Jordan Burn


(Pow Burn)

A historical perspective, drawn from the 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.

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Jordan or Pow Burn, a rivulet of St Cuthbert's and Duddingston parishes, Edinburghshire, rising upon the northern slope of Craiglockhart Hill, and running 5¼ miles east-by-northward, along the valley immediately S of Morningside, Grange, and Newington, to a confluence with the Braid Burn at a point ½ mile S by E of Duddingston village. At Newington its channel was bricked over in 1882; but the Jordan should ever be kept in memory by the charming chapter concerning it in Sir Thomas Dick Lauder's Scottish Rivers (1874).

Pow, any one of numerous sluggish rivulets or stagnant burns in marshy or alluvial districts of Scotland. The name is an Anglicised or softened form of the Gaelic Poll, and the Cymric Pwl, signifying `a pool, a ditch, a stagnating stream, or a marshy place;' and it correctly describes nearly all the streams to which it is applied.-A pow, called the Pow of Cummertrees, traverses the western side of the Howe of Annandale, from near the northern extremity of Dalton, through that parish and the parishes of Ruthwell and Cummertrees to the Solway Firth, 2¾ miles W of the mouth of the river Annan; is joined, on its left bank, 4½ miles from its source, by an overflow or feeder from the river Annan; seems, from the junction of that overflow onward to its mouth, to run in the ancient channel of the Annan; and has a total course, chiefly in a south-south-easterly direction, of 8 miles. -A pow in Forfarshire is formed by numerous head-streams in Monreathmont Moor, principally within Guthrie parish; drains the parishes of Guthrie, Kinnell, and Farnell, 7½ miles north-eastward to the South Esk, 1½ mile above Montrose Basin; aspires to be called Pow Water; and imposes names, such as Pow-side, Pow-mill, and Pow-bridge, on various objects on its banks.-A pow in Perthshire rises in some mosses below Methven; runs mainly along a ditch or artificial canal, formed to drain off its stagnant and marsh-making waters; pursues a sluggish course of 11 miles to the Earn, near Innerpeffray; and is noted in some doggerel song well known in the country around it. -A pow in Kirkcudbrightshire rises, under the name of Glaisters Burn, in Kirkgunzeon parish; circles round the N end of the Criffel range of hills; traverses one lake, and receives the superfluent waters of another; goes eastward through Newabbey parish, assuming there the name of Newabbey Pow; has a total course of 15 miles; glides into the estuary of the Nith 8 miles S of Dumfries; and is navigable for a short way by small vessels.-A pow in the Carse of Stirling rises near Bannockburn House in St Ninians parish; goes 8 miles eastward to the Forth, at a point 1¼ mile E of Airth village; and, like the Forfarshire Pow, gives name to various seats and other objects on its banks.-A pow in the Upper Carse of the Forth drains part of Kippen parish, and is distinctively called the Pow of Glinns.-A pow in the low grounds of Kyle, in Ayrshire, is formed by three or four head-streams, and goes to the Firth of Clyde at a point 3¾ miles N of the mouth of the river Ayr.-An eighth pow, in Edinburghshire, has been noticed as the Jordan; and there are several others too unimportant to require special mention.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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