B6356 (Kelso - Berwick)

This article is about the original B6356 from Kelso to Berwick upon Tweed, now the B6461.
For the current B6356 running south from Earlston in Berwickshire, see B6356.

The B6461 (former B6356) approaching Eccles

The original number of the route from Kelso to Berwick upon Tweed, running through the hills to the north of the River Tweed was the B6356. It was renumbered to an eastern extension of the A699 before 1927 when the A699 is shown on the revised MOT map. However, it was downgraded again in 1972, the change first appearing on the 1973 edition of the OS Quarter Inch map, and is now numbered B6461.

The overall route between the two towns has changed very little over the last century, despite the changes to its number. However, changes have been made at either end. In Kelso the B6356 appears to have originally started on the original line of the A6089 at what is now a mini roundabout at the eastern end of Horsemarket. From here it followed Edenside Road, still part of the B6461, then a section of the current A6089, before picking up the B6461 again as it heads out of town. At the Berwick end, the route has briefly been consumed by the A1 bypass. It then reappears inside the bypass a couple of hundred metres to the south, initially as a farm track. This track soon develops into a tarred road as it diverges slightly from the bypass and passes the entrance to Letham Shank farm. The route then winds across to enter Berwick as Paxton Road, passing a handful of houses before terminating on the A6105, which was originally the B6355.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Berwick-upon-Tweed (Duckhall) - Swinton - Kelso