River Inny, Leinster

The River Inny

The River Inny is a river within the Shannon River Basin in Ireland, and which flows through, or forms the border of, four counties on its course. The Inny is 40 miles in length from its source to its mouth in Lough Ree.

The river is known in Irish as An Eithne and it is said that the name is from the mythological figure Ethniu.

Course

The Inny begins as a stream on Patrickstown Hill, one of the peaks which form the Loughcrew complex of megalithic tombs, near Oldcastle in Meath and marks the boundary between the counties of Meath and Cavan for about four miles before it enters Lough Sheelin in Cavan. From Lough Sheelin it forms the boundary between Westmeath and Cavan, and flows under the bridge of Finea into Lough Kinale where the counties of Cavan and Westmeath meet that of Longford.

From this meeting, the river forms much of the boundary between Longford and Westmeath but near Streete it enters Westmeath and flows into Lough Derravaragh. It then flows near the village of Ballinalack and crosses into County Longford near Abbeyshrule, where the Whitworth aqueduct suspends the Royal Canal above the river, and pumps supply the canal with water.

At nearby Tenelick, the mythological Princess Eithne drowned in the rapids, giving her name to the river. The rapids have powered two mills here for many years. It continues past Newcastle House to Ballymahon, the largest town located on the Inny. It again forms the county line between Longford and Westmeath, finally running westwards to discharge its waters into Lough Ree, which covers the boundary with the county of Roscommon. The waters leaving the lough are the River Shannon

The Inny River at Newcastle Bridge

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about River Inny, Leinster)

• Inny River Guide