Lough Neagh

Lough Neagh ( ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake in the island of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the British Isles. It has a surface area of and supplies 40% of Northern Ireland's water. Its main inflows come from the Upper River Bann and River Blackwater, and its main outflow is the Lower River Bann. Its name comes from Irish , meaning " Eachaidh's lake".Deirdre Flanagan and Laurance Flanagan, Irish Placenames, (Gill & Macmillan Ltd, 1994) The lough is owned by the Earl of Shaftesbury and managed by Lough Neagh Partnership Ltd.

Geography

With an area of , it is the British Isles' largest lake by area and is ranked 33rd in the list of largest lakes of Europe. Located west of Belfast, it is about long and wide. It is very shallow around the margins and the average depth in the main body of the lake is about , although at its deepest the lough is about deep.

Geology

Geologically the Lough Neagh Basin is a depression, built from many tectonic events dating back as far as 400 million years ago. These tectonic events are responsible for a NE-SW bedrock structure which has controlled many subsequent events. During the Paleozoic era, the Lough Neagh Basin was a depositional graben.

Hydrology

Of the catchment area, around 9% lies in the Republic of Ireland and 91% in Northern Ireland; altogether 43% of the land area of Northern Ireland is drained into the lough, which itself flows out northwards to the sea via the River Bann. As one of its sources is the Upper Bann, the Lough can itself be considered as part of the Bann.
Lough Neagh is fed by many tributaries including the rivers Main (), Six Mile Water (), Upper Bann (), Blackwater (), Ballinderry () and Moyola ()

Islands and peninsulas

* Coney Island
* Coney Island Flat
* Croaghan Flat
* Derrywarragh Island
* Kinturk Flat
* Oxford Island (peninsula)
* Padian
* Ram's Island
* Phil Roe's Flat
* The Shallow Flat
* Traad (peninsula)

Towns and villages

Towns and villages near the Lough include Craigavon, Antrim, Crumlin, Randalstown, Toomebridge, Ballyronan, Ballinderry, Moortown, Ardboe, Brockagh, Maghery, Lurgan and Magherafelt.

Counties

Five of the six counties of Northern Ireland have shores on the Lough (only Fermanagh does not), and its area is split among them. The counties are listed clockwise:

# Antrim (eastern side and northern shore of the lake)
# Down (small part in the south-east)
#Armagh (south)
# Tyrone (west)
# Londonderry (northern part of west shore)

Local government districts

The area of the lake is split between four local government districts of Northern Ireland, which are listed clockwise:

* 3 Antrim and Newtownabbey, in the north-east
* 4 Lisburn and Castlereagh, in the east
* 6 Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon, in the south
* 9 Mid Ulster, in the west

Management

Lough Neagh is managed b
Lough Neagh Partnership Ltd
a stakeholder group made up of elected representatives, land-owners, fishermen, sand traders and local community representatives. Lough Neagh Partnership is responsible for the lough's conservation
promotion
and sustainable development together with navigation of the Lough.

Uses

Although the Lough is used for a variety of recreational and commercial activities, it is exposed and tends to get extremely rough very quickly in windy conditions.

Water supply

The lough is used by Northern Ireland Water as a source of fresh water. The lough supplies 40% of the region's drinking water. There have long been plans to increase the amount of water drawn from the lough, through a new water treatment works at Hog Park Point, but these are yet to materialise.

The lough's ownership by the Earl of Shaftesbury has implications for planned changes to state-run domestic water services in Northern Ireland, as the lough is also used as a sewage outfall, and this arrangement is only permissible through British Crown immunity. In 2012, it was reported that the Earl is considering transferring ownership of the Lough to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Navigation

Traditional working boats on Lough Neagh include wide-beamed clinker-built, sprit-rigged working boats and smaller flat-bottomed "cots" and "flats". Barges, here called "lighters", were used until the 1940s to transport coal over the lough and adjacent canals. Until the 17th century, log boats (''coití'') were the main means of transport. Few traditional boats are left now, but a community-based group on the southern shore of the lough is rebuilding a series of working boats.

In the 19th century, three canals were constructed, using the lough to link various ports and cities: the Lagan Navigation provided a link from the city of Belfast, the Newry Canal linked to the port of Newry, and the Ulster Canal led to the Lough Erne navigations, providing a navigable inland route via the River Shannon to Limerick, Dublin and Waterford. The Lower Bann was also navigable to Coleraine and the Antrim coast, and the short Coalisland Canal provided a route for coal transportation. Of these waterways, only the Lower Bann remains open today, although a restoration plan for the Ulster Canal is currently in progress.

Lough Neagh Rescue provides a search and rescue service 24 hours a day and has 3 stations, situated around the lough. These are at Antrim, Ardboe and Kinnego Marinas, Kinnego being its headquarters and founding station. It is a voluntary service funded by the district councils bordering the Lough. Its members are highly trained and are a declared facility for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency which co-ordinates rescues on Lough Neagh.

Bird watching

Lough Neagh attracts birdwatchers from many nations due to the number and variety of birds which winter and summer in the boglands and shores around the lough.

