The Shannon Pot, Blacklion

The Shannon is the longest river in Ireland or Britain and it all begins here. It is quite a random choice as there are many other streams that could claim to be the source. Some claimants would make the river 100km longer than it officially is. Tradition has it that this otherwise unremarkable pond is the source of a river that sounds like the Gaelic Sean Abhann (Old/great River) but officially it is An Sionainn. There is a stone circle almost occluded by trees as you approach the pot from the car-park. The circle is not on the national inventory but is quite clearly a stone circle. These circles are believed to have had some religious/ritual purpose and this one could be located close to a sacred pond of old. Sadly we don't know things like that. There's good car parking and the walkway in is in reasonable repair although covered in sheepshite. The mention of that product implies that there are sheep nearby so the area is not suitable for bringing dogs. One star lost!

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. The mythical home of the great river Shannon.