Eye Water is a river 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 ...

, it flows in a general southeasterly direction from its source in the

Lammermuir Hills The Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name ''Lammermuir'' comes from the Old English , meaning "moorland of the lambs". Geology The Lammermuir Hills a ...

to its

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

Eyemouth Eyemouth is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The town's name ...

on the east coast 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 ...

, having a length of approximately .''"Ordnance Survey Explorer Map"'' Sheet 346, Used to give estimated length and general course description of Eye Water.

River course

The Eye Water rises on the eastern slopes of Wester Dod at height of 375 metres, it flows SE for 10 km before swinging NE for three km to reach the village of Grantshouse. The Eye Water flows on the southern outskirts of Grantshouse as it again turns SE and runs in a valley between Horseley Hill and Dalks Law alongside the A1 road and the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...

railway. The river keeps to the SW side of the A1 passing through the villages of Reston and Ayton where it flows through a pleasant wooded valley on the Ayton Castle estate. The estate was planted with parkland trees when the present

Scottish baronial style Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th-century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

castle was built in 1851 and many of these remain around the river banks although part of the park has since been planted with mixed woodland.Historic Scotland.
Gives details of Ayton Estate history.
Gives details of Ayton Castle. The stretch of the river from Ayton onward previously had some pollution problems as a quantity of

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...

effluent Effluent is wastewater from sewers or industrial outfalls that flows directly into surface waters, either untreated or after being treated at a facility. The term has slightly different meanings in certain contexts, and may contain various pol ...

from the village of Ayton and Eymouth contaminated the Water. However, in 2005 Scottish Water completed work which collected the

from the villages and pumped it directly to the

sewage treatment Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water p ...

works at Eyemouth on the coast.Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.
Gives details of sewage work by Scottish Water. At Ayton the Eye Water swings NNE for the final five km leg to its estuary. It runs under the A1 road in a wooded gorge and then receives its largest tributary on its northern bank, the Ale Water which rises on Coldingham Moor 10 km to the NW. The Eye Water enters Eyemouth where it flows on the east side of the harbour, with a stone built quay keeping it separate and forming the river's west bank before the Water eventually enters the harbour lower down near the life boat station.

1948 flood

On 12 August 1948 the

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 ...

region was hit by a calamitous flood when one third of the annual rainfall fell in just six days. The water flowed off the Lammermuir Hills causing the Eye Water and other rivers of the area to overflow and cause much damage. The low lying farm land around Ayton was turned into a large lake with the high embankment of the ECML railway acting as a dam. There were fears that the embankment would break and Eyemouth would be inundated. The embankment did hold but Eyemouth still received some damage, with reports saying that gales and the impact of the overflowing Eye Water had the “impact of a hurricane”.BBC Scotland News.
Gives details of 1948 flood. The flood caused the closure of the local Eyemouth Railway from 13 August 1948 to 29 June of the next year. Between Reston and Granthouse 7 railway bridges were washed away. Those on the ECML were replaced by military bridges, allowing goods trains to resume on 25 October and passenger on 1 November 1948. The temporary bridges weren't finally replaced until 21 May 1950.Railway Magazine October 1950 p. 707

References

{{authority control Rivers of the Scottish Borders

River course

1948 flood

See also

References