The River Eden is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

that flows through

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, England. It rises on Black Fell Moss, near the village of

Outhgill Outhgill is a hamlet in Mallerstang, Cumbria, England. It lies about south of Kirkby Stephen. It is the main hamlet in the dale of Mallerstang (a civil parish) which retains the Norsemen, Norse pattern of its original settlement: a series of ...

, and runs in a generally north-westerly direction through 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 a ...

and

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 ...

before reaching the sea at the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth is an inlet on the west coast of Great Britain, forming part of the border between England and Scotland. The firth (a Scottish term for an inlet of the sea) divides Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) from Dumfries and Gallow ...

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

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

Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine, Islamic, and ...

(Ptolemy) in the 2nd century AD. This name derives from the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

word ''ituna'', meaning ''water'', or ''rushing''. Thus, there is no relation to the biblical

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (; ; ) or Garden of God ( and ), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Ge ...

Course of river

The Eden rises in Black Fell

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

Mallerstang Mallerstang is a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the extreme east of Cumbria, and, geographically, a wikt:dale, dale at the head of the upper River Eden, Cumbria, Eden Valley. Originally part of Westmorland, it lies about south of t ...

, on the high ground between

High Seat, Yorkshire Dales High Seat is a fell in the dale of Mallerstang, Cumbria. With a summit at , it is the fourth highest fell in the Yorkshire Dales after Whernside, Ingleborough and Great Shunner Fell. It is in the north-western part of the Dales, overlooking ...

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 a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

; the river gave its name to the former

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

of Cumbria. 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, Yorkshire, River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley throu ...

and

River Ure The River Ure in North Yorkshire, England, is about 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 river. ...

. 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

. The river flows through

Kirkby Stephen Kirkby Stephen () is a market town and civil parish in Cumbria, England. It lies on the A685 and is surrounded by sparsely populated hill country, about from the nearest larger towns, Kendal and Penrith. The River Eden rises away in the pea ...

and

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

, and receives the water of many becks flowing off the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...

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 close to Robin Hood's Grave on Crosby Ravensworth Moor, an area rich in ancient remains. From there, the beck flows ...

, 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.'' T ...

, which arrives via

Ullswater Ullswater is a glacial lake in Cumbria, England and part of the Lake District National Park. It is the second largest lake in the region by both area and volume, after Windermere. The lake is about long, wide, and has a maximum depth of . I ...

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, Cumbria, Carlisle and Penrith, Cumbria, Penrith in the England, English non-metropolitan county of Cumbria or ancient county ...

. It passes close to the ancient

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

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 me ...

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

. After flowing through

Wetheral Wetheral is a village, civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Cumbria, England. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census, the population of the Wetheral Wards of the United Kingdom, Ward was ...

, 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 1830 ...

, 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 ...

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 Rive ...

from the south, as it winds through

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

. Its junction with the River Caldew in north Carlisle marks the point where

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

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 The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...

'') and Eurasian otter (''

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

''). 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 ap ...

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 ...

. The area protected by the SAC includes

References

Bibliography

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External links