The River Annan (''Abhainn Anann'' in Gaelic) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in south-west

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 ...

. It rises on Annanhead Hill and flows through the

Devil's Beef Tub The Devil's Beef Tub (Marquis of Annandale's Beef-Tub, Beef-Stand, MacCleran's Loup) is a deep, dramatic hollow in the hills north of the Scottish town of Moffat. The hollow is formed by four hills, Great Hill, Peat Knowe, Annanhead Hill and Er ...

Moffat Moffat ( gd, Mofad) is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire, now part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland. It lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town. ...

and

Lockerbie Lockerbie (, gd, Locarbaidh) is a small town in Dumfries and Galloway, south-western Scotland. It is about from Glasgow, and from the border with England. The United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town ...

, reaching the sea at

Annan, Dumfries and Galloway Annan ( ; gd, Inbhir Anainn) is a town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Historically part of Dumfriesshire, its public buildings include Annan Academy, of which the writer Thomas Carlyle was a pupil, and ...

after about 40 miles.

Name

The etymology of the River Annan is unknown, although some sources suggest it may mean simply "

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

", from a

Celtic language The Celtic languages ( usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward ...

. It gave its name to Annandale, a former stewartry comprising a large portion of modern

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...

, and to the port town of Annan near its mouth.

Description

The Annan rises on

Annanhead Hill Annanhead Hill is a summit in the Moffat Hills of Scotland. It lies on the boundary between the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway, north of Moffat, in the Southern Uplands. Annanhead is one of four hills encircling the Devil's Beef ...

, five miles north of

, near the source of the

Tweed Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...

( away), and also close to the source of the

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

( away). It then flows through the

, where it is joined by a secondary source that rises on Hartfell. It then flows past the town of

and

. Two miles out of Moffat, it is joined by the

Moffat Water Moffat ( gd, Mofad) is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire, now part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland. It lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town ...

flowing westward from

Loch Skene ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...

and the

Evan Water Evan is both an English and Welsh male given name derived from "Iefan", a Welsh form for the name John. In other languages it could be compared to "Ivan", "Ian", and "Juan"; the name John itself is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Yəhôḥ� ...

flowing eastward from the upper part of

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

. Below this, it is joined by the

Kinnel Water The Kinnel Water is a river in the Scottish council area of Dumfries and Galloway, in the shire of Dumfriesshire.''Kinnel Water'' in: F. H. Groome: ''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and ...

from the west and the

Dryfe Water Dryfe Water is a river in Scotland about 18 miles in length which flows into the River Annan at , near Lockerbie. It starts at on the southern slopes of Loch Fell, near Moffat, and then flows along a narrow valley to the Annan. Dryfe Water giv ...

from the east. It reaches the sea past the port of Annan. Newbie Harbour on the River Annan once served the Barony of Newbie and lay where the Old Mill Burn has its confluence with the river.

Popular culture

The Annan makes several appearances in folk songs from the Borders, and in most appears as a malevolent force, drowning those who try to cross it. One of the most well recorded is ''Annan Waters'' (Child 215). Versions of this song have been recorded by artists including

Nic Jones Nic Jones (born Nicolas Paul Jones; 9 January 1947) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Regarded as a prominent figure of the British folk revival, he has recorded five solo albums and collaborated with various musicians. Biography ...

and

Kate Rusby Kate Anna Rusby (born 4 December 1973) is an English English folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", she has headlined various British folk festivals, an ...

. In online comic

Gunnerkrigg Court ''Gunnerkrigg Court'' is a Science fantasy, science-fantasy webcomic created by Tom Siddell and launched in April 2005. It is updated online three days a week, and eight volumes of the still continuing comic have been published in print format b ...

, the ''Annan Waters'' are a river separating the Court from the Gillitie Forest, and mark the separation between technology/science and magic/nature. Portland band the

Decemberists The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy ( lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Na ...

recorded a song entitled ''Annan Water'' on their 2009 "folk opera" concept album, ''The Hazards of Love''. (Capitol records/Rough Trade records)

Name

Description

Popular culture

See also

Notes

References

Further reading