Reaching new heights in quest to photograph Cavan’s lakes

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...

Have you ever wondered why Cavan has so many lakes? This county has a unique geological make-up, which was formed over millions of years, giving rise to a landscape with a lake for every day of the year. The most prominent feature of this landscape is rolling drumlin hills. These are oval-shaped hills that were formed by sheets of ice slowly moving across the landscape and moving rock debris. This happened during the last Ice Age, which lasted from about 70,000BC- 8,000BC in Ireland.

The word drumlin comes from the Irish word ‘drum’ meaning ‘mound’ or ‘rounded hill’. It is sometimes referred to as a ‘basket of eggs’ typography. Drumlins are usually around 1-2km long and between 15-30 metres high and run in a parallel direction. This would have been the direction that the glacier moved in, picking up looser rocks and debris and moving them into what we now see as drumlin hills. After the ice melted, lakes often formed between the drumlins, and these are the majority of lakes that we see in Cavan today.

County Cavan is the source of two of Ireland’s longest rivers - the Shannon and the Erne. The River Shannon - Ireland’s longest river at around 360km - rises at the Shannon Pot or Legnashinna in West Cavan. The main underlying geology of this region is limestone, which means that rivers flow and then disappear where sinkholes form in the limestone. Lakes can develop if there is a good amount of glacial till in the soil in an area. In a conversation with a local of this area, I was told that even whole lakes can be swallowed by sinkholes. Indeed on this project, I went to photograph Eden Lough, which is on maps south of Garvagh Lough, but it had vanished. This happened to me on a few occasions when attempting to photograph the 365 lakes of Cavan.

Water tracing

Garvagh Lough is a lake in the Shannon river system and it was where one of the first ever water tracing experiments took place. Chaff was put into the lake and it disappeared at Pollnaowen (sinkhole) and reappeared at the Shannon Pot. The Owenmore River in West Cavan is a tributary of the Shannon. As such, most of the lakes around Glangevlin and west of that area are part of the River Shannon system. These include Tully Lough, Carraignacrannog Lough, Ardlougher Lough and Tents Lough, to name just a few. Lough Sheelin is one of Cavan’s largest lakes, and it is also on the Shannon river system. The water from here flows on to the River Inny, which is a tributary of the River Shannon, joining it at Lough Ree. The source of the River Erne is on the east side of Slieve Glea mountain, between Crosskeys and Cavan Town. Many of Cavan’s lakes are part of this river system including Lough Gowna and Lough Oughter. Another of Ireland’s longest rivers, the Erne runs for around 120km. From its source in Slieve Glea, it meanders through south-west Cavan into Lough Gowna, then north to Lough Oughter and the maze of lakes in this area that are part of the Erne river system. From there it flows north to Butlersbridge where the Annalee River joins it.

Lough Sillan near Shercock is the source of the Annalee River, which flows into Lough Tacker before joining the River Erne. Dromore Lough and the lakes around Cootehill flow into Dromore River, which joins the Annalee River. Most of the multitude of lakes in the region of Killeshandra, Butlersbridge and Belturbet are also part of the River Erne.

Shared borders

Cavan is bordered by six counties, and many lakes share a border between Cavan and some or other of these counties also. Rivers often mark the border between counties, and therefore the lakes on these rivers can also be on the border.

To the north, Co Fermanagh shares many lakes with Cavan including some large ones, a small part of which are in Cavan, such as Lough Macnean Upper, Lough Macnean Lower and Upper Lough Erne. In the north-east, Co Monaghan shares many of Cavan’s lakes including Dromore Lough, Killyvaghan Lake and Baraghy Lough. To the east, Meath has a long border with Cavan but it just shares a few lakes including Ervey Lough, Cloggagh Lough and Lough Sheelin.

Lough Sheelin also shares a border with Co Westmeath - the county with the shortest border with County Cavan. Kinale Lough is the only other lake that is shared between these two counties. Kinale Lough is also in County Longford, and many other lakes share this border in the south-east of Co Cavan. Another of the region’s largest lakes, Lough Gowna, is one of these along with Enaghan Lough and Guinikin Lough. To the west of Cavan is the border with Leitrim, and there are numerous lakes shared between these counties including Glasshouse Lake, Lough Nambrack and Lough Macnean Upper - which is also in Co Fermanagh.

Cavan’s biggest lakes

In a previous article I have written about Cavan’s largest lakes, which I chose by approximate surface area within Co Cavan. Making the top five on that list are Lough Macnean Upper, Lough Gowna, Lough Ramor, Lough Sheelin and Lough Ougher, which is the largest at 89.3km2. It’s a little harder to choose Cavan’s smallest lake - there were many contenders for that title! The lakes at the highest altitude in the Breffni county are situated in the west of the county. The landscape here is more mountainous and rugged, and there are not as many lakes in these parts. I have studied my maps and online resources to find what I believe is a shortlist of Cavan’s three highest lakes. These were much more challenging to photograph as I had to trek up mountains to reach them as many are more than 1km from the nearest road.

Reaching new heights

Cavan’s third highest lake is Lough Nagloghderg at 421 metres above sea level. It’s on the border with County Leitrim and beside two other remote Cavan lakes - Tents Lough and Lough Naweelion. There is a disused coal mine and an old tram line along the trek.

Altshallan Lough in Templeport is 429 metres and is Cavan’s second highest lake. It’s also called Loch na bFroganna meaning ‘lake of the frogs’. The trek here was an enjoyable one and it also took in Lough Nambrack (meaning the speckled lake or the lake of the trout) and Knockgorm Lough. Derrynananta Lough is the highest lake in Cavan. Situated on Benbrack Mountain at an altitude of 458 metres, it is also one of Cavan’s most remote lakes. I made a trek here last Autumn and it was probably the most challenging lake to access. There is a nice view of Bartonny Lough from the top of Benbrack Mountain, looking south.

I started this project of photographing 365 lakes in Cavan to challenge myself to make interesting photographs of the lakes and to see if the saying was true. But as the project continues I find myself learning about the history, folklore, nature and geology of the lakes and the county. I hope this article gives some insight into how the lakes were formed and about how they flow into different river systems, and I hope it may help to answer the question as to how we have so many lakes in this region - one for every day of the year.

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