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{{For|the river in Lancashire|River Yarrow (Lancashire)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}{{short description|River in Scotland}}
[[File:Yarrowford.jpg|thumb|The Yarrow Valley in winter]]
The '''Yarrow Water''' is a [[river]] in the [[Scottish Borders|Borders]] in the south east of [[Scotland]]. It is a tributary of the [[Ettrick Water]] (itself a tributary of the [[River Tweed|Tweed]]) and renowned for its high quality [[trout]] and [[salmon|salmon fishing]].<ref name=elf>[http://www.elfisheries.co.uk/elfisheries/ettrick/ettrick.htm "Ettrick & Yarrow Fishing"] elfisheries.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2009.</ref><ref name=electric>[http://www.electricscotland.com/history/gazetteer/vol6page501.htm "Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: Yair, Yarrow, Yarrow Water"] electricscotland.com. Retrieved 25 July 2009.</ref> The name "Yarrow" may derive from the [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] word ''garw'' meaning "rough" or possibly share a derivation with the English name "[[Jarrow]]".<ref>Taylor (1921) p. 131. [https://books.google.com/books?id=x-4rutCY2csC&dq=etymology+Yarrow+water&pg=PA141 Google Books]. Retrieved 25 July 2009.<br />- Watson (2004) p. 522 contains the note "Yarrow is Gierua c. 1120, Gierwa, Gieruua c. 1150 (Lawrie). This like Gala, is an English name and may be compared with Jarrow, in Bede 'In Gyruum'."</ref>
The valley was the birthplace of [[Mungo Park (explorer)|Mungo Park]] and has inspired several well-known songs and poems. Its traditions and folk tales were well documented by [[Walter Scott]], who spent part of his childhood nearby, and in adult life returned to live in the vicinity at [[Abbotsford House]], near [[Melrose, Scotland|Melrose]].<ref>[http://www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk/biography/sandy.html "Sandyknowe and Early Childhood"] walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2009.<br />- [http://www.scottsabbotsford.co.uk "Welcome to Abbotsford"]. scottsabbotsford.co.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2009.</ref>
==Geography and history==
[[File:Mungo Park portrait.jpg|thumb|[[Mungo Park (explorer)|Mungo Park]]]]
Its source is [[St. Mary's Loch]] and from there the Yarrow Water flows {{convert|20|km|mi}} in an easterly direction with a fall of {{convert|123.5|m|ft}} passing the settlements of Yarrow Feus, Yarrow and Yarrowford before joining the Ettrick near to the site of the 1645 [[Battle of Philiphaugh]] just west of [[Selkirk, Scottish Borders|Selkirk]].<ref name=electric/><ref>[http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst3434.html "Yarrow Water"] Gazetteer for Scotland. The Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 25 July 2009.</ref><ref name=OS>[http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/ "Get-a-map"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119032510/http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/ |date=19 November 2009 }} [[Ordnance Survey]]. Retrieved 25 July 2009.</ref> This confluence, which occurs at the eastern edge of the [[Duke of Buccleuch]]'s Bowhill Estate, is known as the Meetings Pool.<ref name=elf/> The valley is traversed by the A708 that runs from Selkirk to [[Moffat]].
