What is recorded here

An ancient ford crossed the River Shannon from Meelick to Cloghaun, spanning four hundred metres of marsh and island. Polished stone axeheads and bronze swords recovered from the water suggest prehistoric ancestry, while a seventeenth-century description warned that windings and narrow breadth blocked armies though guides could lead travellers through. The surface trace has vanished, leaving only the river itself to remember the crossing.

An ancient fording point crossed the River Shannon from the medieval borough (GA108-234----/GA109-060----) of Meelick in Co. Galway, to Cloghaun in Co. Offaly. It must have been c. 400m across, if one includes the marshy fringes and islands along this stretch of the river. It was evidently of prehistoric ancestry from the polished stone axeheads and bronze swords recovered from it (Bradley and Dunne 1992, 154-5). Described c. 1690 as 'one of the passes of the Shannon ... convenient enough for travellers with a guide, but not for an army, the ford being narrow with several windings and dangerous on both sides' (Woodford Heritage Group 1986, 139). No visible surface trace survives and even its exact position is unclear. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 8 June 2017

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