River Avoca
| River Avoca | |
|---|---|
| Origin | The Meeting of the Waters, County Wicklow |
| Mouth | Irish Sea at Arklow |
The Avoca, or historically Ovoca, is a river in County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland. It is contained completely within the county. The Avoca starts life as two rivers, the Avonmore (Irish: abhann mór, big river) and the Avonbeg (Irish: abhann beag, small river). These join together at a spot called The Meeting of the Waters (the Vale of Avoca), which is considered a local beauty spot, and was celebrated by Thomas Moore in his song of the same name.
The village of Avoca is situated on the river.
The Avoca flows into the Irish Sea at Arklow where it widens into a large estuary, giving Arklow its Irish language name an t-Inbhear Mór (the big inlet).
The valley of the Avoca has a large copper mine, and further downstream is the NET fertiliser factory (closed since 2002). These are said to have contributed greatly to pollution in the lower reaches of the river.
The railway line from Dublin to Wexford (and Rosslare) also passes along the Vale of Avoca, cutting inland from its mainly coastal route and the R752 tightly follows the west bank of the Avoca from The Meetings to Arklow.
- See also: Rivers of Ireland
References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
| Rivers of Ireland |
|---|
| Flowing north: Foyle | Bann | Bush | Quoile | Clanrye |
| Flowing to the Irish Sea: Fane | Boyne | Liffey | Avoca | Slaney | Lagan | Farset |
| Flowing south: Awbeg | The Three Sisters (Barrow, Nore, Suir) | Blackwater | Lee | Bandon |
| Flowing to the Atlantic: Shannon | Feale | Swilly | Corrib | Erne | Moy |
|
Major tributaries of the Shannon: Deel | Brosna | Inny | Suck | Maigue |
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