thumb|The Yarrow Valley in winter
The Yarrow Water is a river in the Borders in the south east of Scotland. It is a tributary of the Ettrick Water (itself a tributary of the Tweed) and renowned for its high quality trout and salmon fishing. The name "Yarrow" may derive from the Celtic word garw meaning "rough" or possibly share a derivation with the English name "Jarrow".
The valley was the birthplace of 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.
Geography and history
thumb|[[Mungo Park (explorer)|Mungo Park]]
Its source is St. Mary's Loch and from there the Yarrow Water flows in an easterly direction with a fall of 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. This confluence, which occurs at the eastern edge of the Duke of Buccleuch's Bowhill Estate, is known as the Meetings Pool. 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".
The impressive ruins of Newark Castle, held by the Earls of Douglas in the 15th century, lie on the right bank of the river opposite Foulshiels.
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. These include a poem by 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".
Outlaw Murray
"The Sang of the Outlaw Murray" is a lay that may have been composed in the reign of 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.
William Wordsworth
thumb|[[James Hogg- detail of an oil painting by W. Nicholson]]
In his 1803 publication "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."
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.
Tam Lin
The wood of Carterhaugh near the confluence of the Yarrow and Ettrick, is the setting for the ballad "Tam Lin". 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."
It is possible that this tale is derived from the 13th century ballad, "Thomas the Rhymer", that concerns Thomas Learmonth of nearby Erceldoune.
<big>J. B. Selkirk</big>
The local Scottish poet and essayist J. B. Selkirk wrote extensively about Yarrow Water; for example, A Song of Yarrow, Love in Yarrow, Looking Back in Yarrow, An Appeal from Yarrow, Retreat in Yarrow, Parted in Yarrow, and Death in Yarrow.
Folk tales
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.
</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"