River
Barrow
192 km from source to mouth · Ireland.
IrelandFlows into Suir2nd longest in Ireland
In numbers
Length
192km
Average flow
110m³/s
Basin
5,492km²
Drop
71m
from 70 m to -1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
192 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 8 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 70 m
- 11 kmMountmellick3,547 people
- 26 kmPortarlington7,788 people
- 40 kmMonasterevin4,246 people
- 68 kmCromaboo Bridge
- 68 kmAthy11,035 people
- 69 kmRiver Barrow Horse Bridge
- 69 kmRiver Barrow Railway Bridge
- 92 kmCarlow27,351 people
- 114 kmBagenalstown2,837 people
- 146 kmGraiguenamanagh1,475 people
- 167 kmMount Garrett Bridge
- 169 kmRiver Noretributary
- 170 kmBarrow Bridge
- 172 kmNew Ross8,040 people
- 181 kmRose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge
- 191 kmBarrow Viaduct
- 192 kmSuirat -1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Second longest river in Ireland, one of the Three Sisters
At the mouth it carries 110 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 23 seconds. It drops from 70 m to -1 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 5,492 km², about the size of BN. 286,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to February. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- CarlowLargest city on its banks · 27,351 people
- Dublin Airport (DUB)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 79 km from the cityCar hire at DUB airport (Dublin)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water16 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Barrow, month by month
Highest water: from December to February
Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 42 m³/s in the lowest month to 190 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Barrow: the basin in numbers
5,492 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 286,000people live in the basin
- 52/km²people per km²
- 116maverage altitude of the basin
- 914mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 9.0°Caverage air temperature
What covers the basin
- 1% Forest
- 25% Cropland
- 48% Pasture
- 2% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Barrow: what you find on the way
- 44Weirs
- 89LocksGrand Canal Mountmellick Branch, Lock 24, Grand Canal - Barrow Line and 86 more
- 1Waterfalls
- 14Boat rampsCarlow Town Park and 13 more
- 2Marinas
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Barrow in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
2beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
24mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (2)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Tramore Strand17 km away15.7°C
- Back Strand16 km away · cove15.7°C
Mountains at the source (24)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Arderin9.9 km away · prominence 420 m527m
- Wolftrap Mountain3.7 km away · prominence 42 m487m
- Ridge of Capard2.8 km away · prominence 48 m483m
- Carroll's Hill9.5 km away · prominence 37 m482m
- Baunreaghcong1.3 km away · prominence 74 m511m
- Farbreague14 km away · prominence 45 m430m
- Barcam9.7 km away · prominence 49 m484m
- Stillbrook Hill5.6 km away · prominence 79 m514m
16 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Barrow in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
SuirIreland184 km88 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Ireland140 km51 m³/s15 km awayRiver SlaneyIreland117 km40 m³/s35 km awayMunster BlackwaterIreland168 km89 m³/s67 km awayRiver ShannonIreland368 km200 m³/s124 km awayLiffeyIreland125 km14 m³/s129 km awayLeeIreland90 km45 m³/s111 km awayRiver BoyneIreland112 km46 m³/s168 km awayRiver Severn
United Kingdom354 km110 m³/s316 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q936301) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Coastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit