The River Eden is a river in

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and is one of Fife's two principal rivers, along with the Leven. It is nearly long and has a fall of around .

Course

The source of the Eden is either at the confluence of the two

burns Burns may refer to: Astronomy * 2708 Burns, an asteroid * Burns (crater), on Mercury People * Burns (surname), list of people and characters named Burns ** Burns (musician), Scottish record producer Places in the United States * Burns, ...

(streams), named the Carmore and the Beatie, across the A91 road from the hamlet of Burnside, near the border with Perth & Kinross, or further upstream the Carmore near the M90 motorway. In the latter case, this first two-mile stretch of the Eden (before Burnside) forms part of the border between Fife and Perth & Kinross. From Burnside, the Eden slowly flows across the Howe of Fife (a flat and waterlogged basin drained in the 18th and 19th centuries) through the village of

Strathmiglo Strathmiglo () (Ordnance Survey ) is a village and parish in the north east of Fife, Scotland on the River Eden, Fife, River Eden. It lies on the old A91 road from Milnathort to Cupar and St. Andrews but was bypassed by a new road to the north ...

, then south of the town of

Auchtermuchty Auchtermuchty ( ; , 'upland of the pigs/boar') is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is beside Pitlour Hill and north of Glenrothes. History Until 1975 Auchtermuchty was a royal burgh, established under charter of James V of Scotland, King Jame ...

, and through the market town of

Cupar Cupar ( ; ) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fife, and the ...

to Guardbridge, where it enters the

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

via the Eden Estuary, a nature reserve and an important conservation area for wading birds. The river holds a good stock of wild

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

and hosts a fair run of

sea trout Sea trout is the common name usually applied to anadromous (sea-run) forms of brown trout (''Salmo trutta''), and is often referred to as ''Salmo trutta'' morpha ''trutta''. Other names for anadromous brown trout are bull trout, sewin (Wales ...

and

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...

. In previous centuries, its water was used to power mills on its banks, and there was a paper mill at Guardbridge until July 2008. The Eden Estuary is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and, along with the

Firth of Tay The Firth of Tay (; ) is a firth on the east coast of Scotland, into which empties the River Tay (Scotland's largest river in terms of flow). The firth is surrounded by four council areas: Fife, Perth and Kinross, Dundee City, and Angus. ...

, was designated a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Both estuaries host a variety of recreational activities. The Eden estuary, being significantly smaller than the Tay, has few boating opportunities, but is an important recreation site for birdwatchers and naturalists, foreshore shellfish collectors, fishing enthusiasts and wildfowlers.

Name

There are several rivers in the UK named Eden. This name derives from the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

word ''ituna,'' meaning ''water,'' or ''rushing.'' The name is not related to the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (; ; ) or Garden of God ( and ), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Ge ...

. The upper stretch of the river was, before the early 19th century, called Miglo, which is a

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 ...

name with the similar meaning to the Celtic ''ituna''. From this comes the name of Strathmiglo village,'''' where strath means a ''wide valley.'' In 1829-1926, there was a whisky distillery named Stratheden in the town of Auchtermuchty. Eden Mill is a currently operating distillery in Guardbridge. The village of Gateside on the north bank of the upper Eden includes the former settlements of Edensbank and Edentown.

References

Ramsar sites in Scotland Eden, Fife {{Scotland-river-stub