All about Eden's rivers

The Eden river catchment is nestled between the Lake District and the Pennines and covers an area of approximately 2400 km2. At 80 miles long, the River Eden is one of England’s finest examples of a limestone and sandstone river.

This fast-flowing river is of European importance for its habitats and wildlife, and flows northwards from its source in the fells above Hell Gill Force, near Kirkby Stephen, to the Solway Firth.

The river winds its way through a dramatic, contrasting landscape of fells, moorland and valleys – from the North Pennines to the east, Orton Fells and High Fells to the west, down to the wide expanse of the Solway Firth in the north. Principal watercourses are the Eden, Eamont, Petteril, Caldew and the Irthing. As well as rivers, there are also lakes; Haweswater and Ullswater.

Parts of the catchment fall within the Lake District National Park, Yorkshire Dales National Park, North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the Solway Coast AONB.

Low level view from wide slow moving river looking up to the arches of a large brick rail viaduct spanning the watercourse.

A haven for wildlife

The River Eden features nationally and internationally important aquatic plants, wetland habitats and valley woodlands. With some of the highest diversity of aquatic plants and animals in England, it supports Atlantic salmon spawning areas, Sea lamprey, Brook lamprey, River lamprey, White-clawed crayfish, Bullhead and Common otter, and is an important fishery.

Six internationally important wildlife sites and 31 SSSI (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) lie partly or wholly within the Eden Valley, including the River Eden SAC (Special Area of Conservation) and the Cumbrian Marsh Fritillary SAC. Important populations of marsh fritillary butterfly, whooper swan, wading birds, black grouse, red squirrel, otter and remnant stands of the native black poplar can be found here.

Overground

The River Eden flows through an ecologically rich and varied landscape corridor, including small, but important areas of semi-natural riparian willow and alder woodland and floodplain pastures. However, sections are characterised by human modifications such as barriers and straightened river channels, and are bounded by hard engineering.

The Eden is overwhelmingly a farming landscape dominated by small, family-run farms with 97% of the land farmed in some way. Only 1% of the catchment is classified as urban.

Underground

The undulating landscape is largely the result of material deposited at the end of the last ice age, moulded into the characteristic mounds of drumlins and eskers, giving rise to fertile soils. This gives the valley its characteristic intimate blend of mixed farmland as far as the eye can see, with significant areas of woodland, farm copses, mature hedgerow trees, stone walls and historic villages.

People

The Eden Valley is sparsely populated, with 156,000 people estimated to live in the catchment (ONS 2022 via Cumbria Observatory). The population is concentrated in three main centres – Appleby-in-Westmorland, Penrith and Carlisle.

Strategically, this is an important corridor; the valley hosts major transport routes between north and south, and historically was a much fought-over borderland between England and Scotland. The remains of defensive structures from turbulent medieval times are still evident in today’s landscape.