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This is the Eden just north of Penrith. Here the river flows over a lowland landscape made of glacial deposits. Here you see one of the oldest bridges in the region. Notice the banks of pebbles produced as the river winnows away at the glacial deposits, carrying away the clays and leaving the pebbles behind on the inside bend of the meander.Tributaries include Cumbrian Esk, River Belah, River Lyvennet, River Lowther (that drains Hawes Water in the Lake District), River Eamont (that drains Ullswater in the Lake District), River Petterill (that flows directly through Carlisle). The Eden rises near Kirkby Stephen in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and flows north, following the eastern side of the Vale of Eden, a wide trench of low land between the Lake District and the Pennines. It mostly follows a path that meanders across deposits left behind at the end of the Ice Age.. The main tributaries are right bank tributaries which drain from the Pennines. The Eden flows northward to Carlisle and the Solway Firth.
Carlisle does not lie on the Eden, but rather the site uses higher land to the south made of terraces and glacial deposits. The wide Eden floodplain thus acts as a defensible barrier in a region where once there was considerable conflict. The risk of flooding still requires the construction of an embankment and the floodplain land can only be used for recreation. This view looks east (upstream).
The Eden at Carlisle, showing the bridge that leads northward from the city. The Scotland Bridge was one of the most important routes to be guarded by the castle at Carlisle and the reason a permanent garrison was kept in the walled city for centuries. |
