Blackadder Water () is a river in

Berwickshire Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

area of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, forming part of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

system. It reached 2.84m at Mouthbridge, which was its highest level ever recorded on Tuesday 22 October 2002 at 2:45pm.

Etymology

''Adder'' may be derived from Brittonic ''*ador'' or ''*edir'', or

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

'' ǣdre'', possible ancient

hydronym A hydronym (from , , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a subset of top ...

ic terms derived from an Indo-European formation meaning "a watercourse, a channel" (compare

River Etherow The River Etherow in northern England is a tributary of the River Goyt. Although now passing through South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester, it historically formed the ancient county boundary between Cheshire and Derbyshire. The up ...

). From the possible Old English derivation of ''ǣdre'', "a vein" ( Anglian ''ēdre''), or ''*ǣdre'', meaning "quickly", arise objections on the basis that these would have maintained the long initial vowel in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and Scots. Also suggested is derivation from

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

''fad dûr'', meaning "long water".

Course

Rising in the Harecleugh Forest plantation just south of the Twin Law cairns, north of the village of Westruther, the headwaters of the Blackadder join with those of the Wedderlie, Edgar, and Fangrist Burns, before reaching the town of

Greenlaw Greenlaw is a town and civil parish situated in the foothills of the Lammermuir Hills on Blackadder Water at the junction of the A697 and the A6105 in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. At the 2001 census, the parish had a population of ...

. The river proceeds in a meandering path through the Merse until it meets with the

Langton Burn Langton may refer to: Places Canada *Langton, Ontario England *Church Langton, Leicestershire *East Langton, Leicestershire * Great Langton, North Yorkshire * Langton, Cumbria * Langton, County Durham *Langton, Lincolnshire *Langton, North Yorksh ...

between the estates of

Kimmerghame House Kimmerghame House is a 19th-century mansion in the Scottish Borders, located south-east of Duns by the Blackadder Water. It is the seat of the Swintons of Kimmerghame, a branch of the Lowland Clan Swinton. The house was designed in the Scottis ...

and

Wedderburn Castle Wedderburn Castle, near Duns, Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders, is an 18th-century country house that is now used as a wedding and events venue. The house is a Category A listed building and the grounds are included in the Inventory of ...

. The Blackadder later becomes a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Whiteadder Water Whiteadder Water is a river in East Lothian and Berwickshire, Scotland. It also flows for a very short distance through Northumberland before joining the River Tweed. In common with the headwaters of the Biel Water it rises on the low hillside ...

and joins with that river at the village of Allanton, where

Blackadder House Blackadder House was an estate and stately house near the village of Allanton, in Berwickshire, Scotland. It was built on the site of the earlier Blackadder Castle. The house was vandalised by troops in World War I. Since there was no money to ...

and its estate once stood. The Whiteadder then crosses the English Border below

Edrington Edrington is a medieval estate occupying the lower part of Mordington parish in Berwickshire, Scotland, west of Berwick-upon-Tweed. From probably the 14th century, if not earlier, a castle occupied the steep hill above the mill of the sam ...

where it joins the Tweed which empties into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

References

External links

RCAHMS record of Blackadder WaterRCAHMS/Canmore record of Fogo Bridge
Rivers of the Scottish Borders Tributaries of the River Tweed 2Blackadder {{Scotland-river-stub

Etymology

Course

See also

References

External links