River Swilly

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For Lough Swilly click the link on the left.

River Swilly
Origin	Glendore Mountain
Mouth	Atlantic Ocean at Lough Swilly
Basin countries	Ireland
Length	~41.8 km (26 miles)
Source elevation	~15.2 m (50ft)
Avg. discharge	?
Basin area	?

The River Swilly (Irish: An Súileach) is a river in the Republic of Ireland, which flows in a western direction through Letterkenny, County Donegal. Letterkenny, the largest town in Donegal, is built on the river.

1 Course
2 History/Use
3 Crossings
- 3.1 Devlin Way
4 References

[edit] Course

The River Swilly rises near Glendore, a mountain in County Donegal, and flows for around 41.8 km (26 miles) through Letterkenny before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean at Lough Swilly.

[edit] History/Use

The old disused railway bridge

The river is nearly 26 miles long and is considered one of the best fishing rivers in the north west of Ireland. It is heavily fished by local anglers who regard it as free. A shipping industry once operated on the River Swilly. The River Swilly was extremely hard to navigate, for a larger boat, as it was narrow and has many bends near Donegal’s largest town of Letterkenny. The port in Letterkenny was no longer used for commercial shipping after the 1960s and its warehouses were demolished in 2001. The coal yard still remains on the old site opposite the Mount Errigal Hotel in Letterkenny.

[edit] Crossings

Devlin Way which spans the River Swilly

The Swilly is spanned by numerous bridges mostly open to road traffic. In the town itself there are four bridges across the river:

Oldtown Bridge
Port Bridge
Old disused rail bridge
Devlin Way

[edit] Devlin Way

Devlin Way at night

Devlin Way was the first pedestrian bridge built over the River Swilly. The bridge was installed on 2006-10-25 in Letterkenny. The bridge connects the suburban Oldtown area with the town centre. It was designed by TS McLaughlin Structural Engineers and the ironwork was constructed by Bonnar Engineering. The bridge cost €100,000 to construct. A maroon-coloured cambered steel structure which measures 28 metres long and 2.2 metres wide, the new bridge proves a major impact on the safety of pedestrians, especially OAPs and school-going children. It is lit by lamp cast from iron and it also contains a commemorative stone seat with a plaque. The bridge is neighbour to the much older and well known Oldtown Bridge.

The bridge was officially opened on 2006-11-14 by local councillor Ciaran Brogan. The bridge is named in honour of the Devlin family who live beside the bridge.^[1]