From mountain to the sea, the Ahare River also known as the Inch or Kilgorman river meets up with
the Clonogue river and continues its journey to the sea at Castletown.
The river back in 1885 was referred to as being abundant in Salmon and Trout ( “ About Wexford,
Country Guide and Directory 1885”) Things have changed a lot since then and while the river is still a
Salmon and Trout river, many winds of change have blown since then.
Ghost stories abound about the river and local story teller and river friend Andy Kelly tells the story
of a fully rigged sailing ship that sails through the mists upriver from the sea. This ship is reported to
have been wrecked off clone beach. There are locals who claim to have seen this phantom ship and
it scared the gizzards out of them.
There are also reports of a ghostly light that comes from the old burial grounds at Kilgorman and
which was seen at night coming down from the graveyard and it moved along the River bank. This
was observed several times from Clone and while there were those who dismissed the sightings,
there was none brave enough to investigate this light at night says Andy.
Andy also talked about a mist which forms along the river on a summers evening and is known
locally as “The Murneen Tuc “which is possibly a reference to an old Irish name known in the area as
a river fog.
The Ahare river exits the land at Kilgorman to Clone beach with reed banks on either side providing a
great wildlife habitat. Kayaking up the river from the estuary is a fabulous way to see the river and
its wildlife says Andy.
The river estuary has in the past flowed into a lagoon which picked up the flow from the Dooroge
stream also on Clone and exited to sea in a Northerly direction. This lagoon has been a special
nursery for Juvenile flat fish and people have talked about being in the lagoon and experiencing a
flurry of sand under their feet as a flounder made a quick escape. Eels from the Saragosso sea enter
the estuary and migrate up the Dooroge stream every year.
The sound of Children’s laughter resounds through summer days as with water levels low they love
to play in the lagoon.
The flash of the silver bellies of the young sea trout as they jump and flip in the estuary and the
sound of the Sandpipers and Oyster Catchers as they amble along the banks of the estuary mouth.
Herons and White Egrets patrol the lagoon and estuary on the lookout for a tasty bite to eat.