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Jedburgh - Skiprunning Burn Flood

3rd - 4th January 1982

Water from the Skiprunning Burn cascades down the Canongate towards the subway leading to the River Jed. The Pipers House is top left.

 

The Skiprunning Burn runs from the Dunion, past Larkhall and Athol Court into a culvert under Burn Wynd and on to the Anna. Much of this burn travels underground through Jedburgh and in January 1982 following a rapid thaw and heavy rain, the burn became a raging torrent bursting its banks and forcing its way up through a manhole in the town centre. This led to flooding the likes of which may never be seen again in Jedburgh.

I was fortunate enough to witness this event and capture it on film. The local paper at the time, the Kelso Chronicle & Jedburgh Gazette used 5 of my photographs to accompany their article which I have scanned / O.C.R.'d and included the text here. There may be errors and inaccuracies as this method is not foolproof and required some post editing.

I hope you enjoy viewing the photographs and reading the detailed description of the flooding extracted from the Kelso Chronicle & Jedburgh Gazette dated Friday the 8th of January, 1982. 

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I remind viewers that all photographs are copyright John Peters and should not be downloaded / used without my permission. The images displayed are low resolution copies and unlikely to produce satisfactory prints of a reasonable size.

If anyone has additional information or photographs on this incident that you feel could contribute to this article, please contact me. If you simply want to view the photographs without reading the text, select this link here to run a slide show of the images.

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Thank you.

John

 

Floods bring chaos to centre of Jedburgh

JEDBURGH shop-keepers and house holders were this week assessing the cost of water damage to their properties after one of the worst floods in the town's history.

Four elderly people had to evacuated from their homes and the town centre took on the appearance of a disaster area as the Skiprunning burn burst its banks and sent thousands of gallons of water pouring through the streets on Sunday night.

The trouble began at about 9.30pm when after a day of continual rain and a thaw, the screen guarding the opening of the stream's culvert by Athol Court became blocked and water gushed over the banking, wrecking about 20 yards of wooden fencing at the entry to The Burn Cottage. 

From there the torrent of water poured downhill into Blackhills Close, passing the homes of five tenants.

Mrs G. Miller of 4 Blackhills Close, who was in bed with influenza when the floodwater hit her home said she was lucky to get Out of her house alive.

The screen at the head of the Skiprunning Burn as it goes underground. This culvert became blocked and this forced water along Blackhills Close and down the Castlegate to flood the High Street and Canongate.

 

FRIGHTENING

(Mrs G Miller continues)

"I was in bed when I heard the water and thinking I had left a tap running, got up to investigate. The water was gushing under my door so I telephoned my son for help. It was frightening.

Mrs Miller was assisted from her home by Tommy Davidson of 4 Bongate and his father Peter, from 3 Blackhills close, and evacuated to the home of her son, Alex, “Scaraben,” Honeyfiled Road.

Mr Davidson's house also suffered severe flood damage and he too had to be evacuated, as did Mrs Elizabeth Grieve, of 2 Upper Nags Head, and Mrs W. Sloan, No. 1 Blackhills Close, to the homes of relatives.

The other home badly affected was that of Mrs Stewart, 2 Blackhills Close, who was holidaying at Newcastle at the time.

The water, which was about two feet deep, then shot through the narrow close gushing into Mr Walter Wallace’s barber shop and crashing against the walls of the County buildings at the opposite side of the Castlegate, swept its way down the High Street.
The Skiprunning Burn burst its banks and the water shot along Blackhills close. This is a photograph of the water gushing out of Blackhills Close onto the Castlegate. Local man Jim Sinton had donned his breast waders and can be seen peering anxiously up the close. Rob Cockburn (local grocer) surrounded by onlookers must have been a worried man as the waters gushed alongside his back shop. Mr Cockburns premises are topside of the flooding, those below were not so fortunate.

District Councillor Gideon Yellowlees takes-up the story: 

“The water was pouring down the street at a great rate, and struck Rita Scott’s sweet shop, making it look like the bow of a ship."

 FLOATING

“The water was divided half down the Canongate and half down the High Street. 

I’ve never seen anything like it. 

It’s the first time I’ve seen trees floating down the street.”

