Shannon Estuary Way by WJOK

Shannon Estuary Way

a virtual trek along the Shannon Estuary shoreline and hinterland

Waveprints

author: williamjokeeffe@gmail.com

shoreline in 1691 [Healy&Hickey, Irish Geography 38, Jan.2005]

Ferry Bridge (1787) carrying the N69 over the Maigue, and gateway to West Limerick photo: Kildimo Community Council

the keep, Carrigogunnell

upside-down staircase, Carrigogunnell, a result of the demolition by gunpowder in 1691 dyke ridge at Ringmoylan, looking to Woodcock Hill

moving inland: Dromore castle and lough, 2km west of Kildimo, off the N69

photo: A. O'Ciardha Shannongrove House, Ringmoylan, early 1700's (the river bank would once have lapped the lawn)

tower house ruin at Bolane, 1km west of Kildimo, off the N69

Killeen church at Cowpark, Kilcornan, just off the N69 note the unusual built-in bell cote (it allowed the bell to be rung from inside)

carved holy-water stoup and chancel window

Blue Lough, Curraghchase YellowPool, Glenisca, Curraghchase

Winter sedge, Curraghchase

EveningProfile:Knockfierna, from the terrace at Curraghchase House

Waller's Island (above) – an eroded glacial kame, off Bushyisland dyke Bushy Island, western profile Bushy Island sunset

views off Bushyisland dyke

Beagh piers and the view to Slieve Bernagh

Beagh Castle, northern elevation Beagh Castle, western elevation beach at Ballinvoher

shingle beach, Ballinvoher Rineanna Point, from Ballinvoher Coney Island in the Fergus estuary, from Ballinvoher

Aughinish jetty and Beeves Rock lighthouse, from Ballinvoher Point Ballycanauna Point at dusk, from Ballysteen Quay

deepend, Ballysteen Quay

bollardguard, Ballysteen Quay

Glenagauran shore, Ballysteen townland Glenagauran Point: creek in foreground marks the boundary of the barony of Kenry

Desmond earldom: castle and banqueting hall at Askeaton

Askeaton: mediaeval tower at St Mary's Church

Askeaton's Hellfire Club, one of Maurice Craig's ClassicIrishHousesoftheMiddleSize(1976), a volume now itself a classic and a collector's item. The building had two-storey Venetian windows, on the north and south gables, which feature Craig praised especially. The north window survived until recent years and might have been saved or even rebuilt, had the conservation works, now apparently stalled, begun in time. The surviving fragment of the south window is visible in this photo.

cloister at the Franciscan friary, Askeaton, upstream on the Deel estuary crossing the Deel: Toomdeely mediaeval hall

Holly Island inlet, Toomdeely West Moreena Point, high water Moreena Point, low water

Poulaweala inlet, Aughinish Poulaweala Lough Poulaweala salt pond

Foynes: Poultallin wood, Foynes Island sound

Foynes: reservoir above 'Árd an Óir'

tidal swell, Foynes Island sound

Foynes / Mount Trenchard: winter cascade on Boniska strand

Mount Trenchard burial ground, Mary Spring-Rice gravestone inscription: 'the souls of the faithful are in God's hand'

Mount Trenchard burial ground: a Vere O'Brien memorial inscription, the work of the Cork sculptor, Seamus Murphy

sunset over Mount Trenchard Point offshore vista: Poultallin foreland to Mount Trenchard

A diversion inland: the 'Black Hag' nunnery at Oldabbey, Shanagolden

A much maligned lady, probably a religious recluse and herbalist; cailleachdhubh, in any case, is an old term in Irish for a nun.

dovecote at Oldabbey

The old boathouse, Loghill cove Coalhill Point (Loghill)

Loghill-Kilteery: Hiphall Point Glin and Labasheeda Bay, from Furry Wood

The splendid memorial shield of the last Knight of Glin old Church of Ireland churchyard, Glin

old hotel entrance door at Glin with cobweb fanlight and Art Nouveau relief plasterwork

grey wisteria, Glin corbel console, Glin

from Glencloosagh Bay: Tarbert and Moneypoint power stations

Colossi

Glencloosagh Bay, looking to Ardmore Point Glencloosagh Bay, looking to the Clare shore

Ardmore Point

limestone pavement (Waveprints), Ardmore Point WWII relic, Ardmore Point

remains of the 'Fort Shannon' battery, Ardmore Point: one of two gun emplacements The escutcheon of the men who oversaw its construction: 7th Field Co., Corps of Engineers

command bunker generator bunker (one of three)

searchlight remains (one of two – see the preceding 'relic')

Pillbox: note the rusticated stone-cladding camouflage

Ardmore Point from Ballylongford Bay Ardmore heights from Reenturk Strand on Ballylongford Bay

Reenturk Strand Reenturk Point Ballylongford Bay, North Kerry

Saleen Quay, Ballylongford Carrigafoyle from Saleen

Carrigafoyle Castle from Carrig Island Winter wetlands, Carrig Island

Poet's gate, Carrig Isle

commerating the monks slain at Kilnaughtin Abbey

Brent Geese flotilla, Carrig Island

a curious hagioscope on the western gable end a once graceful double-ogive stoup

Carrigafoyle Church (on the mainland), late 1400's

...the Shannon estuary remains a dynamic frontier between the river and the ocean, oneofourlastwildernesses

quotation (italics added) from the UCD School of Archaeology's publication: 'People, place and time on the Shannon estuary' in: Aidan O'Sullivan and others, AncientlifeontheShannonestuary, Dublin, RIA, 2001

See also on ISSUU.com Desmond Earldom and West Limerick Way

more publications on: ISSUU.com/shorecrab

Carrigafoyle Castle from the West the ruin and collapse are the result of the Elizabethan bombardment in 1580