The River Eitha ( cy, Afon Eitha) is a small river in

Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam) is a county borough, with city status, in the north-east of Wales. It borders England to the east and south-east, Powys to the south-west, Denbighshire to the west and Flintshire to the ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It is part of the River Dee catchment. Its name was probably derived from the Welsh word ''eithaf'' - "extremity", "farthest". Sir

Cyril Fox Sir Cyril Fred Fox (16 December 1882 – 15 January 1967) was an English archaeologist and museum director. Fox became keeper of archaeology at the National Museum of Wales, and subsequently served as director from 1926 to 1948. His most ...

, in his surveys of

Offa's Dyke Offa's Dyke ( cy, Clawdd Offa) is a large linear earthwork that roughly follows the border between England and Wales. The structure is named after Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from AD 757 until 796, who is traditionally believed to ha ...

and

Wat's Dyke Wat's Dyke ( cy, Clawdd Wat) is a linear earthwork running through the northern Welsh Marches from Basingwerk Abbey on the River Dee estuary, passing east of Oswestry and on to Maesbury in Shropshire, England. It runs generally parallel to ...

, identified a section of the Eitha as forming part of the frontier of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , y ...

in this area.Fox, C. ''Offa's Dyke: a field survey of the western frontier works of Mercia in the seventh and eighth centuries A. D.'' Oxford University Press, 1955, pp.245-6

Course

The river rises, as the Trefechan Brook, high on the

Ruabon Moors The Ruabon Moors are an area of upland moorland in Wales to the west of Ruabon and Wrexham. They lie partly within Wrexham County Borough and partly within Denbighshire. In the northern part of the moors are the areas known as Minera Mountain a ...

in the area known as Newtown Mountain, before flowing through a rather steep valley to two reservoirs above Penycae. At this point it is an important feeder for Dee Valley Water, formerly Wrexham Water. At Penycae, it is joined by the ''Nant y Crogfyn'' stream, which also flows down from the slopes of Ruabon Mountain. The Eitha's course then runs south-eastwards to

Ruabon Ruabon ( cy, Rhiwabon ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from ''Rhiw Fabon'', ''rhiw'' being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and ''Fabon'' being a mutation from St Mabon, the original church ...

, where it was formerly used to power several

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

s, passing through the centre of the village. From Ruabon the Eitha passes southwards through a deep, wooded valley within the

Wynnstay Wynnstay is a country house within an important landscaped park 1.3 km (0.75 miles) south-east of Ruabon, near Wrexham, Wales. Wynnstay, previously Watstay, is a famous estate and the family seat of the Wynns. The house was sold in 1948 and i ...

Estate to join the River Dee near

Chirk Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clw ...

References

Eitha 1Eitha {{Wales-river-stub