pp. 124-151) |work=british-history.ac.uk |year=2012 |access-date=22 July 2012 |archive-date=3 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103060658/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43423#s2 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A [[Sheriff Court]] sits in Duns. == Local government == Berwickshire County Council, like all the County Councils in Scotland, was made in 1890. The Council met in Duns. Berwickshire County Council was ended in 1975. In 1975 a new Borders Region was made. A Berwickshire District Council was made within it too, with an area like the county’s but not the same. Berwickshire District Council was ended in 1996. Berwickshire is now all in the [[Scottish Borders]] Council Area. == Coat of arms == [[File:Brasão de Berwickshire.png|150px|left|thumb|Berwickshire County Council's shield]] In 1890, when Berwickshire County Council was made, the Council asked the [[Lord Lyon King of Arms]] to give them a shield and arms. He gave a shield and arms to the County Council on 10 October 1890. The shield shows a bear chained to a wych-elm tree. The bear and wych-elm are part of Berwick upon Tweed’s shield because they sound like the town’s name.<ref>R.M. Urquhart, ''Scottish Burgh and county Heraldry'', London, 1973</ref> On 12 Nove