Chasing the Magical 365
Hu O'Reilly is back with his popular series 'Chasing the Magical 365' in his quest to photograph and catalogue all of Cavan's reputed 365 lakes...
Which is Cavan’s biggest lake? Like many facts about Cavan’s lakes, the answer is not straight forward.
Firstly, what unit of measurement is best to use - area or volume? The depth of some lakes makes them greater in water volume than they look on maps. But for the purpose of this article, I’m going to use the lake’s surface area to determine Cavan’s biggest lakes, as it’s the easiest to measure.
The next factor to consider for many big lakes is how much of the lake is in Co. Cavan? Some of our biggest lakes are on the border with neighbouring counties: Lough Erne Lower, Lough Macnean Upper, Lough Sheelin, and Lough Gowna are examples of these.
For each of these, I worked out the approximate percentage of the lake that is in Co Cavan. Using the total lake area, I could then get an estimate of each lake’s area within our county. There are also many big lakes within the county, and the size of these is more easily found.
The maps I’m using for my main reference are from Ordnance Survey Ireland Discovery Series 1:50,000 and I’m using other references such as Wikipedia and www.fishingireland.info. The following measurements are in km2 (1km2 = 100 hectares)
Notable mentions of lakes that didn’t quite make this top ten are Templeport Lough, Skeagh Lough Upper, Killywilly Lough, and Bunerky Lough.
Here is my selection of Cavan’s 10 biggest lakes:
10. Garty Lough - 0.83km2
It’s situated near Arva in south Cavan and is a good angling lake for roach, perch, and pike. There is a fishing festival in the town every September. Arva is located near the tripoint where the provinces of Ulster, Leinster, and Connacht meet.
9. Nadrageel Loughs (Lackan Lakes) - 1km2
Locally known as Lackan Lake, it is two separate lakes just north of Ballyjamesduff town. It’s a popular fishing lake for pike, roach, rudd, hybrids, and perch. There’s an annual Christmas Day Dip for charity in the lake and I once even braved the elements myself for the dip, though on more occasions I used the excuse of being the photographer to avoid the cold splash!
8. Lough Erne Lower -
1.2km2 in Cavan
Although Lough Erne is the 4th largest lake in Ireland at 110km2, just a tiny percentage of it is in County Cavan. This is directly north of Belturbet town, and north of Drumard Lough and Lough Anoneen. The name of the lake is probably derived from an ancient goddess or a tribe of people who were named after this goddess – Erann.
7. Lough Sillan - 1.6km2
Shercock was a thriving area before the Great Famine with a population of around 5,000 people, a big flax industry, and a train station and post office.
A beautiful lake, Lough Sillan was the scene of an unfortunate boating tragedy in 1878 when 17 people lost their lives.
A schoolteacher, his wife, two school staff members, and 13 schoolchildren drowned when their boat capsized on the lake.
6. Brackley Lough - 1.7km2
Situated near the village of Bawnboy in west Cavan, which is in the parish of Templeport and home to St Mogue, who was born on an island on Templeport Lough in the 6th Century. Brackley Lough is a pike, roach, and bream fishing lake.
5. Lough Macnean Upper -
2.9km2 in Cavan
West of the village of Blacklion in North West Cavan is Lough Macnean Upper, with a total area of 9.83km2. Most of the lake is in Co. Fermanagh, with about 30% in Cavan. There is an ancient crannóg, a man-made lake, on the island.
4. Lough Gowna -
4.7km2 in Cavan
In south Cavan and on the border with Co. Longford, the total area of this lake is 11.78km2 with about 40% in Co Cavan. Lough Gowna is a moraine-dammed lake formed at the end of the last Ice Age, around 13,000 BC. Ancient folklore tells the story of a calf who escaped from a well and left a stream of water behind it which formed the lake.
3. Lough Ramor - 7.4km2
Lough Ramor is a shallow lake near Virginia in east Cavan, with a maximum depth of just 6 metres. It is believed that there was an early Christian settlement and church on an island on Lough Ramor from the 5th Century. There is evidence of settlements in the Lough Ramor area from 2000BC.
2. Lough Sheelin -
9.5km2 in Cavan
While the total lake area is 19km2, around 50% is in Cavan making Sheelin Cavan’s second largest lake. The rest of the Lough is in Counties Meath & Westmeath. It lies on the River Inny and is part of the Shannon system. It’s a popular fishing lake with species including trout, pike, perch, and roach.
1. Lough Oughter - 89.3km2
Cavan’s biggest lake is Lough Oughter at a massive 89.3km2.
It’s a complex of lakes on the River Erne and part of the Lough Erne complex and has been described as the “best inland example of a flooded drumlin landscape” in Ireland. It is home to an abundance of wildlife including 3% of the total European population of whooper swans each wintertime. The Lough Oughter complex and Killykeen forest park have been designated as Special Areas for Conservation. Trinity Abbey is a ruin of a monastic settlement that was built on Trinity Island on Lough Oughter in the 1230s. Cloughoughter Castle is on an island on Lough Oughter and was a fortress and prison from the early 13th Century until the mid-1600s. It’s possible to visit the castle ruins by boat or kayak, which I did some years ago and it was a wonderful experience.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’m finding out more and more about Cavan and the lakes in my journey photographing 365 lakes of Cavan for a book and exhibition - which I plan to launch in October this year.
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