River
Munster Blackwater
168 km from source to mouth · Ireland.
IrelandFlows into Celtic Sea4th longest in Ireland
In numbers
Length
168km
Average flow
89m³/s
Basin
3,324km²
Drop
122m
from 122 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
168 km of river and 6 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 122 m
- 17 kmMillstreet1,555 people
- 61 kmMallow Viaduct
- 63 kmMallow13,456 people
- 100 kmFermoy6,585 people
- 105 kmKilworth1,055 people
- 133 kmLismore1,347 people
- 168 kmCeltic Seaat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Ireland
At the mouth it carries 89 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 28 seconds. It drops from 122 m to 0 m, 0.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 3,324 km², about the size of CV. 101,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to January. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- MallowLargest city on its banks · 13,456 people
- Cork International Airport (ORK)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 34 km from the cityCar hire at ORK airport (Cork)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water9 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Munster Blackwater, month by month
Highest water: from December to January
Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 33 m³/s in the lowest month to 160 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
Munster Blackwater: the basin in numbers
3,229 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 101,000people live in the basin
- 31/km²people per km²
- 155maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,131mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 9.5°Caverage air temperature
What covers the basin
- 1% Forest
- 31% Cropland
- 62% Pasture
- 1% 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
Munster Blackwater: what you find on the way
- 12Weirs
- 5Waterfalls
- 8Boat rampsMallow Search and Rescue and 7 more
- 1MarinasCoolbagh Quay
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Munster Blackwater 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.
19mountains at the sourcePeakyas
1island off the mouthIslandyas
Mountains at the source (19)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Knockanefane5.0 km away439m
- Forehane4.7 km away391m
- Foilard6.2 km away350m
- Crinny Mountain14 km away296m
- Garraunbaun3.2 km away
- Taurbeg8.6 km away
- Taur9.3 km away
- Knockaclarig9.5 km away
11 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
Islands off the mouth (1)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Capel Island11 km away
Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
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
Munster Blackwater in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: River Bride
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Ireland368 km200 m³/s97 km awayLeeIreland90 km45 m³/s45 km awaySuirIreland184 km88 m³/s65 km awayBarrowIreland192 km110 m³/s67 km awayRiver NoreIreland140 km51 m³/s78 km awayRiver SlaneyIreland117 km40 m³/s101 km awayLiffeyIreland125 km14 m³/s188 km awayRiver BoyneIreland112 km46 m³/s222 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1464482) · 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 | Peakyas, Islandyas — 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
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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 
rivers
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