The Lions House, named so after the two lions which guard its front gate, is a grade II listed house built in the late 18th century.

It was, and still is, an imposing residence with views out to sea and would have been built by a very wealthy townsperson.

One of the most well known owners of the Lions House was Miss Constance Craigie Halkett. She lived there until 1946 when she died aged 77 from a scalding accident.

She was a formidable woman who regualrly wrote not only to the local council to air her views but also to government ministers and even Winston Churchill during the Second World War. She was very well connected, bing related to many of the noble families of Scotland and her godmother was Queen Mary, wife of George V.

The house was sold after her death and quickly fell into decline and dereliction.

In the 1970s the house suffered numerous attacks from vandals and became a serious public health risk. Colonel J.I.M. Smail, the owner of the Berwick Advertiser proposed setting it up a preservation trust in January 1971 to help with the issue Berwick’s historic houses were facing. He purchased the Lions House and it bacme of the of the Preservation Trust’s first properties. It was completed by December 1977.

Another intersting conection to the Lions House is that with the artist L.S. Lowry. Lowry enjoyed holidays in Berwick from the 1930s to the time of his death and there is a story that he was interested in buying the Lions House. This did not happen and sadly he did not live to see it fully restored.