The River Roe is a river located in
County Londonderry,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. It flows north from
Glenshane in the
Sperrin Mountains
The Sperrins or Sperrin Mountains () are a range of mountains in Northern Ireland and one of the largest upland areas in Northern Ireland. The range stretches from Strabane eastwards to Slieve Gallion in Desertmartin and north towards Limavad ...
to
Lough Foyle, via the settlements of
Dungiven,
Burnfoot,
Limavady and
Myroe.
The River Roe's length is
Origin
The origin of the name 'Roe' is unclear. Suggestions include a Viking origin in the 8th/9th century, and the
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
'rua', meaning 'red', i.e. the Red River. This may be a reference to the high amounts of iron found in some places along the river.
The Irish government's placenames database, held by Dublin City University, identifies the Irish version of the name as . This roughly translates into English as "The River of Rowing", possibly due to common passage by oar-powered boat craft in earlier times.
Geology
The Roe Basin (or Roe Valley) is a wide,
glacial valley
U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by the process of glaciation. They are characteristic of mountain glaciation in particular. They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with steep, straight s ...
. The river flows most of the way to Limavady through an open, grassy,
pastoral farmland landscape before narrowing through a
metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...
gorge within the
Roe Valley Country Park. Beyond Limavady the river widens and meanders to an
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
feeding into
Lough Foyle at Myroe Levels. Due to the wide, open nature of the upper reaches of the Roe, heavy rainfall can result in large surges of water or floods. Many lower lying fields have earth defences to prevent flooding when the river rises above its natural banks. The estuary is a feeding ground of many birds and nesting area for
lapwing
Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A gro ...
.
Angling
The Roe Valley Country Park is a popular area for fishing, with stock of
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 ...
,
sea trout and
brown trout.
See also
*
Rivers of Ireland
Shown here are all the major rivers and tributaries of Ireland with their lengths (in kilometres and miles). Starting with the Northern Ireland rivers, and going in a clockwise direction, the rivers (and tributaries) are listed in regard to their ...
References
External links
The name of the river RoeSalmon fishing on the River Roe, from Salmon Ireland
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Roe
Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked in ...