SUIR, RIVER

river in Ireland, rising in the Devil's Bit Mountains and flowing south across the lowland of County Tipperary through Thurles to the foot of the Knockmealdown Mountains. There it receives the Tar and bends through an elbow-shaped loop to flow north around the western edge of the Comeragh Mountains. The river then enters a long westeast valley guarded on the south by the Comeraghs and limestone lowlands on the north. In the 1760s the river was made navigable to Clonmel, but the tidal limit is Carrick-on-Suir. Finally the river broadens into an estuary and passes through Waterford. A little farther east, after a course of 114 mi (183 km), the Suir is joined by the Barrow and the Nore. All three rivers enter the wide estuarine bay known as Waterford Harbour.