Ale Water

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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Ale, a rivulet of Coldingham parish, Berwickshire, is formed by the meeting of three rills at Threeburn Grange, a little above Press Castle, and runs 6 miles south-eastward to the Eye at a point about 1¼ mile SSE of Eyemouth. Its fishing is poor, but parts of its valleys are deep and picturesque, rare ferns and mosses growing on the banks. Thomas the Rhymer has predicted how-

'At Threeburn Grange on an after day,
There shall be a lang and bloody fray;
Where a three-thumbed wight by the reins shall hald
Three kings' horse, baith stout and bauld,
And the Three Burns three days will rin
wi' the blude o' the slain that fa' therein'

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