River Eden, Cumbria

Geobox|River
name = Eden (Cumbria)
native_name =
other_name = Ituna
other_name_note = (Roman name)
other_name1 =

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|300px
image_size =
image_caption = The Eden at Appleby
etymology = Celtic "water" or "rushing"
country = United Kingdom
country1 =
country_

state = England
state_type = Part
state_

state1 =
region =
region1 =
district =
district1 =
city =
city1 =
length = 145
watershed =
discharge_location = Sheepmount, Carlisle
discharge_average = 51.82
discharge_max = 1500
discharge_max_note = maximum discharge in Jan 2005
discharge_min =
discharge1_location = Temple Sowerby
discharge1_average = 14.44
source_name =
source_location = Mallerstang
source_district =
source_region =
source_state =
source_country =
source_lat_d =
source_lat_m =
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source_lat_NS =
source_long_d =
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source_long_EW =
source_elevation =
source_length =
mouth_name =
mouth_location = Solway Firth
mouth_district =
mouth_region =
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mouth_lat_d =
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tributary_left = Caldew
tributary_left1 = Petteril
tributary_left2 = Eamont
tributary_right = Irthing
tributary_right1 =
free_name =
free_value =


map_size =
map_caption = The River Eden is an English river that flows through Cumbria on its way to the Solway Firth.

Course of river

The Eden rises in Black Fell Moss, Mallerstang, on the high ground between High Seat, Yorkshire Dales and Hugh Seat. Here it forms the boundary between the counties of Cumbria and North Yorkshire. Two other great rivers arise in the same peat bogs here, within a kilometer of each other: the River Swale and River Ure.

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 Mallerstang [cite web |url= http://www.mallerstang.com|title= www.mallerstang.com|accessdate=2008-01-13 |format= |work= ] later opens out to become the Vale of Eden. The river flows through Kirkby Stephen and Appleby-in-Westmorland, and receives the water of many becks flowing off the Pennines to the east, and longer rivers from the Lakes off to the west, including the River Lyvennet, River Leith and River Eamont, which arrives via Ullswater and Penrith.

Continuing north, it passes close to the ancient stone circle known as Long Meg and Her Daughters and through the sparsely populated beef and dairy farming regions of the vale of Cumbria on the Solway Plain. After flowing through Wetheral it merges with the River Irthing from the east, followed by the River Petteril and River Caldew 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 90 miles (145 km).

Etymology

The river was known to the Romans as the "Itouna", as recorded by the Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy) in the 2nd century AD. This name derives from the Celtic word ituna, meaning "water". [ "The Oxford Names Companion", Oxford University Press, Second edition 1998, 019860561-7] or "rushing". [ Adrian Room, "Dictionary of Place Names in the British Isles",Bloomsbury, 1988, 074750170-X]

ee also

* Hadrian's Wall

References

Bibliography

*cite book
last = Hamilton
first = John
authorlink =
title = Mallerstang Dale, The Head of the Eden
publisher = Broadcast Books
series =
year = 1993 (reprinted 1999)
doi =
isbn = 1874092214

*cite book
last = Hanson
first = Neil
authorlink =
title = Walking Through Eden
publisher = Pavilion Books
series =
year = 1990
doi =
isbn = 1851453938

*cite book
last = Wainwright
first = A
authorlink =
title = An Eden Sketchbook
publisher = Westmorland Gazette
series =
year = 1980
doi =
isbn =

External links

* [http://www.edenriverstrust.org.uk/ Eden Rivers Trust]