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Athlone.ie » River Shannon

River Shannon

Extracts by Ruth Delany taken from the book Athlone Bridging the Centuries (1991)

Looking at a map of Ireland, intertwined with its roads and railways, it is not easy to trace the course of the River Shannon. On the other hand if one looks at a physical map of Ireland then the Shannon shows up in stark reality almost dividing the country into two parts. Up until the middle of the last century The Shannon played a huge part in history until it became obscured by road and rail networks.

But the river, which had provided a highway for the people of Ireland also, became the route by which the Viking invaders penetrated deep into the country. In the ninth century Turgis, the much-feared Norse leader, hauled his longboats over the rapids of the lower Shannon into Lough Derg, attacking and plundering the monastic settlements along the way. Clonmacnoise was not spared. In time he worked his way upstream where he established a large fleet and used the lake as a base from which to plunder the territories of Connacht and Meath.


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    The River Shannon and its natural fording point is the reason that we have the modern town of Athlone. The Shannon is the largest river in these islands meandering for over two hundred miles in length


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  • Angling Angling

    Athlone is a busy and important angling centre located in the heart of the Lakeslands Region on the River Shannon and lies immediately south of Lough Ree, a large lake of 10,500 hectares.


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