Rivers of Ireland

Shown here are all the major rivers and tributaries of Ireland with their lengths (in kilometres and miles). Starting with the Northern Ireland rivers, and going in a clockwise direction, the rivers (and tributaries) are listed in regard to their entry into the different seas: the Irish Sea, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Also shown are two tables. Table 1 shows the longest rivers in Ireland with their lengths (in kilometres and miles), the counties they flow through, and their catchment areas (in square kilometres). Table 2 shows the largest rivers in Ireland (by mean flow) in cubic metres per second.

Some of the larger or better-known rivers of Ireland are shown on this map (large version).

The longest river in Ireland is the River Shannon, at 360.5 kilometres (224.0 mi). The river develops into three lakes along its course, Lough Allen, Lough Ree and Lough Derg. Of these, Lough Derg is the largest. The Shannon enters the Atlantic Ocean at the Shannon Estuary. Other major rivers include the River Liffey, River Lee, River Swilly, River Foyle, River Lagan, River Erne, River Blackwater, River Nore, River Suir, River Barrow (The Three Sisters), River Bann, River Slaney, River Boyne, River Moy and River Corrib.

Longest Irish Rivers (with Basin areas)

Lengths obtained from the Ordnance Survey of Ireland: Rivers and their Catchment Basins 1958 (Table of Reference), and for the rivers Bann and Erne - Notes on River Basins by Robert A. Williams

River Counties Length Basin Area
1 River Shannon (including estuary and flow through lakes)a Cavan, Leitrim, Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath, Galway, Offaly,

Tipperary, Clare, Limerick, Kerry

 360 km (224 mi) 16,800 km2[1]
2 River Barrowb Laois, Kildare, Kilkenny, Carlow,

Wexford, Waterford

 192 km (119 mi) 3,067 km2[1]
3 River Suirb Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny, Wexford 184 km (114.5 mi) 3,610 km2[1]
4 River Blackwater (Munster) Kerry, Cork, Waterford 168 km (104.5 mi) 3,324 km2[1]
5 River Bann (including flow through L. Neagh)c Down, Armagh, Antrim, Londonderry 159 km (99 mi) 5,808 km2[2]
6 River Noreb Tipperary, Laois, Kilkenny 140 km (87 mi) 2,530 km2[1]
7 River Suck (Shannon) Roscommon, Galway 133 km (83 mi) 1,600 km2[3]
8 River Liffey Wicklow, Kildare, Dublin 132 km (82 mi) 1,256 km2[1]
9 River Erne Cavan, Fermanagh, Donegal 129 km (80 mi)[4] 4,372 km2[1]
10 River Foyle (including Rivers Mourne, Strule & Camowen) Tyrone, Londonderry, Donegal 129 km (80 mi) 2,925 km2[2]
11 River Slaney Wicklow, Carlow, Wexford 117 km (73 mi) 1,762 km2[1]
12 River Boyne Kildare, Offaly, Meath, Louth 113 km (70 mi) 2,695 km2[1]
13 River Moy Sligo, Mayo 101 km (62.5 mi) 2,086 km2[1]
14 River Clare (Corrib)d Mayo, Roscommon, Galway 93 km (58 mi) 1,108 km2[5]
15 River Blackwater (Ulster) (Bann) c Tyrone, Monaghan, Armagh 92 km (57 mi) 1,507 km2[2]
16t River Inny (Shannon) Cavan, Longford, Westmeath 89 km (55.5 mi) 1,254 km2[3]
16t River Lee Cork 89 km (55.5 mi) 1,253 km2[1]
18 River Lagan Down, Antrim 86 km (53.5 mi) 565 km2[2]
19 River Brosna (Shannon) Westmeath, Offaly 79 km (49 mi) 1,248 km2[3]
20 River Laune (includes Lough Leane and River Flesk) Kerry 76 km (47.25 mi) 829 km2
21 River Feale (Shannon) Cork, Limerick, Kerry 74 km (46 mi) 1,170 km2[6]
22 River Bandon Cork 72 km (45 mi) 608 km2[1]
23 River Blackwater (Boyne) Cavan, Meath 68 km (42.5 mi) 733 km2[7]
24 River Annalee (Erne) Monaghan, Cavan 66.8 km (41.75 mi) 522 km2[7]
25 River Bride (M. Blackwater) Cork, Waterford 64 km (40 mi) 419 km2
26 Boyle River (including Lung River) (Shannon) Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon 64 km (40 mi)[4] 725 km2
27 River Deel (Shannon) Cork, Limerick 63.2 km (39.5 mi) 481 km2[7]
28 River Robe (Corrib)d Mayo 62.8 km (39.25 mi) 320 km2
29 River Finn (County Donegal) (Foyle) Donegal, Tyrone 62.8 km (39.25 mi) 505 km2[7]
30 River Maigue (Shannon) Cork, Limerick 62 km (38.75 mi) 1,000 km2
31 Fane River Monaghan, Armagh, Louth 61.2 km (38.25 mi) 350 km2
32 Ballisodare River Sligo 60.8 km (38 mi) 650 km2[2]
33 River Dee (Louth) Cavan, Meath, Louth 60.4 km (37.75 mi) 392 km2[7]
34 River Fergus (Shannon) Clare 58.4 km (36.5 mi) 1,043 km2
35 Little Brosna River (Shannon) Offaly, Tipperary 57.6 km (36 mi) 662 km2
36 Mulkear River (including Bilboa River) (Shannon) Tipperary, Limerick 55.9 km (34.75 mi) 650 km2
37 River Glyde (Co. Louth) Cavan, Meath, Louth 55.9 km (34.75 mi) 348 km2

