The Jed Water is a river and 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 River Teviot in the

Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

region 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 ...

. In total the Jed Water is over long and it falls . It flows into the Teviot near Jedfoot Bridge () two miles north of

Jedburgh Jedburgh (; gd, Deadard; sco, Jeddart or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the historic county of Roxburghshire, the name of which was randomly chosen for Operation Jedburgh in su ...

. Jed Water rises from a source on Carlin Tooth in the

Cheviot Hills The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes T ...

where it is first known as Raven Burn.

Description

The river in past times was the main source of water for the monks living in

Jedburgh Abbey Jedburgh Abbey, a ruined Augustinian abbey which was founded in the 12th century, is situated in the town of Jedburgh, in the Scottish Borders north of the border with England at Carter Bar. History Towards the middle of the 9th century, when ...

. It also powered a watermill in the town of

although this no longer exists. It gives its name to Jedburgh and Jedforest. In the 1800s it had trout in the river. The Ordnance gazetteer said Jed Water "in the parts immediately above the town of Jedburgh ... more of the elements of fine landscape than during a whole day's ride in the most favourite Scottish haunts of tourists."Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.
/ref> The guide drew attention to the pure waters, the brisk currents, the steep landscapes and the contrasts which it thought picturesque. The name Jed is of obscure origin. James has suggested that it may derive from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

''*wei(h₁)- d-'' "a bend, something curved or twisted". He also notes that Scots ''Gedde-'' in Jedburgh may have been adopted from

Cumbric Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the souther ...

'' gwï:δ'' "a wood", and that the river name may be a

back-formation In etymology, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via inflection, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes associated with the c ...

. In 1787

James Hutton James Hutton (; 3 June O.S.172614 June 1726 New Style. – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, agriculturalist, chemical manufacturer, naturalist and physician. Often referred to as the father of modern geology, he played a key role i ...

created modern geology when he discovered Hutton's Unconformity at Inchbonny,

, in layers of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

on the banks of the Jed Water. He later wrote of how he "rejoiced at my good fortune in stumbling upon an object so interesting in the natural history of the earth, and which I had been long looking for in vain".

Flooding

Jed Water is liable to flood, so the river levels are monitored near the old

Canongate Bridge The Canongate Bridge is a pedestrian bridge in the Scottish Borders town of Jedburgh. It was built as the town's main bridge over the Jed Water in the 16th century. Since 1971 it has been a category A listed building. Description The Canongate B ...

. The depth is usually between and metres deep but it has been as deep as which it reached in January 2016. In 2020 there was a problem when the flood defences in Jedburgh were breached by debris in one storm just before another storm hit. Luckily repairs were made and serious flooding was avoided.

References

External links

RCAHMS record of the Jed WaterSCRAN image: The Jed Water, winter 1961/2GEOGRAPH: Mossburn Ford, Jed Water
{{authority control Rivers of the Scottish Borders 2Jed Jedburgh

Description

Flooding

See also

References

External links