A glen is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. Ravines may also be called a cleuch, dell, ...

, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. The word is

Goidelic The Goidelic ( ) or Gaelic languages (; ; ) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from Ireland through the Isle o ...

in origin: ''gleann'' in Irish and

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

, ''glion'' in Manx. The designation "glen" also occurs often in place names. Glens are appreciated by tourists for their tranquility and scenery.

Etymology

The word is

in origin: ''gleann'' in Irish and

, ''glion'' in Manx. In Manx, ''glan'' is also to be found meaning glen. It is cognate with Welsh ''glyn''. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower than a strath". Examples in

Northern England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...

, such as Glenridding,

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

, or Glendue, near

Haltwhistle Haltwhistle is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, east of Carlisle and west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census. Haltwhistle is the closest community to Hadrian's Wall and to Northum ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, are thought to derive from the aforementioned

Cumbric Cumbric is an extinct Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North", in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the ot ...

cognate, or another Brythonic equivalent. This likely underlies some examples in Southern Scotland. As the name of 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 ...

, it is thought to derive from the Irish word ''glan'' meaning clean, or the Welsh word ''gleindid'' meaning purity. An example is the

Glens of Antrim The Glens of Antrim ( Irish: ''Glinnte Aontroma''), known locally as simply The Glens, is a region of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It comprises nine glens, that radiate from the Antrim Plateau to the coast. The Glens are an area of outstand ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

where nine glens radiate out from the Antrim plateau to the sea along the coast between Ballycastle and

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)Larne/Latharna
Placenames Database of Ireland. is a to ...

Places

The designation "glen" also occurs often in place names such as

Great Glen The Great Glen ( ), also known as Glen Albyn (from the Gaelic "Glen of Scotland" ) or Glen More (from the Gaelic "Big/Great Glen"), is a glen in Scotland running for from Inverness on the edge of the Moray Firth, in an approximately straig ...

and

Glenrothes Glenrothes ( ; ; , ) is a town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It had a population of 39,277 in the 2011 census, making it the third largest settlement in Fife and the 18th most populous locality in Scotland. Glenroth ...

in Scotland;

Glendalough Glendalough (; ) is a glacial valley in County Wicklow, Ireland, renowned for an Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin. From 1825 to 1957, the head of the Glendalough Valley was the site of a galena lead min ...

, Glenswilly,

Glen of Aherlow The Glen of Aherlow ( Irish: ''Gleann Eatharlaí'') is a valley located between Slievenamuck and the Galtee Mountains in the western part of County Tipperary in Ireland. The principal village is Lisvarrinane (sometimes spelled Lisvernane). There ...

Glen of Imaal The Glen of Imaal ( or ; ) is a remote glen in the western Wicklow Mountains in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is ringed by the Lugnaquilla massif and its foothills, including Table Mountain, County Wicklow, Table Mountain and Keadeen Mountain ...

and the

in Ireland; Glenn Norman in Canada; Glendale, Glen Ellen and Klamath Glen in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Glenview and Homer Glen in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, and Glenrock in

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

; Glenview, Glen Waverley, Glen Eira, Glengowrie, Glen Huntly and Glen Forrest in Australia; and Glenorchy, Glendowie,

Glen Eden Glen Eden is a suburb of West Auckland, New Zealand, West Auckland, New Zealand, located at the foothills of the Waitākere Ranges. Originally known as Waikumete, the suburb gained the name Glen Eden in 1921. The suburb is in the Waitākere W ...

, Glenledi, Glenomaru, Glen Massey, Glen Murray, Glenleith, Glendhu Bay, Glenbrook, and Glen Innes in New Zealand. In the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located directly south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York (state), New York, in the United States. This region straddles th ...

region of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

State, the southern ends of Seneca Lake and

Cayuga Lake Cayuga Lake (, or ) is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area (marginally smaller than Seneca Lake) and second largest in volume. It is just under long. Its average width is , and i ...

in particular are etched with glens, although in this region the term "glen" refers most frequently to a narrow

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

, as opposed to a wider

or strath. The steep hills surrounding these lakes are filled with loose shale from glacial moraines. This material has eroded over the past 10,000 years to produce rocky glens (e.g., Watkins Glen, Fillmore Glen State Park and Treman State Parks) and waterfalls (e.g., Taughannock Falls) as rainwater has flowed down toward the lakes below.

Scotland

Many place-names in Scotland with "glen" derive from the Gaelic ''gleann'' ("deep valley"), with some being from the cognates in the Brittonic languages

and

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

or from the Gaelic loanword ''glen'' in Scots. * Glenalmond, Perthshire * Glen Affric, Inverness-shire * Glenbarton, Dumfriesshire - from Gaelic '' *gleann-Breatann'', or else Brittonic ''glyn-Brython'' ("Briton valley"). * Glencairn, Dumfriesshire *

Glen Coe Glen Coe ( ) is a glen of glacial origins, that cuts though volcanic rocks in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the north of the shires of Scotland, county of Argyll, close to the border with the history of local governm ...