TABLE 1

a

  • The length of the River Shannon from the Shannon Pot to Limerick City is 258 kilometres (160 mi)[8] with a basin area of 11,700 km2.
  • The River Shannon's overall length (to Loop Head), using the Owenmore River (County Cavan) as source, is 372 kilometres (231 mi),[9] 11 km (7 mi) longer than the Shannon Pot source.
  • The River Shannon's overall length (to Loop Head), using the Boyle River's furthest source, is 392.1 kilometres (243.6 mi),[10] making the Boyle-Shannon river the longest natural stream flow (source to sea) in Ireland, 31.6 km (19.5 mi) longer than the Shannon Pot source.
  • The River Shannon is a traditional freshwater river for just about 45% of its total length. Excluding the 102.2-kilometre (63.5 mi) tidal estuary from its total length of 360 kilometres (224 mi), if one also excludes the lakes (L. Derg 39 kilometres (24 mi), L. Ree 29 kilometres (18 mi), L. Allen 11 kilometres (7 mi)[11] plus L. Boderg, L. Bofin, L. Forbes, L. Corry) from the Shannon's freshwater flow of 258.3 kilometres (160.5 mi), the Shannon as a freshwater river is only about 160 kilometres (100 mi) long.

b

  • The total basin area of the Three Sisters (Barrow, Nore and Suir) is 9,207 km2.

c

  • The traditional length given for the River Bann is 80 miles (129 km) which is the combined total length of Upper and Lower Bann rivers and doesn't include Lough Neagh.
  • The total length of the Ulster Blackwater from its source to the sea via L. Neagh and the Lower Bann is 186.3 km (115.75 mi),[12] surpassed, in Ireland, only by the Shannon and Barrow rivers. This is the longest stream flow (source to sea) in Ulster.[13]

d

Largest Irish Rivers (by flow)
River

(River Basin)

 Mean Discharge

(m³/s)

