River Boyne

This river has been known since ancient times. The Greek geographer Ptolemy drew a map of Ireland in the 2nd century that included the Boyne,^[1] which he called Βουουίνδα (Bouwinda) or Βουβίνδα (Boubinda), which in Celtic means "white cow" (Irish: bó fhionn). During the High Middle Ages, Giraldus Cambrensis called it the Boandus. In Irish mythology it is said that the river was created by the goddess Boann and Boyne is an anglicised form of the name.^[1] In other legends, it was in this river where Fionn mac Cumhail captured Fiontán, the Salmon of Knowledge. The Meath section of the Boyne was also known as Smior Fionn Feidhlimthe^[2] (the 'marrow of Fionn Feilim'). The tidal estuary of the Boyne, which extends inland as far as the confluence with the Mattock River, 'the curly hole', had a number of names in Irish literature and was associated as a place of departure and arrival in the ancient legends and myths, such as The Tragedy of the Sons of Tuireann, Togail Bruidne Dá Derga, &c. In the Acallam na Senórach the estuary has the name Inber Bic Loingsigh, abounding in ships. Inber Colpa or Inber Colptha was the principal name for the mouth of the Boyne in early medieval times. The townlands and civil parish of Colp, or Colpe on its southern shore preserve the name. It was associated in myth with Colpa of the Sword, a son of Míl Espáine, in the Milesian origin of the Irish, who drowned in the attempt to land there and is by tradition buried in the ringfort behind Colpe church. An alternative Dindsenchas tradition associates the name with the Máta, a massive aquatic creature, which having been killed was dismembered at Brú na Bóinne was thrown in the Boyne. Its shinbone (colptha) reached the estuary giving name to Inber Colptha.

The Boyne is a lowland river, surrounded by the Boyne Valley. It is crossed just west of Drogheda by the Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge, which carries the M1 motorway, and by the Boyne Viaduct, which carries the Dublin–Belfast railway line to the east. The catchment area of the River Boyne is 2,695 km².^[3] The long-term average flow rate of the River Boyne is 38.8 cubic metres (50.7 cu yd) per second.^[3]

Several species of trout inhabit the Boyne: brook trout, brown trout and introduced rainbow trout. There is also a steelhead in the spring, and naturally reproducing salmon in the fall.^[7]

• HMS Boyne
• Anthony Holten, author of The River Boyne: Hidden Legacies, History and Lore Explored on Foot and by Boat (ISBN 9780956991119)