The river was known to the Romans as the Itouna, as recorded by the Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy) in the 2nd century AD.

[3] It passes close to the ancient stone circle known as Long Meg and Her Daughters and through the sparsely populated beef and dairy farming regions of the vale of Cumbria on the Solway Plain.

Its junction with the River Caldew in north Carlisle marks the point where Hadrian's Wall crosses the Eden, only five miles before both reach their end at the tidal flats.

It enters the Solway Firth near the mouth of the River Esk after a total distance of approximately 81 miles (130 km).

[4][5] The river and its tributaries are designated a Special Area of Conservation under the European Union's Habitats Directive.