1 River Shannon[1]a 209 (300)
2 River Corrib[1] 105.5
3 River Bann[15]b 92 (102.5)
4 River Foyle[16] 90
5 River Blackwater (Munster)[1] 87.5
6 River Erne[1] 85
7 River Suir[1]c 76
8 River Moy[1] 63
9 River Barrow[1]c 46.5
10 River Laune[1] 43
11 River Nore[1]c 42
12 River Lee[1] 40
13 River Slaney[1] 39
14 River Boyne[1] 38.5
15 River Cong[7] (Corrib) 37.6
16 River Feale[17] (Shannon) 34.6
17 River Fergus[17] (Shannon) 25.7
18 River Clare[18] (Corrib) 22.9
19 River Suck[18] (Shannon) 22.2
20 River Avoca[1] 22
21 River Bandon[1] 21.5
22 River Mourne[18] (Foyle) 21.1
23 River Blackwater (Ulster)[18] (Bann) 19.7
24 River Ballisodare[7] 18.25
25 River Inny[18] (Shannon) 18.4
26 River Liffey[1] 17
27 River Derg[18] (Foyle) 16.2
28 River Maigue[17] (Shannon) 15.6
29 River Main[18] (Bann) 15.4
30 River Blackwater (Boyne)[7] (Boyne) 15.08
31 Aille River (Connacht)[19] (Corrib) 15.0
32 Owenmore River (County Mayo)[18] 14.7
33 Boyle River[7] (Shannon) 13.57
34 River Deel[7] (Shannon) 12.56
35 Mulkear River[7] (Shannon) 12.55

TABLE 2

a The River Shannon's 209 m3/s is to Limerick City (Catchment area: 11,700 km2). If the discharges from all of the rivers and streams into the Shannon Estuary (including the rivers Feale 34.6m3/s, Maigue 15.6m3/s, Fergus 25.7m3/s, and Deel 7.4m3/s)[17][20] are added to the discharge at Limerick giving a total catchment of 16,865 km2, the total discharge of the River Shannon at its mouth at Loop Head reaches 300 m3/s

b The River Bann's 92 m3/s is to Movanagher Gauging station (Basin area 5209.8 km2).[21] The 102.5 m3/s is based on the total basin area of 5808 km2[2] .

c The Three Sisters (Barrow, Nore & Suir) total flow into Waterford Harbour is 154 m3/s and the combined flow of the Barrow and Nore rivers is 86 m3/s before joining the river Suir near Waterford City.

Rivers in Ulster

With length in miles (and km)

Rivers in the Republic of Ireland, flowing into the Irish Sea

With length in miles (and km)

River Dodder

Rivers in the Republic of Ireland, flowing into the Celtic Sea

With length in miles (and km)

River Goul
River Lee

Rivers in the Republic of Ireland, flowing into the Atlantic Ocean

With length in miles (and km)

River Shannon
River Annalee

See also

References
  1. Comprehensive study of Riverine Inputs Details of hydrometric stations, sampling stations Page 17, Table 2 Archived 2017-08-05 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Ordnance Survey of Ireland: Rivers and their Catchment Basins 1958 (Table of Reference)
  3. Dublin Marine Institute 1998: Studies of Irish Rivers and Lakes: Moriarty, Christopher
  4. Robert A. Williams (27 May 1872). "Notes on river basins" – via Internet Archive.
  5. "Western CFRAM Units of Management" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  6. "Biology and Management of European Eel p.29" (PDF). wordpress.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  7. "Irish Hydro Power Association". Archived from the original on 5 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  8. "Secondary Schools Teacher Resources - Ordnance Survey Ireland". osi.ie. Archived from the original on 27 March 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  9. Shannon River Basin: Furthest sourceShannon River Basin#Furthest sources
  10. Boyle River (Ireland)
  11. "Home". www.askaboutireland.ie. Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  12. Ulster BlackwaterRiver Blackwater, Northern Ireland
  13. "European Commission Rivers Map" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 August 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  14. River Robe
  15. "- National River Flow Archive". ceh.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  16. "SMILE - Sustainable Mariculture in northern Irish Lough Ecosystems". www.ecowin.org. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  17. Long-term effects of hydropower installations and associated river regulation on River Shannon eel populations: mitigation and management Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  18. Royal Irish Academy, Atlas of Ireland (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 1979) Hydrology P. 23 - Rivers: Mean Discharge
  19. "OPW". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  20. "Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government". Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  21. "Search for gauging stations". ceh.ac.uk. 5 October 2015. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
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