Venues
The Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival transforms a number of historical and unique buildings and locations into distinctive and exciting cinematic and site-specific installation spaces.
Key Venues:
The Maltings Theater and Arts Centre
Opened in April 1990, Berwick’s Art Centre was built on the site of an original old maltings that was almost completely destroyed by fire in August 1984. The Maltings is the hub venue of the Festival. The Arts Centre houses the Maltings cinema, hall and bar screening venues. Also located here are the Box Office, and Festival Information Point.
The Prison Cells, Guildhall
The Town Hall Prison Cells occupy the second floor of the Town Hall, completed in 1761. The first cell on the right was built for high risk prisoners: the walls and floor incorporate iron bars. The second room was for women and has a bed to accommodate four. The third cell was for short-term prisoners, mostly sailors and soldiers of the garrison. This has many examples of carved grafitti, including ships and gallows. Opposite is the drunkards’ cell with a sloping bed to drain bodily fluids. The condemned cell was last occupied by Grace Griffin who was hanged in 1823. The gaol was in use until 1849, when a new prison, now the Council Offices, was built.
The Bankhill Ice House
Bankhill Ice House was one of several built in Berwick in the early eighteenth century. The blocks of ice were carefully stored in layers with sawdust laid between the blocks to prevent them from freezing into a solid mass. Without this facility, much of eighteenth century Berwick’s wealth may not have been created. The ice was used for packing fish, particularly salmon, in crates to be transported to London. The Ice house was still being used in the 1930s, and was designated an air raid shelter during the WW II.
The Gymnasium Gallery
Berwick Barracks was built in 1717 to house the town’s garrison. The Gymnasium was added to the complex in 1901. It was built not only to maintain fitness, but as a recreational facility to keep the soldiers occupied and keep them out of the local hostelries. It retains many of its original features and is now a contemporary art gallery and venue for the Berwick Gymnasium Fellowship.
The Magazine
The Magazine was built by the Board of Ordnance in 1749 to store the gunpowder used by the garrison stationed in the Barracks. The building is heavily buttressed to lessen the danger and impact of an explosion.
Coxon’s Tower
Dating from the fourteenth century, Coxon’s Tower is part of the medieval fortifications started by Edward I in 1296. The lower chamber is three metres wide and contains two casemates, one of which retains evidence of its original arrowloop. In the early sixteenth century, a stone bulwark, serving as a gun platform, was built out from the east casemate. The ravages of the sea and river took their toll, and the bulwark was abandoned in the seventeenth century. The Georgians rebuilt the walls around the estuary and Coxon’s Tower was modified, thickening the walls by two metres and raising the top platform.
The ‘Black Hole’ at the Main Guard
The Main Guard is the last of four such buildings which were built to house the officers and soldiers guarding the gates of Berwick’s walls to enforce the curfew. The Main Guard was originally positioned in Marygate near the top of Eastern Lane. It was moved to a site in front of the Berwick Advertiser offices in 1741 and then to Palace Street in 1815. It consists of three rooms. On the right is the officers’ room; to the left, a larger room for the soldiers. Between them is the ‘Black Hole’, a cell to hold the drunk and disorderly. The Main Guard is now used by Berwick Civic Society for meetings and as an exhibition space.
The Shoregate Ice House
There are a number of known ice houses in Berwick. They were used to store ice which was used for preserving salmon sent from Berwick to London and elsewhere, including Paris. If possible, the ice was collected from local ponds but if there was a mild winter, it would be shipped in from Norway.
The Church of the Holy Trinity and St Mary
Berwick’s parish church, built between 1650 and 1652, is one of the few surviving examples of a church built in the Commonwealth period. It replaced an earlier medieval structure which had become too small and dilapidated. Inside there are many memorials, including one to Colonel George Fenwick, one of the main figures involved in the building of the new church. At one time he had been the Governor of the Saybrook Colony in Connecticut, USA.
Barrels Ale House
A cosy free house serving real ale, specialist spirits and world wines, the Barrels Ale House is undeniably one of the best pubs in Berwick-upon-Tweed. The bedouin-style basement of the Barrels is converted into a cinema during the duration of the Festival.
Other Venues Featured:
12 Silver Street (former Blackburn & Price showroom)
Blackburn & Price’s garage was first established in 1946. In 1948 the company purchased the premises in Silver Street, which had formerly been used by the Border Brewery (later known as the Berwick Breweries Limited). In 1894, the buildings were described as comprising ‘a handsome suite of public and private chambers, well appointed throughout; and close by are sample rooms, beer stores, wine vaults and spirit stores besides extensive maltings.’ Silver Street Garage was used as a major venue screening the work of 6 artist's work during the 2007 Festival.
The Bridges
Work on Berwick Bridge started in 1611 and wasn't fully completed until 1634. It was built with money granted to the town by King James I to replace a wooden structure slightly further upstream. Detailed weekly accounts of those employed in building the bridge survive in the Borough Archives. The Royal Border Bridge was completed in 1850 and was the last link in the railway line between London and Edinburgh. Designed by Robert Stephenson, the bridge has 28 arches. It was officially opened by Queen Victoria on 29 August 1850. Her visit lasted only 12 minutes! The Royal Tweed Bridge was opened in 1928 by Edward, Prince of Wales, later to become Edward VIII. It is a reinforced-concrete structure which until the opening of the present Berwick bypass formed part of the A1, bringing all traffic traveling north or south through Berwick. The bridges where the location for "The Changing Face" shown during the first three days of the 2007 Festival.
Big M
The Big M is a highly stylised inflatable structure that functions as a temporary venue for the presentation of video and digital media. Films are projected onto a three-screen arrangement with stereophonic sound. The Big M was sited on the Parade Green opposite the Barracks during the 2005 and 2007 Festivals.
The old Playhouse Cinema
In November 1929, the first ‘talkie movie’ starring Al Johnson was screened in the Berwick Playhouse in Sandgate. The film was shown nineteen times in its first week – three times a night from Monday to Friday and four times on Saturday. Originally there was a granary on the site of the present building. The old Playhouse closed as a cinema in September 2005, five days before the opening of the inaugural Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival. The facade of the Playhouse Cinema was used to screen "The Changing Face" for 5 days at the 2007 Festival.
War Memorial Castlegate
The War Memorial was officially unveiled on November 11th 1923 by field Marshal Earl Hague. It was sculpted by Alexander Carrick and forged by the former Frome Art Metal Works, now Morris Singer Foundries. It is not clear how the Memorial was paid for only that the Memorial Committee, which was led by Colonel W.B.Mackay, commissioned its production. The pedestal is made of finely polished Doddington stone and holds a bronzed figure of winged Victory. The War Memorial was the site of the ‘Reconfiguration’ a 4-screen projection work commissioned for the 2005 Festival.
Martins the Printers
This building was erected in 1855 by Thomas Black and Sons, spade makers. They had originally established their business in 1769 at Ford Forge opposite Heatherslaw Mill near Wooler, but then expanded into Spittal, bringing their own workers. The spade works continued to operate until the early 1950s when the building was purchased by Martins the Printers. It was used as a location for the 2007 Festival, screening a 1950's documentary by Richard Dimbleby that featured the building.
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