Jed 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.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry Arrow

Jed Water, a small river of Southdean, Oxnam, and Jedburgh parishes, Roxburghshire. It rises s Raven Burn, at an altitude of 1500 feet, on the. Western slope of Carlin Tooth (1801 feet), one of the Cheviots, 1 mile from the English Border; and thence winds 21¾ miles north-by-eastward, till, after a descent of 1325 feet, it falls into the Teviot, at a point ¾ mile below Mounteviot House. Its tributaries are numerous but small. Its basin or vale is a kind of broad tumulated plain, half engirdled by the Cheviots and their offsets; looks, in the view from Carter Fell, surpassingly beautiful; and, even as seen in detail, exhibits many a close scene, so full of character, as to have fired the muse of Thomson, Burns, Leyden, and many a minor poet. An intelligent observer, indeed, sees little in it to compete with the basins of the Tweed, the Tay, and some other large picturesque Scottish rivers; yet within the brief distance of 2 or 3 miles, especially in the parts immediately above the town of Jedburgh, he will survey, though on a small scale, more of the elements of fine landscape than during a whole day's ride in the most favourite Scottish haunts of tourists. The rockiness of the river's bed, the briskness of its current, the pureness of its waters, the endless combinations of slope and precipice, of haugh and hillock, of verdure and escarpment, of copse and crag, along and around its banks, produce many a scene of picturesqueness and romance. Its waters are well stocked with trout of good size and high character; but, in consequence of the intricacy and woodedness of the banks, they can rarely be angled without much skill and patience.—Ord. Sur., sh. 17, 1864.

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

If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...

By using our site you agree to accept cookies, which help us serve you better