Berwickshire, a maritime and border county forming the S. E. extremity of Scotland, on the German ocean, separated S. E. by the Tweed from Northumberland, England, and bounded N. by Haddingtonshire, W. by Edinburghshire, and S. by Roxburghshire; area, 472 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 36,475. It is divided into the districts of Lammermoor, Lauderdale, and the Merse. Some of the famous Lammermoor hills are over 1,500 feet high. About 200,000 acres are under cultivation, and the production is steadily increasing from improved systems of culture. Though smaller than many other Scotch counties, it produces more wheat and turnips than most of them. Sheep and rattle are raised in great numbers. The coast is rugged, with no bays save at Coldingham and Eyemouth. Excepting the Eye in the northeast, all the streams are tributaries of the Tweed and abound with fish. The salmon fisheries, long suspended, have lately resumed some of their former importance. The chief trade is carried on through Berwick-on-Tweed. The only royal burgh is Lauder; the largest town is Dunse; and the county town is Greenlaw, 3 m. S. of which is Hume castle, on a hill 900 feet high.

There are numerous relics of Roman and British encampments, and among the many antiquities are those of Fast castle (the Wolfs Crag of the "Bride of Lammermoor"), 2 in. from the celebrated St. Abb's Head promontory, and the ruins of Coldingham priory and of Dryburgh abbey.