River Barrow

The Barrow (Irish: An Bhearú) is a river in Ireland. It is one of The Three Sisters; the other two being the River Suir and the River Nore. The Barrow is the longest of the three rivers, and at 192 km (120 mi), the second-longest river in Ireland, behind the River Shannon. The catchment area of the River Barrow is 3,067 km2 before River Nore joins it a little over 20 km before its mouth. The river’s long term average flow rate, again before it is joined by River Nore, is 37.4 cubic metres per second.[1] At the merger with the River Suir, its catchment area is ca. 5,500 km2 and its discharge over 80 m3/s.

The source of the River Barrow is at Glenbarrow in the Slieve Bloom Mountains in County Laois.

Among the towns that the River Barrow passes through on its way to the sea beyond Waterford are Portarlington, Monasterevin, Athy, Carlow/Graiguecullen, Muine Bheag (Bagenalstown), Graiguenamanagh and New Ross.

The river forms a natural border between, on its right bank, counties Kilkenny and Waterford and, on its left bank, counties Carlow and Wexford