 

 
This was the scene in the square. Exchange Street is up to the left, the High Street down to the right. I took the photograph from the top of the Canongate. This water was coming from Blackhills close and from Exchange street.

He (Gideon) was asked whether he thought it possible to clear debris from the screen at the entrance to the culvert, a job he had successfully carried out in a rubber suit when he was a town baillie 12 years earlier but the pressure of the ice filled water made the task too dangerous, and Council roadmen brought in a JCB digger to attempt the operation.

Unfortunately, this resulted in the screen being lifted and water flowed into the culvert till it reached the section which had not been renewed.

The 200 year old section of the culvert leading from Exchange Street to the Anna was quickly blocked with debris and the force of the water blew open a manhole outside the Country Store health food shop in Exchange Street.

An onlooker compared this to a bomb going off with water shooting 10 to 12 feet into the air and flooding down High Street and Canongate, lapping into shop doorways.

 
<- A photograph of the gusher outside  Country Store. 

The Jedforest Laundry is just out of the picture right hand edge. 

This gusher was about 4 feet high churning out gallons of water that cascaded down Exchange Street to team up with the flood waters pouring out from Blackhills Close.

The noise and sheer volume of water which blew the manhole cover was an amazing sight to see. 

The paper aptly titled a similar photograph to this one as JEDBURGH, SCOTLAND'S SPA TOWN?

Incidents like this make for a unique occasion and it is very unlikely we will ever see this again.

Everyone is older and wiser and improvements have been to the culvert system with regular checks to clear debris now part of a formal process.

Chief Superintendent Grant Till of Lothian and Borders Police, who directed emergency operations, said the scene was a disaster area.

"It was frigntening; At its worst, water was running down the High Sreet wall to wall. The police backshift had to be kept on duty, shopkeepers and property owners in the centre of the town were alerted about the possibility of flooding and the Borders Social Work Department placed all old people’s homes in the area on standby in case of evacuations.

“Even so there were countless offers of accommodation from the public.”

Through the night  until about 3.30 a.m. a number of townspeople assisted the Council workmen and police with the emergency operations, filling sandbags and helping those stranded, while Mrs Sheila Cassils, of the Forresters Arms Bar provided free food and  refreshments  to the workers.

Butcher Dave Palmer and Mr Robert Laidlaw used a van to carry sandbags, blocks of cement, and even bags of manure down the High Street to protect shop doorways, while baker Ian McNab and others fought to save Grants Bakery in Exchange Street.

The only casualty on the night turned out to be one of the main helpers, Alister Ramsay of Hartrigge Crescent;  who collapsed with hypothermia.

He and John Linton of Crailing Schoolhouse, had been helping with the clean up throughout the night.

< PHOTO LEFT

 

Looking up Exchange Street from the square, Harkins' JCB digger carefully moves up towards the manhole responsible for the sheets of water swirling towards the square. 

The van on the right belongs to McNabs bakery (I think).

For those interested, this was a time exposure of several seconds using a tripod and cable release. 

You can see the streaks (light trails and reflections) from the digger as it moves up Exchange Street. 

The starburst effect on the lights resulted from using a small aperture such as F16 - no need for a star filter.

Photo Right >

Dave Palmer, a drookit Jed Renilson and fireman Derek Davidson (to name but a few) try to keep the raging waters at bay.

I think Alister Ramsey of Hartrigge Crescent can also be seen in the thick of things? 

That could be Bill Hendry's son Allan far left?

Many shops in the High Street and Canongate have underground cellars and several were left under several feet of water. I should add that photography during the night wasn't that simple. I used a combination of flash and time exposures requiring a tripod for most shots. 

Trying to keep your feet in the swirling waters was a big problem and keeping the equipment dry was another concern. Lenses and film all had to be changed on the move as there was nowhere dry to lay anything down!
< Photo Left

Further down the High Street there was no let up from the flood water.

The firebrigade were in action 'outside' the Tavern.

 

 

 

Photo right >

This is a photograph taken looking up towards the Canongate and you can see the volume of water tumbling down the subway steps at the 'old folks home.' 

