The Slate River () or River Slate is a river in

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 ...

and

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 ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, a tributary of the Figile River.

Name

Its name derives from the

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

quarries in the region. The Irish language name derives from ''tarae'', meaning

mill race A mill race, millrace or millrun, mill lade (Scotland) or mill leat (Southwest England) is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel ( sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared with the broad waters of a m ...

, referring to Sally Corn Mill, Rathangan. The river was historically known as the Clashaghbane River.

Course

Slate River rises near Ballynafagh Lake in Prosperous and flows southwest, passing under the R403 road at Graigues. It continues westward parallel to, and north of, the Grand Canal. The Slate passes under the Grand Canal via the Derrymullen aqueduct and is bridged by the R415 at Littletown. The Slate River continues through Ballyteague Forest and passes by the Lullymore Heritage and Discovery Park on the

Bog of Allen The Bog of Allen () is a large raised bog in the centre of Republic of Ireland, Ireland between the rivers River Liffey, Liffey and River Shannon, Shannon. The bog's 958 square kilometres (370 square miles) stretch into counties County Offaly, ...

. It passes through

Rathangan, County Kildare Rathangan (; ) is a town in the west of County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. , the population was 3,263. It is located from the centre of Dublin, and from Kildare, at the intersection of the R401 road (Ireland), R401, R414 road, R41 ...

where it passes under Rathangan Bridge, part of the R401. There is also a footbridge downstream of this bridge, and another bridge (for the R414) at Rathangan

Demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...

. The Slate River continues westward, passing into

and draining into the Figile River just south 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 ...

Wildlife

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 ...

European perch The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man's rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the ...

and

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 ...

are common.

References

{{coord, 53.1936, -7.0891, type:river_region:IE, display=title Rivers of County Kildare Rivers of County Offaly

Name

Course

Wildlife

See also

References