The Rede is a river in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The river rises on Carter Fell on the

Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border () is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for 96 miles (154 km) between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to ...

feeding

Catcleugh Reservoir Catcleugh Reservoir is a reservoir in Northumberland, England adjacent to the A68 road; just north of Byrness; and to the south of the border with Scotland. History The reservoir was constructed between 1884 and 1905 River North Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wat ...

below the village of Redesmouth. The Rede is one of only two rivers in the

North East of England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authority ...

that has the

freshwater pearl mussel The freshwater pearl mussel (''Margaritifera margaritifera'') is an endangered species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusc in the family Margaritiferidae. Although the name "freshwater pearl mussel" is often used for this species ...

in its waters.

Course and toponymy

The source of the river is on Carter Fell, part of the Whitelee National Nature Reserve. It flows in a south-easterly direction and is the main feeder for the Catcleugh Reservoir which was impounded in 1901 and completed in 1905. It flows south east through

Redesdale Redesdale is a valley in western Northumberland, England. It is formed by the River Rede, which rises in the Cheviots and flows down to join the North Tyne at Redesmouth. Redesdale is traversed by the A68 trunk road, which enters Scotland vi ...

alongside the

A68 road The A68 is a major road in the United Kingdom, running from Darlington in England to the Edinburgh City Bypass, A720 in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It crosses the Anglo-Scottish border at Carter Bar and is the only road to do so for som ...

before meeting with the Otter Burn in Otterburn and heading south, before turning west at

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

and West Woodburn. It then heads south through Redesmouth before emptying into the River North Tyne. The name of the river derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''Rēade'', meaning ''the red one''. The river lends its name to Redesmouth, the point where the mouth is.

Catchment and hydrometry

The river measures from source to Redesmouth and drains an area of . In the upper reaches, the catchment is mostly upland and is partly in the Kielder Forest Park. In the lower reaches, the landscape changes slightly to grassland and upland heath with underlying boulder clay, alluvium and peat.

Wildlife

The Rede is known for its salmon, trout and otter, which are commonly seen within its waters. The river is notable for being one of the few places in England to have a freshwater pearl mussel population, which in 2006, was estimated at 50,000 mussels across the Rede and the North Tyne. Several projects have been undertaken to help the mussel population including limiting sediment flow in the river and the introduction of freshwater trout into the river. Previously, water that was piped from Catcleugh Reservoir to Whittle Dene Reservoir (at Harlow Hill), was cleaned annual of its harmless sediment, but the waste water was pumped into the Rede. A remedial programme costing £500,000 was implemented in 2019 to stop this from happening. The use of trout, of which 11,000 were released in 2011, is to help with the pearl mussel's life cycle. The fish were bred at the Kielder hatchery and had microscopic pearl mussel larvae attached to their gills. The programme is hopeful for repopulating parts of the river with new mussels.

Tributaries

The River Rede is the principal tributary of the North Tyne, but the watercourses listed below are the main tributaries of the River Rede *Bateinghope Burn (r) *Coomsden Burn (r) *Ramsden Burn (l) *Chattlehope Burn (r) *Cottonshope Burn (l) *Blakehope Burn (r) *Bellshiel Burn (l) *Sills Burn (l) *Rattenraw Burn (r) *Durtrees Burn (l) *Dargues Burn (r) *Otter Burn (l) *Raylees Burn (l) *Miller Burn (r) *Brigg Burn (r) *Lisles Burn (l) *Chesterhope Burn (l) *Broomhope Burn (l)

References

External links