Banagher

"Well, that beats Banagher!" This small Shannon-side town is best known in Ireland because of this common phrase, which dates from the 19th century when the town was the very worst example of a "rotten borough"—a corrupt electoral area controlled by the local landed gentry. In short, if something "beats Banagher" it's either pretty bad or rather extraordinary. Nowadays, Banagher is a lively marina town that is a popular base for water-sports enthusiasts. Anthony Trollope (1815-82), who came to Ireland as a post office surveyor in 1841, lived here while he wrote his first book, The Macdermots of Ballycloran. Charlotte Brontë (1816-55) famously spent her honeymoon here.