Garadice Lough (), also known as Garadice Lake or Lough Garadice, is a
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. It is located in the south of the county and now forms part of the
Shannon–Erne Waterway
The Shannon–Erne Waterway () is a canal linking the River Shannon in the Republic of Ireland with the River Erne in Northern Ireland. Managed by Waterways Ireland, the canal is in length, has sixteen locks and runs from Leitrim village in ...
.
Geography
Garadice Lough is located east of
Ballinamore
Ballinamore (, meaning "mouth of the big ford") is a small town in the south-east of County Leitrim in Ireland.
Etymology
, corrupted ''Bellanamore'', means "town at the mouth of the big ford", so named because it was a main crossing (ford) o ...
in south
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 ...
.
[ It is about wide from west to east and covers an area of .][ The lake has three islands, two of which are named: Church Island][
]
Hydrology
Garadice Lough now forms part of the Shannon–Erne Waterway
The Shannon–Erne Waterway () is a canal linking the River Shannon in the Republic of Ireland with the River Erne in Northern Ireland. Managed by Waterways Ireland, the canal is in length, has sixteen locks and runs from Leitrim village in ...
. Its inflow was formerly named the Yellow River and the outflow was the Woodford River[ ( Irish: ''Sruth Gráinne'', meaning 'the Gravelly Stream' or 'the Gravelly River'; also ]anglicised
Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
as the River Gráinne or the Graine River). The Woodford River flows out of Little Garadice Lake, which is on the eastern edge of Garadice Lough, with the river flowing north-eastwards via Ballyconnell, eventually emptying into Upper Lough Erne near Teemore in the south of County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland.
The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...
.
Natural history
Fish present in Garadice Lough include 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 ...
, roach, 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'', ...
and pike. Large pike have been caught here weighing or more.[
]
Ecology
The water quality was reported to be satisfactory with a mesotrophic rating, improving to oligotrophic
An oligotroph is an organism that can live in an environment that offers very low levels of nutrients. They may be contrasted with copiotrophs, which prefer nutritionally rich environments. Oligotrophs are characterized by slow growth, low rates o ...
status , before dropping back to mesotrophic rating . 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 ...
infestation is present. The ecology of Garadice Lough, and other Irish waterways, remains threatened by curly waterweed, and freshwater clam invasive species.
History
The earliest surviving mention of the lake is in the 9th century '' Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii'', in connection with the crossing of the lake by Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...
on his way to destroy the idol Crom Cruach. In medieval times Garadice Lough was known as Lough Finvoy ( Irish: ''Loch Finn Mhagh'', meaning 'The Lake of the White Plain').[ The lake is mentioned several times in the Irish Annals- '']Annals of the Four Masters
The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...
'' 1386 and '' Annals of Connacht'' 1257 & 1418. In about 1257 the fortress "''Cloch-inse-na-dtorc'', in Lough Finvoy, was burned by O'Rourke" (a King of West Breifne
The Kingdom of West Breifne (Irish: ''Breifne Ua Ruairc'') or Breifne O'Rourke was a historic kingdom of Ireland that existed from 1256 to 1605, located in the area that is now County Leitrim. It took its present boundaries in 1583 when West Br ...
).[
]
See also
*List of loughs in Ireland
This is an alphabetical list of loughs (lakes) on the island of Ireland. It also shows a table of the largest loughs. The word ''loch, lough'' is pronounced like ''loch'' () and comes from the Irish language, Irish ''loch'', meaning ''lake''.
Acc ...
References and notes
Notes
Primary sources
Secondary sources
*
*
*
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Garadice