The explorer [[Mungo Park (explorer)|Mungo Park]] was born at Foulshiels on the left bank of the river in 1771.<ref>[http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst4780.html "Foulshiels"] Gazetteer for Scotland. The Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 25 July 2009.</ref> In May 1804 [[Walter Scott]] came upon Park throwing stones into a deep pool in the river and remarked that "This appears but an idle amusement for one who has seen so much adventure".<ref name=electric/> Park replied that this was "Not so idle perhaps, as you suppose. This was the way I used to ascertain the depth of a river in Africa".<ref name=electric/> Although he had not yet told anyone, Park was considering his second and fateful expedition at the time.<ref name=electric/> At about the same time, [[James Hogg]] ("The Ettrick Shepherd") had come to the attention of Scott whilst the former was working at Blackhouse Farm in the Yarrow valley.<ref>[http://www.ettrickyarrow.bordernet.co.uk/history/hogg-shepherd.html "James Hogg: The Ettrick Shepherd"] ettrickyarrow.bordernet.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2009.</ref>
[[Category:Rivers in Lancashire|Yarrow]]▼
The impressive ruins of [[Newark Castle, Selkirkshire|Newark Castle]], held by the [[Earls of Douglas]] in the 15th century, lie on the right bank of the river opposite Foulshiels.<ref>Coventry (2008) p. 158.</ref>
==In literature==
===The Dowie Dens===
The folk song "[[The Dowie Dens o Yarrow]]" (English: "the dismal, narrow wooded valleys of Yarrow") refers to an ambush and murder that takes place in the locality. According to Walter Scott the song is based on a real incident that took place in the seventeenth century, although some modern scholars are sceptical about this story as one of the origins of the song.<ref>Scott (1806) Vol. II [http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=l&p=c&a=p&ID=23774&c=499 "The Dowie Dens of Yarrow"] www.humanitiesweb. Retrieved 25 July 2009.</ref><ref>Lloyd (1975) p. 129.</ref> These include a poem by [[William Hamilton (Jacobite poet)|William Hamilton of Bangour]] called "The Braes of Yarrow" first published in Edinburgh in 1724 and said to be "written in imitation of an old Scottish ballad on a similar subject".<ref>Percy (1858) p. 294.<br />- Hamilton (1850).</ref>
===Outlaw Murray===
"The Sang of the Outlaw Murray" is a lay that may have been composed in the reign of [[James V of Scotland|James V]] and which was collected by Walter Scott. Local tradition held that the events took place in the vicinity of Newark Castle, although Scott himself believed that the old tower at Hangingshaw, a seat of the Philiphaugh family near Yarrowford, was the correct ___location. He was assured by "the late excellent antiquarian Mr. Plummer, sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire... that he remembered the insignia of the unicorns, &c. so often mentioned in the ballad, in existence" there.<ref>Scott (1806) "The Sang of the Outlaw Murray".</ref>
===William Wordsworth===
[[File:James Hogg by W. Nicholson.jpg|thumb|[[James Hogg]]- detail of an oil painting by W. Nicholson]]
In his 1803 publication "[[Yarrow poems (Wordsworth)|Yarrow Unvisited]]" [[William Wordsworth]] wrote:
:"What's Yarrow but a river bare,
:That glides the dark hills under?
:There are a thousand such elsewhere
:As worthy of your wonder."<ref>[http://www.online-literature.com/wordsworth/poems-in-two-vols-2/9/ ''Yarrow Unvisited''] online-literature.com. Retrieved 25 July 2009.</ref>
although this deprecation did not deter a further visit to the area when he journeyed down the length of the Yarrow in the company of James Hogg and the subsequent publication of "Yarrow Visited" in 1814 and "Yarrow Revisited" in 1838.<ref name=electric/>
Wordsworth's 1835 "Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg" includes the lines:
:"The mighty Minstrel breathes no longer,
:'Mid mouldering ruins low he lies;
:And death upon the braes of Yarrow,
:Has closed the Shepherd-poet's eyes."<ref>[http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Wordsworth/poems/Extemp_Effusion_on_Death.html "Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg"] Virginia University. Retrieved 25 July 2009. This eulogy notwithstanding, Wordsworth's notes state "He was undoubtedly a man of original genius, but of coarse manners and low and offensive opinions."</ref>
===Tam Lin===
The wood of [[Carterhaugh]] near the confluence of the Yarrow and Ettrick, is the setting for the ballad "[[Tam Lin]]".<ref name=tam>[http://www.tam-lin.org/carterhaugh.html "Tam Lin and Carterhaugh, Selkirk, Scotland"] tam-lin.org. Retrieved 25 July 209.</ref> This song, collected in 1729, tells the story of a maiden and her relationship to the [[faery]] world. It begins:
:"O I forbid you, maidens a',
:That wear gowd on your hair,
:To come or gae by Carterhaugh,
:For young Tam Lin is there.
