The Figile River (; ) is a river in eastern Ireland.

Name

The earliest recorded name is ''Fidgable''/''Fid nGabli'', meaning "Gabul's Wood", recorded in the

Book of Leinster The Book of Leinster ( , LL) is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled and now kept in Trinity College Dublin. It was formerly known as the ''Lebor na Nuachongbála'' ("Book of Nuachongbáil"), a monastic site known today as Oughaval. In 2023 ...

and the

Metrical Dindshenchas ''Dindsenchas'' or ''Dindshenchas'' (modern spellings: ''Dinnseanchas'' or ''Dinnsheanchas'' or ''Dınnṡeanċas''), meaning "lore of places" (the modern Irish word ''dinnseanchas'' means "topography"), is a class of onomastic text in early Iri ...

, both c. 1160. It is also mentioned in

Buile Shuibhne ''Buile Shuibhne'' or ''Buile Suibne'' (, ''The Madness of Suibhne'' or ''Suibhne's Frenzy'') is a medieval Irish tale about Suibhne mac Colmáin, king of the Dál nAraidi, who was driven insane by the curse of Saint Rónán Finn. The insanity ...

("Suibhne's Frenzy", 12th century) as ''Fiodh Gaibhle'', a site of refuge for the maddened Suibhne where he lived for a year, eating

holly ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

berries and

acorn The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...

s and drinking from ''uisci na Gabhla'' ("Gabul's waters"). The Anglicisation ''Fegowly'' first appears in the 17th century, becoming ''Feagile'' on Alex Taylor's 1783 map and ''Figile'' on the 1843

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

map. It was here that

Fionn Mac Cumhaill Fionn mac Cumhaill, often anglicised Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is the leader of the ''Fianna'' bands of young roving hunter-warriors, as well as being a seer a ...

is said to have been concealed by his mother Muirne from his family's enemies and brought up by her sisters deep in the woods after the killing of his father.

Course

The Figile River begins at the union of the Crabtree and Cushaling rivers, near the

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...

border. It meets the Black River tributary and continues northwest, crossing and recrossing the bog railway. It crosses under the R401 at the Kilcumber Bridge, a triple-arch masonry bridge, built c. 1790. The Figile continues south, meeting the Philipstown River outside

Clonbulloge Clonbullogue or Clonbolloge () is a village in County Offaly, Ireland. Location The village is located at the junction of the R401 and R442 regional roads. The '' Figile River'' runs through the village under the R442 near its confluence wi ...

. It is bridged by the R442 at Saint Patrick's Bridge and flows on southwards, passing under the R442 again near Millgrove House. The Figile passes under the R419 west of

Bracknagh Bracknagh or Bracnagh () is a small village in County Offaly, Ireland. It is at the junction of the R442 and R419 regional roads, close to the border with County Kildare, halfway between Portarlington and Rathangan (8 km from both). It ...

and flows on southeast where it is joined by the Slate River and the

Cushina River Cushina () is a townland in County Offaly on the Cushina River at the junction of the R400 and R419 regional roads. It is 4 km north of Portarlington. See also * List of townlands of County Offaly This is a sortable table of th ...

before entering

at Pollagorteen. It continues southward through Clogheen and forms part of the

County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

-County Kildare border, draining into the

River Barrow The Barrow () is a river in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is one of The Three Sisters (Ireland), 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 (12 ...

at Passlands, just north of

Monasterevin Monasterevin (), sometimes Monasterevan, is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. It lies on the River Barrow and the Barrowline, a canal branch of the Grand Canal. In the 20 years between the 2002 and 2022 censuses, the population more than dou ...

Wildlife

The Figile is known as a

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

common bream The common bream (''Abramis brama''), also known as the freshwater bream, bream, bronze bream, carp bream or sweaty bream, is a European species of freshwater fish in the family Leuciscidae. It is now considered to be the monotypic, only speci ...

common rudd The common rudd (''Scardinius erythrophthalmus'') is a benthos, bentho-pelagic freshwater Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Leuciscidae. This species is widely spread in Europe and central Asia, around the ...

common roach The roach, or rutilus roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), also known as the common roach, is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the family Cyprinidae, native to most of Europe and western Asia. Fish called roach can be any species of the genera ''Rut ...

and

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

fishery.

References

{{coord, 53, 09, N, 7, 05, W, display=title, region:IE_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Rivers of County Kildare Rivers of County Laois Rivers of County Offaly