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River

River Tweed

156 km from source to mouth · United Kingdom.

United KingdomUnited KingdomFlows into North Sea9th longest in United Kingdom

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

156km

Average flow

89m³/s

Basin

3,900km²

Drop

232m

from 232 m to 0 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

156 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 16 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

232 m0 m
Tweed's Wellat 232 m0 km
Drumelzier Castle12 km
Manor Watertributary32 km
Eddleston Watertributary33 km
Caddon Watertributary64 km
Ettrick Watertributary68 km
River Leadertributary86 km
River Teviottributary105 km
Kelso6,910 people107 km
Leet Watertributary132 km
North Seaat 0 m156 km
050100156 km
  1. 0 kmTweed's Wellat 232 m
  2. 0 kmTalla Reservoir1.1 km²
  3. 12 kmDrumelzier Castle
  4. 18 kmdesigned landscape at Stobo Castle
  5. 20 kmStobo Castle
  6. 31 kmNeidpath Castle
  7. 32 kmManor Watertributary
  8. 33 kmPeebles8,940 people
  9. 33 kmEddleston Watertributary
  10. 37 kmKailzie Gardens
  11. 37 kmHorsburgh Castle
  12. 38 kmHaystoun Burntributary
  13. 39 kmCardrona910 people
  14. 41 kmCardrona House
  15. 45 kmdesigned landscape at Traquair House
  16. 45 kmTraquair House
  17. 46 kmInnerleithen3,110 people
  18. 49 kmLeithen Watertributary
  19. 49 kmWalkerburn740 people
  20. 64 kmCaddon Watertributary
  21. 68 kmEttrick Watertributary
  22. 72 kmdesigned landscape at Abbotsford House
  23. 72 kmAbbotsford House
  24. 73 kmGalashiels10,060 people
  25. 73 kmTweedbank2,100 people
  26. 75 kmGala Watertributary
  27. 76 kmWaverley Hydropathic Hotel
  28. 76 kmGattonside House
  29. 78 kmMelrose2,510 people
  30. 80 kmNewstead256 people
  31. 83 kmlinear earthwork 300m W of Old Melrose
  32. 83 kmOld Melrose, St Cuthbert's Chapel & monastery site
  33. 85 kmdesigned landscape at Dryburgh Abbey
  34. 86 kmRiver Leadertributary
  35. 86 kmDryburgh Abbey
  36. 87 kmSt Boswells1,470 people
  37. 87 kmDryburgh Abbey House
  38. 92 kmdesigned landscape at Mertoun
  39. 92 kmOld Mertoun House, Mertoun House
  40. 92 kmMertoun House
  41. 94 kmLittledean Fort
  42. 94 kmLittledean Tower
  43. 98 kmRingleyhall
  44. 99 kmMakerstoun House
  45. 105 kmRiver Teviottributary
  46. 106 kmFloors Castle
  47. 107 kmKelso6,910 people
  48. 110 kmHendersyde Park
  49. 115 kmEden Hall
  50. 119 kmCarham347 people
  51. 120 kmCarham Hall
  52. 124 kmColdstream1,930 people
  53. 128 kmCornhill Castle
  54. 128 kmLennel House and Garden
  55. 129 kmOld Parish Church, Lennel
  56. 132 kmLeet Watertributary
  57. 134 kmRiver Tilltributary
  58. 139 kmNorham629 people
  59. 139 kmNorham Castle
  60. 141 kmHorndean Church, church and burial ground
  61. 143 kmHorncliffe403 people
  62. 145 kmHorncliffe Fort
  63. 145 kmHorncliffe House
  64. 145 kmUnion Chain Bridge
  65. 154 kmBerwick Castle
  66. 154 kmRoyal Border Bridge
  67. 155 kmBerwick-upon-Tweed12,043 people
  68. 156 kmWhiteadder Watertributary
  69. 156 kmMunicipal Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed13,075 people
  70. 156 kmNorth Seaat 0 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in the Border region in Scotland and northern England, UK, flows into the North Sea at Berwick Upon Tweed

At the mouth it carries 89 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 28 seconds. It drops from 232 m to 0 m, 1.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 3,900 km², about the size of CV. 119,000 people live in it. Highest water: from November to January. Its dams hold back little of its water (2.8% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

River Tweed, month by month

Highest water: from November to January

Best months to visit: from June to August.

