Castlefore Lough () is a mesotrophic

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

lake in

County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim, County Leitr ...

, Ireland. Known for good

coarse fishing Coarse fishing (, ) is a phrase commonly used in United Kingdom, Great Britain and Ireland. It refers to the angling for rough fish, which are fish species considered undesirable as food or game fish. Freshwater game fish are all salmonids, parti ...

, the lake has limited bank fishing. The ecology of Castlefore Lough, and other county waterways, is threatened by curly waterweed,

zebra mussel The zebra mussel (''Dreissena polymorpha'') is a small freshwater mussel, an Aquatic animal, aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Dreissenidae. The species originates from the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally Intro ...

, and

freshwater clam Freshwater bivalves are molluscs of the order Bivalvia that inhabit freshwater ecosystems. They are one of the two main groups of freshwater molluscs, along with freshwater snails. The majority of bivalve molluscs are saltwater species that liv ...

invasive species.

Etymology

The lake takes its name from the district of Castlefore (), meaning the 'lake of the townland, or homestead, of the wood'.

Geography

Castlefore Lough lies due east of

Keshcarrigan Keshcarrigan () is a village in County Leitrim, Ireland. It is situated on the Shannon-Erne Waterway and R209 road and under Sheebeg (Sí Beag), an ancient pagan burial site which overlooks Lough Scur to the north and Keshcarrigan Lough to th ...

village, and due west of Fenagh in south

. The lake has a tilted cone shape, a surface-area of and depths to .

Ecology

Fish present in Castlefore Lough include "

roach Roach or The Roach may refer to: Animals * Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea * Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae ** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes * Cal ...

bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...

hybrids", roach,

perch Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus ''Perca'', which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from , meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch (''P. fluviatilis'') ...

, bream,

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a freshwater, fresh- and brackish water, brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including Great Britain, Britain and Ireland east into Asia as far ...

, and

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

. The pike population is the "native Irish strain" ( meaning 'Irish

') not the other European

strain ( meaning 'strange or foreign fish'). The lake has stocks of pike up to .

Human settlement

Crannog at the eastern end of Castlefore Lough - geograph

From

Prehistoric Ireland The prehistory of Ireland has been pieced together from Archaeology, archaeological evidence, which has grown at an increasing rate over recent decades. It begins with the first evidence of permanent human residence in Ireland around 10,500 BC ...

times, lake dwellers settled on a

crannog A crannog (; ; ) is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually constructed in lakes, bogs and estuary, estuarine waters of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Unlike the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, which were built ...

at the eastern end of Castlefore Lough, with possibly two crannogs existing here. The

human settlement In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community of people living in a particular location, place. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of Dwelling, dwellings gro ...

s near Castlefore lough are

and Fenagh villages, and the

townlands A townland (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Outer Hebrides, Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Middle Ages, medieval Gael ...

of Gubroe to the northwest, Killmacsherwell to the north, Annaghaderg to the south, and Leamanish to the southeast.

Poem

An old published poem titled "An Exile's Dream", praises the scenery around Castlefore Lough.

"I sat down to rest and fell into a slumber,
I thought I was back near my own native place,
And roaming along by the bright crystal waters.
The lovely blue waters of Castlefore Lake.
I stood for a while to admire its beauty
And turned my eyes to that sweet little space.
The Island far out where wild birds go a-nesting
On the lovely blue waters of Castlefore Lake.
Then my gaze wandered up in another direction.
To some beautiful swans, oh, what noise they did make.
They splashed and they fluttered, but seemed quite contented
On the lovely blue waters of Castlefore Lake. A boat being near me, I took the advantage
To go for a sail to some different place,
I sailed straight across and enjoyed the fresh breezes
On the lovely blue waters of Castlefore Lake. On the opposite side of the lake I just landed.
When I woke from my slumber in this far foreign place
I felt happy and longed for to dream once again, on
The lovely blue waters of Castlefore Lake''".

Etymology

Geography

Ecology

Human settlement

Poem

See also

References

Citations

References

External links