Template:FP-River Shannon

The young river Shannon at Drumsna Bridge, County Leitrim

River Shannon The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland at 224 miles. It is the great artery of the island, outside Ulster at least, and has been the conduit and subject of a great deal of history and the cultural imagination, dividing counties and provinces but uniting them by trade. The river flows generally southward from the Shannon Pot in County Cavan before turning west and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean through the long Shannon Estuary, 70 miles long. The Shannon flows entirely in the Republic of Ireland and divides the west of Ireland: a major physical barrier as there are fewer than thirty crossing-points between Limerick at its mouth and Dowra in the north. The river has been an important waterway since antiquity, described by ancient Ptolemy, deified by Gaels and extolled by poets ever since. (Read more)