The Boyle River is a river in Ireland. Forming part of the Shannon River Basin, it flows from Lough Gara on the Sligo/Roscommon border and thence through the town of Boyle to Lough Key. From there is continues eastwards through the village of Knockvicar to the River Shannon at Lough Drumharlow, near Carrick-on-Shannon.
Boyle River | |
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Native name | An Bhúill (Irish) |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Lough Gara |
Mouth | River Shannon |
• location | Lough Eidin |
The length of the Boyle River (from its source in Mayo to the Shannon) is 64.4 km (40mi).[1] The area of the Boyle river basin is 725 km2[2]
The Upper Shannon catchment, above Carrick-on-Shannon (area: 1,301 km2[3]), has two distinct reaches, the River Shannon (basin area: 576 km2), which rises in County Cavan, and the Boyle River (basin area: 725 km2), with its source in County Mayo, which have their confluence at Lough Eidin/Drumharlow, approximately 4.7 km upstream of Carrick-On-Shannon.
The Boyle River has its origins in the rivers Lung and Breedoge, which flow into Lough Gara. The 29 km (18 mi) Lung River is fed by Urlaur Lough and Errit Lough on the Mayo/Roscommon border.[4][5]
The river flow from the furthest reaches of the Boyle catchment to Limerick city has a measurement of 290 km (180ml).[6] When added to the Shannon's 102.1 km (63.5ml) estuary, this gives a total river length of 392.1 km (243.5ml), which makes it the longest river within the River Shannon basin (from source to mouth), 31.6 km (19.5ml) longer than the Shannon Pot source.[7]
River Shannon, Ireland (Basin) | |
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Major tributaries | |
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List | |
Flowing north | |
Flowing to the Irish Sea | |
Flowing to the Celtic Sea | |
Flowing to the Atlantic | |
Tributaries of the Shannon | |
River names in italics indicate rivers which are partially or wholly in Northern Ireland, with the rest being wholly in the Republic of Ireland |