River Suir

The River Suir is an Irish river that drains into the Atlantic Ocean after a 185-kilometer journey through Waterford (115 mi). The Suir has a catchment area of 3,610 km2. It has a long-term average flow rate of 76.9 cubic metres per second (m3/s), which is almost double the flow of either the River Barrow (37.4 m3/s) or the River Nore (42.9 m3/s) before they connect, but somewhat less than the Barrow's flow when it reaches the Suir 20 km downstream (nearly 80 m3/s).

The River Suir is spelled Sir in Irish, and the current English form with the u and I reversed is regarded to be a mistake. As a result, some individuals believe that the English spelling should be Siur, and this spelling is occasionally observed. It is considered one of the longest rivers in Ireland.

In his writings during the Elizabethan time while residing in County Cork, Edmund Spenser (1552–1599), author of The Fairie Queene, refers to the "gentle Shure," most likely a most precise spelling and the most phonetically correct of the period. The remnants of a major Viking village were discovered near a bend in the river at Woodstown, just upstream from Waterford, in the early years of the twenty-first century.

Length: 185 km