Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for EDEN (The)

EDEN (The), a river of Westmoreland and Cumberland. It rises on the backbone of England, at the southern extremity of Westmoreland, adjacent to Yorkshire; runs past Kirkby-Stephen, Appleby, Edenhall, Kirkoswald, and Carlisle; and enters the head of the Solway frith in the neighbourhood of the Rockcliffe marshes. Its prevailing direction is north-north-west-ward; its length of course is about 35 miles; and its chief affluents are the Eamont above Edenhall, the Croglin below Kirkoswald, and the Peterill and the Caldew at Carlisle. Much of its channel is belted with meadowland, and flanked with picturesque high ground; much, in the lower part, above and below Carlisle, lies through fertile plain; and the terminal part, to the length of about 2 miles, widens into estuary, of the same flat sandy character as the Solway frith. Its waters yield prime salmon, and abound with fine trout. Wordsworth, in one of his sonnets, regrets having only once before written "its sweet name, " and adds;-

Yet fetched from Paradise that honour came,
Rightfully borne: for Nature gives thee flowers
That have no rivals among British bowers;
And thy bold rocks are worthy of their fame.
Measuring thy course, fair stream ! at length
To my life's neighbour dues of neighbourhood I pay.
But I have traced thee on thy winding way
With pleasure, sometimes by this thought restrained, -
For things far off we toil, while many a good
Not sought, because too near, is never gained.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a river"   (ADL Feature Type: "rivers")
Administrative units: Westmorland AncC
Place names: EDEN     |     EDEN THE     |     THE EDEN
Place: Eden

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