I took a risk to grab this shot by stepping out on to a ledge surrounded by the swollen waters of the River Jed. The water was several feet deep in the subway . . . . .
ROLL OUT THE BARREL. But it was no fun for Railway Tavern proprietor sandy McNeill and fireman Rod Minto as they try to succeed where King Canute failed, . . .and hold back the tide.
Looking down towards the subway was no less terrifying as the River Jed could be seen thundering by the other side. The Pipers house is just out of picture top left.

TREMENDOUS

Chief Superintendent Till say's: "The public reaction was tremendous especially that of the youngsters who assisted.

The Council roadmen also coped well with the monstrous task in hand, in particular Mr Ronnie Thomson, Jedburgh area foreman.

The shops in Canongate were perhaps the worst hit, and workmen assisted with pumping water from the various cellars on Tuesday. 

By Tuesday the water flow dropped, but the High Street remained closed to all but access traffic till midday, and sandbags remained in the Exchange Street, and Canongate area.

The River Jed rose past danger level on Sunday night, flooding all the underpasses and making the Auld Brig impassable. The trim-track, too, was flooded with many of the exercise stations under water.

 

OPERATION CLEAN UP

 
A photograph taken the next day, looking down Exchange Street towards the Square and the Canongate. Clean-up operations were in full swing still hindered by water that flowed freely through to the Tuesday. Taken from Jim Sinton's living room window. Sandbags were used to divert the water away from the High Street down the Canongate towards its rightful place in the River Jed.
  Billy Shaw sporting his waders, surveys the scene on the Monday. Several trees and branches had to be removed from the bridges at the Glebe and the Canongate. The size of this tree washed down in the flood reveals the true power of the river Jed in spate.

Jedburgh wasn't the only area to be flooded but the Skiprunning Burn made it unique and and to have it captured on film was quite fortunate. Little did I know that just two years later the River Jed would again cause high drama with devastating flooding nearly claiming a couple of lives. When I find the time I'll document that event in a similar manner.

Meanwhile, we continue the story with more extracts from the papers.

ISOLATED

Roads in the Kelso area were among the worst in the country affected by flooding with the town virtually isolated on Sunday night. And the flooding was so widespread, police had difficulties in positioning warning signs. A spokesman told the “Chronicle and Gazette”: “We have been very busy putting out flood and diversion signs and checking the roads. Its been a problem finding enough flood signs and we have had to put all sorts of signs out just to warn people.”

''The worst affected road appears to have been the B6350 Kelso to Cornhill road which was the only road still closed on Tuesday. The road was blocked by flooding at Crown Point, Whitmuirhaugh  and  near Redden. From  Wark to Cornhill the road was completely submerged by the River Tweed. Apart from the Yetholm road and the Gordon road which was only passable with care although it was flooded at Newton Don Lodge and Courthill farm roadend - all other roads were closed at one point.     

DEBRIS

The Coldstream road was docked When the Hendersyde Estate wall collapsed in two places and debris spread right across the highway.  It was also flooded at Edenmouth bridge. And it was the Eden that caused the  road to be flooded at Ednam,  just over Ednam Bridge.  The floodwater on the road there was estimated between three and four feet deep.

The Jedburgh' road was blocked near Crailing Tofts, where the River Teviot burst its banks. Police set up two diversions at first, with traffic travelling from Kelso having to use the Maxton route. However, after the Tweed burst its banks and flooded Springwood all traffic used a diversion by Brownrigg Farm. By Monday night the main road was passable at Crailing Tofts to lorries only. The Maxton road was flooded at Roxburgh Newtown as well as Springwood.

DIVERTED

Police also diverted traffic on the Smailholm Road which was flooded between Galalaw and Makerstoun road end. The hazard was avoided by making a detour by "Windycorner," Courthill and Charterhouse crossroads. Although all the flooding caused chaos in the area, the flood-swollen River Tweed made an impressive sight for crowds, who gathered mostly on Kelso Bridge to witness the torrent.

At one point the river was said to be four feet below the record flood levels recorded back in February 1831and August 1948. At Nisbet, members, of the community and farmers from West Nisbet Farm, formed their own night watch service to ensure that the River Teviot did not enter homes or the pigery where over a hundred animals died in a freak storm several years ago. 

Mrs Linda Heard, of East Nisbet, an onlooker, described the scene as "incredible." "Tractor lights were directed into the water to allow the onlookers to see how fast the river was rising and bales of straw were placed in the areas thought to be susceptible.  

