Banagher

Banagher is a town at the western edge of County Offaly on the banks of the River Shannon. In Irish it's Beannchar na Sionna, "the place of the pointed rocks on the Shannon" - the river is shallow so it can be forded and is less flood-prone, but it's a block to navigation. An ancient settlement at the ford grew in the 19th century when the Grand Canal linked cross-country all the way from Dublin, and the shallows were bypassed by a lock system. Banagher was then an important inland port, but it and the waterways declined with the advent of the railways. In the late 20th century the waterways were refurbished for pleasure craft, and this is the main reason to visit.