River
River Boyne
112 km from source to mouth · Ireland.
IrelandFlows into Irish Sea8th longest in Ireland
In numbers
Length
112km
Average flow
46m³/s
Basin
2,695km²
Drop
68m
from 68 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
112 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 68 m
- 18 kmBoyne Aqueduct
- 19 kmLongwood1,581 people
- 43 kmTrim9,563 people
- 45 kmNewtown Trim6,781 people
- 66 kmNavan Viaduct
- 66 kmNavan33,886 people
- 69 kmBabe's Bridge
- 81 kmSlane1,369 people
- 91 kmBrú na BóinneUNESCO World Heritage
- 97 kmTullyallen1,547 people
- 99 kmMary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge
- 103 kmDrogheda44,135 people
- 104 kmBoyne Viaduct
- 112 kmIrish 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 46 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 55 seconds. It drops from 68 m to 0 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,695 km², about the size of LU. 201,000 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
- DroghedaLargest city on its banks · 44,135 people
- Dublin Airport (DUB)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 33 km from the cityCar hire at DUB airport (Dublin)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
River Boyne, month by month
Highest water: from December to January
Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 17 m³/s in the lowest month to 78 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 Boyne: the basin in numbers
2,771 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 201,000people live in the basin
- 73/km²people per km²
- 87maverage altitude of the basin
- 886mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 9.0°Caverage air temperature
- 0.6%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 1% Forest
- 14% Cropland
- 39% 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
River Boyne: what you find on the way
- 50Weirs
- 52LocksRuxton's Lock - Lock 18, Rowley's Lock - Lock 17, Taaffe's Lock - Lock 16 and 49 more
- 4Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
River Boyne 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
4mountains at the sourcePeakyas
3islands off the mouthIslandyas
Beaches (2)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- The Barkm 96 · cove15.1°C
- The Havenkm 96 · cove15.1°C
Mountains at the source (4)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Hill of Allen15 km away206m
- Clonmullen Hill6.0 km away
- Ballykilleen Hill11 km away
- Crockberry Hill8.8 km away
Islands off the mouth (3)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- St Patrick's Island20 km away
- Shenick Island21 km away
- Colt Island20 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 Boyne in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Enfield Blackwater
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Ireland125 km14 m³/s43 km awayRiver NoreIreland140 km51 m³/s153 km awayRiver ShannonIreland368 km200 m³/s203 km awayRiver SlaneyIreland117 km40 m³/s154 km awayRiver Bann
United Kingdom137 km130 m³/s163 km awaySuirIreland184 km88 m³/s171 km awayBarrowIreland192 km110 m³/s168 km awayRiver DeeUnited Kingdom110 km30 m³/s217 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q896037) · 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, 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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Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit