Ale, a river of Selkirk and Roxburgh shires, rises on the NW slope of Henwoodie (1189 feet) in Roberton parish, and flowing north-eastward through Ashkirk and Lilliesleaf, eastward along the southern boundary of Bowden and St Boswells, and south-eastward through Ancrum, falls into the Teviot, ¾ mile S of Ancrum village. It has a length of 24 miles, the first 5, up to Alemuir Loch, broken by frequent falls: and for two-thirds of its entire course it runs hemmed in by hills 800 to 1200 feet in height. By Lilliesleaf it enters a broader vale where, Lander says, the angler ' wanders on for one long stretch, through sweet-scented meadows, with the stream running deep and clear, and with its waters almost level with the grassy plain through which they flow.' The Ale's chief affluents are on the left hand, the Wilson Burn from Hellmuir Loch, Langhope Burn from Shaw's Loch, and Woll Burn: on the right hand the Woo Burn-all capital trout-streams like itself. See Sir Thomas Dick Lander's Scottish Rivers (edit. 1874), pp. 165-169.Ord. Sur., shs. 17, 24, 1864-65.
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