Flora

The flora of the north-east of Northern Ireland includes the algae: ''Chara aspera'', ''Chara globularis'' var. ''globularis'', ''Chara globularis'' var. ''virgate'', ''Chara vulgaris'' var. ''vulgaris'', ''Chara vulgaris'' var. ''papillata'', ''Tolypella'' ''nidifica'' var. ''glomerata''.Hackney, P. 1992. ''Stewart & Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland.'' Third Edition. The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast. Records of Angiospermae include: ''Ranunculus flammula'' var. ''pseudoreptans'', '' Ranunculus auricomus'', ''Ranunculatus sceleratus'', ''Ranunculatus circinatus'', ''Ranunculatus peltatus'', ''Thalictrum flavum'', ''Thalictrum minus'' subsp. ''minus'', ''Nymphaea alba'', ''Ceratophyllum demersum'', ''Subularia aquatic'', ''Erophila verna'' sub. ''verna'', '' Cardamine pratensis'', '' Cardamine impatiens'', ''Cardamine flexuosa'', '' Rorippa palustris'', ''Rorippa amphibia'', ''Reseda luteola'', '' Viola odorata'', '' Viola reichenbachiana'', ''Viola tricolor'' ssp. ''Violoa tricolor'' ssp. ''curtissi'', '' Hypericum androsaemum'', ''Hypericum maculatum'', ''Elatine hydropiper'', ''Silene vulgaris'', '' Silene dioica'', '' Saponaria officinalis'', ''Cerastium arvense'', ''Cerastium semidecandrum'', ''Cerastium diffusum'', ''Sagina nodosa'', ''Spergularia rubra'', ''Spergulaia rupicola'', ''Chenopodium bonus-henricus'', ''Chenopodium polyspermum''.

Fishing

Eel fishing has been a major industry in Lough Neagh for centuries. These European eels make their way from the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, some along the Gulf Stream to the mouth of the River Bann, and then make their way into the lough. They remain there for some 10 to 15 years, maturing, before returning to the Sargasso to spawn. Today Lough Neagh eel fisheries export their eels to restaurants all over the world, and the Lough Neagh Eel has been granted Protected Geographical Status under European Union law.

Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney produced a collection of poems ''A Lough Neagh Sequence'' celebrating the eel-fishermen's traditional techniques and the natural history of their catch.

Other fish species in the lake include dollaghan —a variety of brown trout native to the lake, salmon, trout, perch and pollan; bream, gudgeon, pike and rudd are also found, but are less common.

Human history

Name

The lough's English name derives . After the Plantation of Ulster, the English attempted to re-name the lake 'Lough Sydney' and 'Lough Chichester', in honour of the Lord Deputies, but these did not supplant the older name.

Mythology and folklore

In the Irish mythical tale '' Cath Maige Tuired'' ("the Battle of Moytura"), Lough Neagh is called one of the twelve chief loughs of Ireland. The origin of the lake and its name is explained in an Irish tale that was written down in the Middle Ages, but is likely pre-Christian.Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition''. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. p.181Mary McGrath, Joan C. Griffith. ''The Irish Draught Horse: A History''. Collins, 2005. p.44 According to the tale, the lake is named after Echaid (modern spelling: Eochaidh or Eachaidh), who was the son of Mairid (Mairidh), a king of Munster. Echaid falls in love with his stepmother, a young woman named Ébliu (Ébhlinne). They try to elope, accompanied by many of their retainers, but someone kills their horses. In some versions, the horses are killed by Midir (Midhir), which may be another name for Ébliu's husband Mairid. Óengus (Aonghus) then appears and gives them an enormous horse that can carry all their belongings. Óengus warns that they must not let the horse rest or it will be their doom. However, after reaching Ulster the horse stops and urinates, and a spring rises from the spot. Echaid builds a house there and covers the spring with a capstone to stop its overflowing. One night, the capstone is not replaced and the spring overflows, drowning Echaid and most of his family, and creating ''Loch n-Echach'' (''Loch nEachach'', the lake of Eachaidh).

The character Echaid refers to the Dagda, a god of the ancient Irish who was also known as Echaid Ollathair (meaning "horseman, father of all"). Ébliu, Midir and Óengus were also names of deities. Dáithí Ó hÓgáin writes that the idea of a supernatural being creating the landscape with its own body is an ancient one common to many pre-Christian cultures. A Gaelic sept called the Uí Echach ("descendants of Echaid") dwelt in the area and it is likely their name comes from the cult of the god. They gave their name to the territory of Iveagh.

Another tale tells how the lake was formed when Ireland's legendary giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) scooped up a chunk of earth and tossed it at a Scottish rival. It fell into the Irish Sea, forming the Isle of Man, while the crater left behind filled with water to form Lough Neagh.

History

In 839 the Vikings based a fleet on Lough Neagh, where they over-wintered in 840-1.

Sir Hugh Clotworthy settled from England near Antrim town in the reign of Elizabeth I and was granted the office of "Captain of Lough Neagh", with a stipend in return for maintaining boats on the lake to enforce royal authority. Clotworthy's successors as captain were his son and grandson-in-law, the first and second Viscounts Massereene. In 1660 Charles II gave the first Viscount the rights to the fish and bed of the lake.

Gallery

File:Loughneagh.jpg, Lough Neagh at Killywoolaghan, County Tyrone
File:Lough Neagh - geograph.org.uk - 126920.jpg, Lough Neagh near Ardmore Point
File:Lough Neagh at Shane's Castle - geograph.org.uk - 155427.jpg, Lough Neagh at Shane's Castle, County Antrim
File:Lough Neagh from Gawley's Gate Quay - geograph.org.uk - 59139.jpg, Lough Neagh at Gawley's Gate, County Antrim
File:Maghery Country Park - geograph.org.uk - 51880.jpg, Lough Neagh at Maghery, County Armagh
File:Ballyronan Picnic area - geograph.org.uk - 226655.jpg, Lough Neagh at Ballyronan, County Londonderry

See also

* List of loughs in Ireland
* Lough Beg
*Portmore Lough
*Lí Ban (mermaid) - another legend about the creation of the Lough

References

Further reading

*

External links

Discover Lough NeaghLough Neagh HeritageLough Neagh RescueBBC News on pollutionBBC News on ownership of Lough Neagh

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Locations in Celtic mythology
Ramsar sites in Northern Ireland