River Teviot

The Teviot, Roxburghshire

The River Teviot, or Teviot Water is a river of Roxburghshire, whose valley has given an occasional alternative name to that shire: Teviotdale. The Teviot is a tributary of the River Tweed, entering it near Kelso. On its course, it creates in Teviotdale a broad dale of surpassing beauty.

The earliest reference to the Teviot in English is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as Tefgeta, which is of unknown origin: possibly from the British language.

Course

The Teviot rises in the western foothills of Comb Hill on the border between Roxburghshire and Dumfriesshire. It flows north-eastwards down through Teviotdale

The Teviot flows past Teviothead, the Colterscleuch Monument, Broadhaugh, Branxholme and Branxholme Castle.

New Ancrum Bridge

The Teviot passes through Hawick and Lanton, passing the Timpendean Tower and on to the town of Ancrum, then past Harestanes and Monteviot, Nisbet and Roxburgh, before joining the River Tweed to the southwest of Kelso.

A long-distance footpath, the Borders Abbeys Way, keeps close company with the Teviot on its journey to the Tweed.

Tributaries

The principal tributaries of the Teviot are:

• The Allan Water which enters its right bank at Newmill
• The Borthwick Water which enters its left bank between Branxholme and Hawick
• The Slitrig Water which enters on the right bank in Hawick itself
• The Ale Water entering on the left bank at Ancrum
• The River Jed on the right bank just downstream
• The Kale Water which enters on the right bank between Crailing and Roxburgh.

Poetry

Teviotdale has attracted poets since time out of mind, and while it remains unspoilt it ever shall do:

Sweet Teviot! on thy silver tide
The glaring bale-fires blaze no more;
No longer steel-clad warriors ride
Along thy wild and willow'd shore;
Where'er thou wind'st, by dale or hill,
All, all is peaceful, all is still,
As if thy waves, since Time was born,
Since first they roll'd upon the Tweed,
Had only heard the shepherd's reed,
Nor started at the bugle-horn.

Outside links

Looking upstream

• Gazetteer for Scotland: Map of the River Teviot
• Environment:
  • Scottish Environment Protection Agency: River level data, Teviot at Hawick
  • River Teviot, a Site of Special Scientific Interest
• Pictures:
  • SCRAN File: Children playing in the pools on the River Teviot
  • GEOGRAPH File: River Teviot in Hawick