Jed Water
{{Short description|River in Scottish Borders, Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox river
| name = Jed Water
| image = The Jed Water - geograph.org.uk - 351405.jpg
| image_size =
| image_caption = The Jed Water near Jedburgh
| image_alt =
| map =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| map_alt =
| pushpin_map = UK Scotland
| length = {{convert|21.75|mi|km}}
| width_min =
| width_avg =
| width_max =
| depth_min = {{convert|0.37|m|ft}}
| depth_avg =
| depth_max = {{convert|2.33|m|ft}} (exceptionally {{convert|3.5|m|ft}})
| source1 = Carlin Tooth
| source1_location = 1 mile from England in the Cheviot Hills
| source1_coordinates= {{coord|55|18|55|N|2|34|50|W|type:mountain|name=Carlin Tooth}}
| source1_elevation =
| mouth = Jedfoot Bridge
| mouth_location = north of Jedburgh, Scotland
| mouth_coordinates =
| mouth_elevation =
| progression =
| river_system = River Tweed
}}
The Jed Water is a river and a tributary of the River Teviot in the Borders region of Scotland.
In total the Jed Water is over {{convert|21.75|mi|km}} long and it falls {{convert|1375|ft|km}}. It flows into the Teviot near Jedfoot Bridge ({{gbmapping|NT660243}}) two miles north of Jedburgh. Jed Water rises from a source on Carlin Tooth {{coord|55|18|55|N|2|34|50|W|type:mountain|name=Carlin Tooth}} in the Cheviot Hills where it is first known as Raven Burn.{{Cite web|url=https://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst3414.html|title=Jed Water from The Gazetteer for Scotland|website=scottish-places.info|language=en-gb|access-date=22 March 2020}}
Description
The river in past times was the main source of water for the monks living in Jedburgh Abbey. It also powered a watermill in the town of Jedburgh although this no longer exists. It gives its name to Jedburgh and Jedforest. In the 1800s it had trout in the river. The Ordnance gazetteer said Jed Water "in the parts immediately above the town of Jedburgh ... more of the elements of fine landscape than during a whole day's ride in the most favourite Scottish haunts of tourists."[https://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurehistory3414.html 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.] The guide drew attention to the pure waters, the brisk currents, the steep landscapes and the contrasts which it thought picturesque.
The name Jed is of obscure origin.{{Cite book|title = A Dictionary of British Place Names|last = Mills|first = A. D.|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2011|location = Oxford|pages = 261}} James has suggested that it may derive from Proto-Indo-European *wei(h1)- d- "a bend, something curved or twisted".{{Cite book|title = The Brittonic Language in the Old North: A Guide to the Place-name Evidence|last = James|first = Alan G.|year = 2014|pages = 380–381|url = http://www.spns.org.uk/bliton/BLITON2014ii_elements.pdf|volume = 2: Guide to the Elements|archive-date = 2014-09-11|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140911083046/http://www.spns.org.uk/bliton/BLITON2014ii_elements.pdf}} He also notes that Scots Gedde- in Jedburgh may have been adopted from Cumbric gwï:δ "a wood", and that the river name may be a back-formation.
In 1787 James Hutton created modern geology when he discovered Hutton's Unconformity at Inchbonny, Jedburgh, in layers of sedimentary rock on the banks of the Jed Water.{{cite web|url=http://www.jedburgh.org.uk/page2/index.html |title=Jedburgh Official Website |work=Hutton's Unconformity |quote=Whilst visiting Allar's Mill on the Jed Water, Hutton was delighted to see horizontal bands of red sandstone lying 'unconformably' on top of near vertical and folded bands of rock. |access-date=8 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202070634/http://www.jedburgh.org.uk/page2/index.html |archive-date=2 February 2012 }} He later wrote of how he "rejoiced at my good fortune in stumbling upon an object so interesting in the natural history of the earth, and which I had been long looking for in vain".{{cite web |url=http://nagt.org/files/nagt/jge/abstracts/Montgomery_v51n5.pdf |title=Siccar Point and Teaching the History of Geology |access-date=2008-03-26 |author=Keith Montgomery |year=2003 |format=pdf |publisher=University of Wisconsin }}
Flooding
Jed Water is liable to flood, so the river levels are monitored near the old Canongate Bridge. The depth is usually between {{convert|0.37|m|ft}} and {{convert|2.33|m|ft}} metres deep but it has been as deep as {{convert|3.5|m|ft}} which it reached in January 2016.{{Cite web|url=https://riverlevels.uk/jed-water-jedburgh|title=Jed Water at Jedburgh: River level and flood alerts|website=riverlevels.uk|access-date=2020-03-24}} In 2020 there was a problem when the flood defences in Jedburgh were breached by debris in one storm just before another storm hit. Luckily repairs were made and serious flooding was avoided.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-51502670|title='Urgent' flood defence repairs successful|date=2020-02-14|work=BBC News|access-date=2020-03-22|language=en-GB}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Jed Water}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120328165405/http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search_item/index.php?service=RCAHMS&id=74667 RCAHMS record of the Jed Water]
- [http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-593-469-C SCRAN image: The Jed Water, winter 1961/2]
- [http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst3414.html Gazetteer for Scotland: Jed Water]
- [http://www.streetmap.co.uk/place/Jed_Water_in_Scottish_Borders_473611_717611.htm Streetmap of the Jed Water]
- [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/58451 GEOGRAPH: Mossburn Ford, Jed Water]
{{coord|55.51127|N|2.53992|W|region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(NT660243)|display=title}}
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