[3] The river in past times was the main source of water for the monks living in Jedburgh Abbey.

The Ordnance gazetteer said Jed Water "in the parts immediately above the town of Jedburgh ... more of the elements of fine landscape than during a whole day's ride in the most favourite Scottish haunts of tourists.

"[1] The guide drew attention to the pure waters, the brisk currents, the steep landscapes and the contrasts which it thought picturesque.

[5] He also notes that Scots Gedde- in Jedburgh may have been adopted from Cumbric gwï:δ "a wood", and that the river name may be a back-formation.

[6] He later wrote of how he "rejoiced at my good fortune in stumbling upon an object so interesting in the natural history of the earth, and which I had been long looking for in vain".