| River Nore | |
| Name Etymology: | Old Irish Eoir[1] |
| Map: | Nore River Map.jpg |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Name2: | Republic of Ireland |
| Subdivision Type3: | Region |
| Subdivision Name3: | Leinster |
| Subdivision Type4: | Counties |
| Subdivision Name4: | Tipperary, Laois, Kilkenny, Waterford |
| Length: | 140km (90miles) |
| Discharge1 Avg: | 42.9m3/s |
| Source1: | Devil's Bit Mountain |
| Source1 Location: | County Tipperary |
| Mouth: | River Barrow |
| Mouth Location: | New Ross, County Wexford |
| River System: | Three Sisters |
| Basin Size: | 2595km2 |
| Tributaries Left: | River Suir |
The River Nore (Irish: An Fheoir in Irish pronounced as /ə ˈn̠ʲoːɾʲ/) is one of the principal rivers (along with the River Suir and River Barrow) in the South-East Region of Ireland. The 140adj=midNaNadj=mid river drains approximately 2530km2 of Leinster and Munster, that encompasses parts of three counties (Tipperary, Laois, Kilkenny). Along with the River Suir and River Barrow, it is one of the constituent rivers of the group known as the Three Sisters.
Starting in the Devil's Bit Mountain, County Tipperary, the river flows generally southeast, and then south, before its confluence with the River Barrow at Ringwood, and the Barrow railway bridge at Drumdowney, County Kilkenny, which empties into the Celtic Sea at Waterford Harbour, Waterford.
The long term average flow rate of the River Nore is 42.9 cubic metres per second (m3/s) The river is home to the only known extant population of the critically endangered Nore freshwater pearl mussel, and much of its length is listed as a Special Area of Conservation.[2]
Nore is an anglicisation of the river's Old Irish name An Eoir;[3] the modern Irish name is An Fheoir. As such, the name is believed to be derived, etymologically, from Old Irish Irish, Old (to 900);: feórann: "green bank or shoreland."[4] Modern Irish Irish: feora means "green bank, edge or shore of sea, lake or river". In regard to "An Fheoir, the Nore (g. -e, al. An Eoir); al. Feor, cf. feora", Dinneen's Dictionary (1927) states: "Feoir g. -e, and Feorach, f. border, brim, edge; a stream or rivulet.”[5]
The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee (Félire Óengusso Céli Dé), published some time before the year 824, mentions the river: Irish, Old (to 900);: re taeb Eoire uarglaine "the cold-pure Eoire ."[6] A Middle Irish reference, from before 1420, refers to the Fiond-chlár fairsing na Feoire "fair wide plain of the Feoir".[7]
The Nore rises on the eastern slopes of the Devil's Bit Mountain in the townland of Borrisnoe, County Tipperary. It then flows south-eastwards to County Laois and County Kilkenny before joining the River Barrow just north of New Ross near the Barrow Bridge.[8] The river passes near Durrow, County Laois then through Ballyragget, the city of Kilkenny and then the villages of Bennettsbridge and Thomastown. Further south, it forms a picturesque V-shaped river valley, particularly notable near the village of Inistioge, the tidal limit. Major tributaries of the Nore include the Dinan, the Breagagh at Kilkenny City, the King's River, the Little Arrigle and the Black Water.