130
2°69 mmJan
98
2°49 mmFeb
84
5°57 mmMar
62
7°49 mmApr
54
10°56 mmMay
43
13°53 mmJun
46
15°61 mmJul
70
14°77 mmAug
81
12°68 mmSep
96
9°69 mmOct
120
5°76 mmNov
130
3°70 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 43 m³/s in the lowest month to 130 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire at NCL airport (Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear)Discover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

River Tweed: the basin in numbers

4,987 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 2.8% of a year's flow.
  • 119,000people live in the basin
  • 24/km²people per km²
  • 258maverage altitude of the basin
  • 941mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 7.2°Caverage air temperature
  • 14%protected areas
  • 0.2%covered by lakes
  • 0.1km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 5% Forest
  • 27% Cropland
  • 62% Pasture
  • 1% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

River Tweed: what you find on the way

  • 24DamsTalla Dam, Mill Dam and 22 more
  • 39WeirsMelrose Cauld, Mertoun Cauld, Cobby Weir and 36 more
  • 1WaterfallsWooden Linn
  • 12RapidsAshiestiel, Yair, Fairnilee and 9 more
  • 6Canoe put-insAshiestiel, Leaderfoot Viaduct and 4 more
  • 2Boat rampsRNLI
  • 4River beachesBlakewell Shad, Davie's Batt, Spittal Beach and 1 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

River Tweed in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas
  • 4beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
  • 32mountains at the sourcePeakyas
  • 4islands off the mouthIslandyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Talla Reservoirkm 01.1km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Beaches (4)

At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya

  1. Cocklawburn Beach4.9 km away14.2°C
  2. Cheswick Sands6.6 km away14.2°C
  3. West in Thrile Bay19 km away · cove14.2°C
  4. Horsecastle Bay18 km away · cove14.2°C

Open Coastya ↗

Mountains at the source (32)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. White Coomb11 km away · prominence 374 m821m
  2. Culter Fell6.7 km away · prominence 350 m748m
  3. Black Law12 km away · prominence 103 m698m
  4. Andrewhinney Hill14 km away677m
  5. Crown of Scotland14 km away538m
  6. Glenwhappen Rig4.2 km away600m
  7. Annanhead Hill12 km away478m
  8. Whiteside Hill3.3 km away439m

24 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

Islands off the mouth (4)

Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas

  1. Lindisfarne16 km away4.0km²
  2. Staple Island28 km away
  3. Old Law18 km away
  4. Longstone28 km away

Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

River Tweed: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
River Tweed: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth10 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

River Tweed in pictures

River Tweed at Coldstream
Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
Berwick-upon-Tweed MMB 33
mattbuck ( category ) · CC BY-SA 4.0
A Summers day on the River Tweed (9275116641)
Daniel from Glasgow, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0
Berwick-upon-Tweed seen from railway in 1980
Smiley.toerist · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (20)

Also: River Teviot, Ettrick Water, Leithen Water, River Till, Gala Water, Lyne Water, Whiteadder Water, Eddleston Water, Fruid Water, Caddon Water, River Leader, Talla Water, Biggar Water, Breamish, Eden Water, Manor Water, Quair Water, Leet Water, Hearthstane Burn, Haystoun Burn

Nearby

Rivers nearby

River TyneUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom100 km63 m³/s91 km awayRiver TayUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom193 km170 m³/s106 km awayRiver WearUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom96 km21 m³/s102 km awayRiver ForthUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom47 km61 m³/s119 km awayRiver ClydeUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom176 km90 m³/s155 km awayRiver TeesUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom137 km34 m³/s140 km awayRiver DeeUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom154 km44 m³/s154 km awayRiver DonUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom131 km21 m³/s157 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q503262) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas, Islandyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit