River
River Bann
137 km from source to mouth · United Kingdom.
United KingdomFlows into North Channel
In numbers
Length
137km
Average flow
130m³/s
Basin
5,715km²
Drop
78m
from 78 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
137 km of river and 12 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 78 m
- 18 kmBanbridge14,744 people
- 29 kmGilford1,583 people
- 37 kmPortadown32,926 people
- 43 kmLough Gullion0.7 km²
- 53 kmRiver Blackwatertributary
- 81 kmLough Neagh375 km²
- 88 kmLough Beg5.4 km²
- 95 kmPortglenone1,230 people
- 106 kmKilrea1,616 people
- 130 kmColeraine25,681 people
- 130 kmBann Bridge
- 136 kmPortstewart8,394 people
- 137 kmNorth Channelat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
The longest river in Northern Ireland
At the mouth it carries 134 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 19 seconds. It drops from 78 m to 0 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 5,715 km², about the size of BN. 556,000 people live in it. Highest water: from November to January. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- PortadownLargest city on its banks · 32,926 people
- Belfast International Airport (BFS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 30 km from the cityCar hire at BFS airport (Belfast)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water12 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
River Bann, month by month
Highest water: from November to January
Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 83 m³/s in the lowest month to 180 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
River Bann: the basin in numbers
5,715 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 556,000people live in the basin
- 98/km²people per km²
- 102maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,000mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 8.4°Caverage air temperature
- 18%protected areas
- 6.8%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 3% Forest
- 18% Cropland
- 63% Pasture
- 4% 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
River Bann: what you find on the way
- 35WeirsEel Weir, Glenone Bridge Weir, The Cutts and 32 more
- 8LocksToome Canal and 7 more
- 2Waterfalls
- 10Boat ramps
- 2MarinasPortglenone Marina, Coleraine Marina
- 1River beachesPortstewart Strand
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
River Bann 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
3beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
13mountains at the sourcePeakyas
2islands off the mouthIslandyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lough Gullionkm 430.7km²
- Lough Neaghkm 81 · 25 m deep375km²
- Lough Begkm 895.4km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (3)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Portstewart Strand1.6 km away14.2°C
- Portstewart Beachkm 13714.1°C
- Benone Beach8.6 km away14.2°C
Mountains at the source (13)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Slieve Donard7.5 km away · prominence 825 m849m
- Slieve Commedagh6.6 km away · prominence 180 m767m
- Slieve Bearnagh3.4 km away727m
- Slieve Muck3.4 km away · prominence 350 m674m
- Slievelamagan4.5 km away702m
- Slieve Meelbeg2.3 km away · prominence 193 m702m
- Slieve Meelmore3.3 km away704m
- Ben Crom3.0 km away · prominence 81 m526m
5 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
Islands off the mouth (2)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Sheep Island26 km away0.0km²
- Carrick-a-Rede27 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
River Bann in pictures




Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: River Blackwater
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q19691) · 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 | Lakeyas, Coastya, 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.