The River Brosna ( ga, An Bhrosnach) is a river within the Shannon River Basin in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, flowing through County Westmeath and County Offaly. The river rises in

Lough Owel Lough Owel () is a mesotrophic lough in the Midlands of Ireland, situated north of Mullingar, the county town of Westmeath. It has a maximum depth of . Water from Lough Owel feeds the Royal Canal, a canal crossing Ireland from Dublin to the Ri ...

north of

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmeath ...

and is a tributary of the River Shannon. It meets the Shannon at

Shannon Harbour Shannon Harbour a small village on the banks of the Grand Canal of Ireland. The village has the () older/regional name ''Cluain Uaine Bheag'' meaning 'Clononey Beg' or 'little Clononey' after the distance and population and low laying land of ...

. The River Brosna is 49.25 miles (79 km) in length.

Course

The Brosna begins as a small river, flowing from

in a south-south-westerly direction through

, into Lough Ennell. From Lough Ennell, the river Brosna flows into Kilbeggan, where it still powers the mill at

Kilbeggan Distillery Kilbeggan Distillery (formerly Brusna Distillery and Locke's Distillery) is an Irish whiskey distillery situated on the River Brosna in Kilbeggan, County Westmeath, Ireland. It is owned by Beam Suntory. A small pot still distillery, the licen ...

. The Brosna continues flowing southwest through

Clara Clara may refer to: Organizations * CLARA, Latin American academic computer network organization * Clara.Net, a European ISP * Consolidated Land and Rail Australia, a property development consortium People * Clara (given name), a feminine gi ...

, Ballycumber and Pullough. East of Ferbane it is joined by the Silver River. From Ferbane it heads to

, north of

Banagher Banagher ( or ''Beannchar na Sionna'') is a town in Ireland, located in the midlands, on the western edge of County Offaly in the province of Leinster, on the banks of the River Shannon. It had a population of 3,000 at the height of its econ ...

, where it joins the Shannon

Fishing

The river Brosna is popular for fly fishing and has stocks of brown trout as well as some

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

and

grilse Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus ''Oncorhynchu ...

. However it has, in recent years, suffered somewhat from pollution problems due to its poor

assimilative capacity Assimilative capacity is the ability for pollutants to be absorbed by an environment without detrimental effects to the environment or those who use of it. Natural absorption into an environment is achieved through dilution, dispersion and removal ...

and the discharge of untreated sewage in the Mullingar area during storm conditions. There have also been discharges of pollutants, whether accidental or otherwise, such as one filmed at the bridge of Clonmore industrial estate in Mullingar.

Drainage

Works, to the cost of IR £750,000, were undertaken on the river in the late 1940s and early 1950s to improve drainage in the river’s catchment area. As part of the Arterial Drainage Scheme, designed to tackle poor drainage caused by Ireland’s relatively low-lying topography, the river was deepened and widened, leaving the river with the high banks distinctive of many of the rivers in the Irish midlands that received this treatment. More recently, in late 2008 the river was diverted from the N52 road beside Mullingar in order to accommodate a new roundabout and bridge.An investigation of the effects of an arterial drainage scheme on the rainfall-runoff transformation behaviour of the Brosna catchment in Ireland, Bhattarai, K. P., O'Connor, K. M., EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6–11 April 2003, abstract #12112.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brosna, River Rivers of County Offaly Rivers of County Westmeath Tributaries of the River Shannon