Monday In Jedburgh

This young pup wasn't too keen crossing the Canongate. It didn't have the benefit of Welly Boots and a Parka.

ALARMED

"Everyone was quite alarmed for a while and men were placed on two hourly watches, particularly the staff at West Nisbet." 

Concern   was   expressed about the safety of the bridge at Cleikimin at one stage, the stables at Monteviot were flooded, and the Jedburgh - Kels' and Jedburgh – Hawick roads were closed for most of Monday due to flooding at Crailing and Denholm. 

Mr Richard Hill, Director of Roads said on Tuesday: "After the thaw we thought the New Year would be a quieter time for our men who had been disturbed  during  Christmas and worked long hours through December. "But  freezing conditions came at New Year followed by flooding in Jedburgh, Kelso, Peebles and Hawick. After Sunday and Monday we hoped to spend today mopping up but instead we have blizzards and drifting."

"As soon as the waters go down and the weather improves we can assess the damage of this past week. We are certain that damage has been caused to some bridges, and potholes have appeared or several roads. With the cut back situation, not enough money is being spent on roads."

Due to a severe cable fault in the Jedburgh area on Sunday, several telephones were cut off, some receiving only incoming calls and by Wednesday over 130 subscribers including several High Street offices and shopkeepers, were affected. A spokesman from The  Scottish  Telecommunication Board in Edinburgh said they were aware of the problem and an emergency fault control had been set up to deal with the repair of 700 telephones out or order through out the Borders, 300 of which were out of operation because of a known cable fault.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

As the water flow drops and debris is cleared from Jedburgh's streets, answers are being demanded on why Sunday night's shock flood happened.  The rapid thaw, after a long cold spell and a day of rain, was obviously the cause for flooding throughout the Borders, but could the situation in Jedburgh have been prevented?   The Skiprunning Burn which runs from the Dunion past Larkhall, and Athol Court, into a culvert under Burn Wynd and on to the Anna,  has always posed a problem for the town.  On several occasions in the past it has flooded.  One time it damaged    the Grammar School, and in 1947 it flooded the whole of the town centre.

In 1969 Ex Provost Gideon Yellowlees, then a town bailie donned a rubber driver's suit and removed debris from the entry to the culvert thus preventing serious flooding but it was clear that nothing of that nature could be attempted at the weekend.

CONTROVERSY

The flood opens up the long running   controversy   over "who-does-what" situation concerning the renewal of the culvert beyond Exchange Street.  Since the early 1970s the Regional authorities have refused to accept responsibility for the underwater passageway, which was originally built by different property owners in the town over 200 years ago.    Part of the culvert was replaced by a precast reinforced concrete structure at the time Burn Wynd was reconstructed in the mid-seventies but the work ceased when the contractors reached the southern pavement of Exchange Street.

Jedburgh Town Council had planned to replace the culvert to a point where the burn runs under the car park behind the Spread Eagle Hotel but that part of the scheme was not gone ahead with.  The old section of the culvert is constructed primarily of stone and is not bonded to the wall which is said to be insecure in places.

When the screen was eventually lifted from the opening to the culvert on Sunday night debris entered the stream and the small opening after the Exchange Street section was blocked, forcing the water up a street manhole.

RESPONSIBILITY

Regional Councillor George Dorward said this week: "The Borders Regional Council are not responsible for the renovation of the 17th Century arch drain culvert.  It is the total responsibility of the owners of the property above.

"Yet while both the Regional and District authorities have to accept that we are not legally responsible for the repairs we should have the moral responsibility to get the various parties together to see if we can come up with some solution to the problem.  "It's going to be very difficult since the legal debate, as to who is responsible, has been going on for years.

Mr Robert Fraser, director of Water and Drainage, said his department carried out emergency repairs if there was a risk to life or property but did not put into operation flood prevention schemes.

He added however that the screen at the entry to the culvert was cleaned periodically.  Community Councillor Richard Gordon said this week he was particularly concerned about the flooding and wished to know if something could have been done to prevent it from happening.

He said he would be raising the matter at the next meeting of Jedburgh Community Council on January 19.

End.

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John

 

 

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