The River Eden is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

that flows through the

Eden District Eden is a local government district in Cumbria, England, based at Penrith Town Hall in Penrith. It is named after the River Eden, which flows north through the district toward Carlisle. Its population of 49,777 at the 2001 census, increased ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

, England, on its way to the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven ...

Etymology

The river was known to the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

as the ''Itouna'', as recorded by the Greek geographer

Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(Ptolemy) in the 2nd century AD. This name derives from the Celtic word ''ituna'', meaning ''water'', or ''rushing''. Thus there is no relation to the biblical Garden of Eden.

Course of river

The Eden rises in Black Fell Moss,

Mallerstang Mallerstang is a civil parish in the extreme east of Cumbria, and, geographically, a dale at the head of the upper Eden Valley. Originally part of Westmorland, it lies about south of the nearest town, Kirkby Stephen. Its eastern edge, at Aisg ...

, on the high ground between High Seat, Yorkshire Dales and

Hugh Seat Hugh Seat is a mountain, or more accurately a fell, in Mallerstang on the eastern edge of Cumbria, England. It lies on the border between Cumbria and North Yorkshire. Hugh Seat is a high point above Black Fell Moss, an extensive area of peat b ...

. Here it forms the boundary between the counties of Cumbria and

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. Two other rivers arise in the same peat bogs here, within a kilometre of each other: the

River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley through which it flows. ...

and

River Ure The River Ure in North Yorkshire, England is approximately long from its source to the point where it becomes the River Ouse. It is the principal river of Wensleydale, which is the only major dale now named after a village rather than its r ...

. It starts life as Red Gill Beck, then becomes Hell Gill Beck, before turning north and joining with Ais Gill Beck to become the River Eden. (Hell Gill Force, just before it meets Ais Gill Beck, is the highest waterfall along its journey to the sea). The steep-sided dale of

later opens out to become the

Vale of Eden The Vale of Eden is formed by the course of the River Eden, one of the major rivers of Northwest England. It is however of much greater extent than the actual valley of the river, lying between the Cumbrian Mountains (more usually referred to as ...

. The river flows through

Kirkby Stephen Kirkby Stephen () is a market town and civil parish in Cumbria, North West England. Historically part of Westmorland, it lies on the A685, surrounded by sparsely populated hill country, about from the nearest larger towns: Kendal and Penri ...

and

Appleby-in-Westmorland Appleby-in-Westmorland is a market town and civil parish in the Eden District of Cumbria, England, with a population of 3,048 at the 2011 Census. Crossed by the River Eden, Appleby was the county town of the historic county of Westmorland. It ...

, and receives the water of many becks flowing off the Pennines to the east, and longer rivers from the Lake District off to the west, including the

River Lyvennet The River Lyvennet is a river flowing through the county of Cumbria in England. The source of the Lyvennet (as Lyvennet Beck) is to be found close to Robin Hood's Grave on Crosby Ravensworth Moor, an area rich in ancient remains. From there, ...

, River Leith and

River Eamont The River Eamont is a river in Cumbria, England and one of the major tributaries of the River Eden. The name of the river is from Old English (ēa-gemōt) and is a back formation from Eamont Bridge which means the ''junction of streams.'' The ...

, which arrives via

Ullswater Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being about long and wide, with a maximum depth a little over . It was scooped out by a glacier in the Last Ice Age. Geography It is a typical Lake District "ribbon lake", ...

and Penrith. Continuing north, it formed the eastern boundary of

Inglewood Forest Inglewood Forest is a large tract of mainly arable and dairy farm land with a few small woodland areas between Carlisle and Penrith in the English non-metropolitan county of Cumbria or ancient county of Cumberland. Etymology ''Inglewood'' is fi ...

. It passes close to the ancient stone circle known as

Long Meg and Her Daughters Long Meg and Her Daughters is a Neolithic stone circle situated north-east of Penrith near Little Salkeld in Cumbria, North West England. One of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a m ...

and through the sparsely populated beef and dairy farming regions of the vale of Cumbria on the

Solway Plain The Solway Plain or Solway Basin is a coastal plain located mostly in northwest Cumbria in England, extending just over the Scottish border to the low-lying area around Gretna and Annan. It lies generally north and west of Carlisle along the Sol ...

. After flowing through

Wetheral Wetheral is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in Cumbria, England. At the 2001 census, the population of the Wetheral Ward was 4,039, The civil parish of Wetheral is slightly larger, with a population of 5,203. being counted as 4,541 ...

, where it is crossed by

Corby Bridge Corby Bridge (also known as Wetheral Viaduct to distinguish it from the nearby Corby Viaduct) is a railway viaduct adjacent to and immediately east of Wetheral railway station at Wetheral, near Carlisle, in north-western England, begun in 183 ...

, a Grade I listed railway viaduct of 1834, it merges with the

River Irthing The River Irthing is a river in Cumbria, England and a major tributary of the River Eden. The name is recorded as Ard or Arden in early references. For the first 15 miles of its course it defines the border between Northumberland and Cumbria. ...

from the east, followed by the

River Petteril The River Petteril is a river running through the English county of Cumbria. The source of the Petteril is near Penruddock and Motherby, from where the young river runs southeast through Greystoke, Blencow and Newton Reigny, before passing unde ...

and

River Caldew The River Caldew is a river running through Cumbria in England. The river rises high up on the northern flanks of Skiddaw, in the Northern Fells area of the English Lake District, and flows in a northerly direction until it joins the River ...

from the south, as it winds through Carlisle. Its junction with the River Caldew in north Carlisle marks the point where Hadrian's Wall crosses the Eden, only five miles before both reach their end at the tidal flats. It enters the Solway Firth near the mouth of the River Esk after a total distance of approximately .

Ecology

The river supports Atlantic salmon ('' Salmo salar'') and Eurasian otter (''

Lutra lutra The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of ...

''). The river and its tributaries are designated a

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

under the European Union's

Habitats Directive The Habitats Directive (more formally known as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The E ...

. The area protected by the SAC includes

References

Bibliography

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External links