Blackadder Water () is a river in

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

area of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, forming part of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water ( gd, Abhainn Thuaidh, sco, Watter o Tweid, cy, Tuedd), 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 R ...

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 Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...

''*ador, *edir'' or

Old English Old English (, ), 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 was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''edre'', possible ancient

hydronym A hydronym (from el, ὕδρω, , "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 ...

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

River Etherow The River Etherow is a river in northern England, and 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 Derb ...

). 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: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and Scots. Also suggested is derivation from

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

''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 Westruther is a village on the B6465, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, on the lower slopes of the Lammermuir Hills, in the former Berwickshire. The largest town nearby is Gordon. Places nearby include Duns, Greenlaw, the Lammermuir ...

, 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 Y ...

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 Gard ...

. The Blackadder later becomes a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or 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 drain the surrounding drainage ...

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 re ...

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, Scottish Borders, Scotland, west of Berwick-upon-Tweed. From probably the 14th century, if not earlier, a castle occupied the steep hill above the ...

where it joins the Tweed which empties into the

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

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