Banagher - Geography

Geography

Banagher is situated in north-west County Offaly on the east bank of the River Shannon. It is 106 km (66 mi) south west of Dublin, 14 km (8.7 mi) south east of Ballinasloe, 27 km (17 mi) south of Athlone and 25 km (16 mi) north east of Limerick. It provides a crossing point between Offaly in Leinster and Galway in Connacht. Although Banagher is located in the flood-plain of the River Shannon, the town itself was developed on high ground and remains virtually flood-free all year round. North of Lough Derg, the River Shannon has a very shallow gradient and regularly floods parts of the surrounding countryside. The resultant wet grassland area, known as the Shannon Callows, is an internationally recognised wild bird and wildlife habitat.

The country on either side of the Shannon in the Offaly-Galway area has been described as "reminiscent of the Fens, cut off and intersected by waterways, by the wide meandering Shannon itself, by its tributaries, the Suck, the Brosna and the Little Brosna and by the Grand Canal; traversed by a maze of narrow roads."

The travel writer and biographer, James Pope-Hennessy, described the River Shannon at Banagher in September in his biography of Anthony Trollope: "The month of September in Banagher, and all along the Shannon banks, is visually a glorious one, with golden autumn mornings, the low sun making long shadows of the houses in the street. At dusk the whole river reflects the varied sunsets as the days draw in - effects of palest pink, for instance, striped by cloudy lines of green, or an horizon aflame with scarlet and orange light."

The Slieve Bloom Mountains lie to the south of Banagher and the town is surrounded by the great bogs of the midlands, particularly to the east and west. The River Brosna is a major tributary of the River Shannon and meets the Shannon at Shannon Harbour, three kilometres north of Banagher.