:There's nane that gaes by Carterhaugh
:But they leave him a wad,
:Either their rings, or green mantles,
:Or else their maidenhead."<ref>[http://www.tam-lin.org/front.html Tam Lin balladry"] tam-lin.org. Retrieved 25 July 2009.</ref>
It is possible that this tale is derived from the 13th century ballad, "Thomas the Rhymer", that concerns [[Thomas the Rhymer|Thomas Learmonth]] of nearby [[Earlston|Erceldoune]].<ref>"Thomas the Rhymer" in Scott (1806) Part Third.</ref>
==Folk tales==
[[File:Carterhaugh.jpg|thumb|[[Carterhaugh]] with Harehead Hill (centre) and Foulshiels Hill (at left) beyond.]]
The subject matter of Tam Lin is referred to in various other local traditions. Scott recorded that:
<blockquote>
The peasants point out upon the plain [of Caterhaugh], those electrical rings which vulgar credulity supposes to be traces of the Fairy revels. Here, they say, were placed the stands of milk, and of water, in which Tamlane was dipped in order to effect the disenchantment; and upon these spots, according to their mode of expressing themselves, the grass will never grow.<ref name=tamlane>Scott (1806) "[http://www.tam-lin.org/texts/scott.html Introduction to the Tale of Tamlane: On the Fairies of Popular Superstition] tam-lin.org. Retrieved 25 July 2009.</ref>
</blockquote>
He went on to complain that "in no part of Scotland, indeed, has the belief in Fairies maintained its ground with more pertinacity than in Selkirkshire" and describes a story "implicitly believed by all"<ref name=tamlane/> said to have occurred in the seventeenth century on Peat Law, to the east of Foulshiels Hill:<ref name=OS/>
<blockquote>
The victim of elfin sport was a poor man, who, being employed in pulling heather upon Peatlaw, a hill not far from Carterhaugh, had tired of his labour and laid him down to sleep upon a Fairy ring. When he awakened he was amazed to find himself in the midst of a populous city, to which, as well as to the means of his transportation, he was an utter stranger. His coat was left upon the Peatlaw; and his bonnet, which had fallen off in the course of his aerial journey, was afterwards found hanging upon the steeple of the church of Lanark.<ref name=tamlane/>
</blockquote>
==See also==
*[[Yarrowford]]
*[[List of places in the Scottish Borders]]
*[[List of places in Scotland]]
==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist}}
===Bibliography===
* Coventry, Martin (2008) ''Castles of the Clans''. Musselburgh. Goblinshead. {{ISBN|978-1-899874-36-1}}
* Hamilton, William (1850) ''The Poems and Songs of William Hamilton of Bangour''. Edinburgh.
* Lloyd, A. L. (1975) ''Folk Song in England''. London. Paladin.
* Percy, Thomas (1858) ''Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: Consisting of Ballads, Songs, and Other Pieces of Our Earlier Poets''. Edinburgh. James Nichol.
* [[Walter Scott|Scott, Sir Walter]] (1806) ''[[Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border]]''. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12742/12742-h/12742-h.htm Gutenberg.org]. Melrose.
* Taylor, Isaac (1921) ''Words & places: illustrations of history, ethnology and geography''. Kessinger.
* [[William J. Watson|Watson, W.J.]] (2004) ''The History of the Celtic Place-names of Scotland.'' First published 1926. Reprinted with an introduction by Simon Taylor. Edinburgh. Birlinn. {{ISBN|1-84158-323-5}}
==External links==
*[http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-482-377-C SCRAN: Yarrow Water, QuickTime VR Panorama]
*[http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst3434.html Gazetteer for Scotland: Yarrow Water]
* [http://www.online-literature.com/wordsworth/poems-in-two-vols-2/9/ Wordsworth's ''Yarrow Unvisited'']
* [http://www.online-literature.com/wordsworth/549/ Wordsworth's ''Yarrow Visited'']
* [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=174835 Wordsworth's ''Yarrow Revisited'']
* {{gbmapping|NT425292}}
{{River Tweed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|55.5531|N|2.9130|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title}}
[[Category:Tributaries of the River Tweed]]
[[Category:Yarrow Valley| ]]
[[Category:Tweed catchment|2Yarrow]]
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