As you walk around the walls and elsewhere in town you’ll see a series of distinctive benches.

Many people mistakenly think that the serpent benches we have in Berwick are unique to the town, however I’m afraid they’re not. Other places where they can be seen include Porthcawl, Harrogate, Ripon, Clitheroe and Aberystwyth.

The story behind why Berwick favoured this particualr design of benches isn’t particularly clear with a number of rumours circulating about their origin.

They did once appear on railway platforms and one story suggested that they had been bought as a job lot from LNER by Berwick Town Council after the Beeching cuts in the 1960s. But they can be seen in photos from the 1890s, proving they’d been here long before that. The locations on the list suggest they’re much more widespread than the East Coast Mainline too.

A more likely theory is that they were simply chosen as a good robust bench end design for Berwick’s various promenades. The serpent possibly representing health, as part of the ancient Greek symbol of the Rod of Asclepius. This would go along with the idea of Berwick being a place to visit for a reinvigorating holiday.