When several natural agencies were determining the present course of the River Shannon, the water was obstructed by a ridge of stiff clay resting on limestone and extending due east from the present townland of Ballinclare to Lanesborough - a distance of one mile. To the north, there were great flats covered with water which now are covered with bogs. To the south, there was a long depression now occupied by Lough Ree; formely known as Lough Ribh. It was so called from Ribh, a Munster prince who with his family was drowned here - according to a legend - when Lough Ribh or Ree made its first appearance. In the course of time the obstructed water made a passage through this ridge; but here the water course remained shallow ever after and it became a famous ford.An Dothra Bheag