, Argyll * Glencortas, Fife - from Gaelic ''gleann'' + possibly ''coirthe'' ("standing stone") + ''as'' (locational suffix). * Glendevon, Perthsihire * Glendevon, Lanarkshire * Glendivan, Dumfriesshire * Glendow, Dumfriesshire - from Middle Irish ''glenn-dubh'' or Brittonic ''glyn-du'' ("dark valley"). *

Glen Doll Glen Doll, also sometimes spelt Glendoll, lies within the Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, at the top of Glen Clova, in an area of steep hills, Cirque, corries and Munros. It includes the Corrie Fee National Nature Reserve, which has many endan ...

, Perthshire * Glenduckie, Fife - from Gaelic ''gleann'' + possibly ''duaigh'' ("evil") + ''-in'' (suffix). *

Glen Etive Glen Etive () is a glen in the Scottish Highlands. The River Etive () rises on the peaks surrounding Rannoch Moor, with several tributary streams coming together at the Kings House Hotel, at the head of Glen Coe. From the Kings House, the Etiv ...

, Argyll * Glengaber, Dumfriesshire * Glenkens, Kirkcudbrightshire - Brittonic ''glyn'' + '' Ken'' (river name). * Glenlochar, Kirkcudbrighshire *

Glen Ogle Glen Ogle (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Ogail) extends 7 miles north westwards from Lochearnhead to Lix Toll, where it opens into Glen Dochart. The Ogle Burn flows within the steep sides of the glen, from the Lochan Lairig Cheile at the glen's hea ...

, Perthshire * Glenrothes, Fife - from Scots ''glen'' + Rothes. * Glensax, Peeblesshire * Glensaxon, Dumfriesshire *

Glen Shiel Glen Shiel (; also known as Glenshiel) is a glen in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The glen runs approximately from southeast to northwest, from the Cluanie Inn () at the western end of Loch Cluanie and the start of Glenmoriston to se ...

, Ross and Cromarty * Glentanner, Selkirkshire * Glentenmont, Dumfriesshire * Glenturk, Wigtownshire * Glenturret, Perthshire * Glen Vale, Fife - from Gaelic ''gleann-a’-bhealaich'' ("glen of the pass").

England

Some place-names in England contain the element "Glen". Many of these are derived from Brittonic cognates of Gaelic ''gleann'' (Welsh ''glyn''). * Glencoyne, Cumberland - Brittonic ''glyn'' or Middle Irish ''glenn'' + possibly a river name. * Glendinning, Cumberland - Brittonic ''glyn'' or Middle Irish ''glen'' + Brittonic ''din'' ("fort") + ''an''/''in'' (suffix). * Glendon, Devon - possibly a hybrid of Cornish ''glyn'' and Old English ''dun'' ("hill"). * Glendowlin, Westmorland - Brittonic ''glyn'' or Middle Irish ''glenn'' + earlier Brittonic ''du'' ("black") + ''llyn'' ("pool"). * Glendue, Northumberland * Glendurgan, Cornwall - from Cornish ''glynn'' ("deep valley") + ''dowrgeun'' ("otters"). * Glenridding, Westmorland - equivalent to Old Welsh ''glinnredin'' ("bracken valley"). * Glyn Morlas, Shropshire * Glynn Kenyel, Cornwall - from Cornish ''glynn'' ("deep valley") + ''ken'' ("meeting, confluence") + ''yel'' (adjectival suffix). Note that some place-names in England with "Glen", such as Glen Parva in Leicestershire, are actually more likely to derive from river-names named with Brittonic ''glan'' ("shining").

Wales

Some place-names in Wales contain the element ''glyn'' ("valley"). *

Emlyn Emlyn was one of the seven cantrefi of Dyfed, an ancient district of Wales, which became part of Deheubarth in around 950. It consisted of the northern part of Dyfed bordering on the River Teifi. Its southern boundary followed the ridge of the ...

, Pembrokshire, from ''am-glyn'' ("at the valley") * Glynceiriog, Denbighshire *

Glyncorrwg Glyncorrwg is a village in the Afan Valley, in southern Wales. Glyncorrwg is also the name of an electoral ward and formerly a community covering the village and surrounding countryside, in Neath Port Talbot county borough. Glyncorrwg is part o ...

, Glamorgan * Glynneath, Glamorgan * Glynrhonwy, Carnarfonshire * Glyn Tarell, Brecknockshire

Isle of Man

* Glen Maye, Glenfaba * Glen Wyllin, Kirk Michael * Silverdale Glen, Malhew * Tholt-y-Will Glen, Lezayre - also known as Sulby Glen

References

{{Rivers, streams and springs Landforms Slope landforms Valleys