Lough Conn () is a lake in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the yew trees") is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Coun ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. With an area of about , it is Ireland's seventh largest lake. With its immediate neighbour to the south, Lough Cullin, it is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the

River Moy The River Moy () is a river in the northwest of Ireland. Name Ptolemy's ''Geography'' (2nd century AD) described a river called Λιβνιου (''Libniu'', perhaps from *''lei''- "flow") which probably referred to the River Moy. The Moy is fi ...

. Lough Conn is noted for its

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-sa ...

and

salmon Salmon () is the common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of ...

fishing. The ruins of a

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

exist at

Errew Abbey Errew Abbey is a former Augustinian monastery and National Monument located in County Mayo, Ireland. Location Errew Abbey is located on a peninsula stretching into Lough Conn. Templenagalliaghdoo lies immediately to the north. History T ...

Name

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

, various accounts are given of the origin of the name. In one account, Lough Conn was created when

Fionn mac Cumhaill Fionn mac Cumhaill ( ; Old and mga, Find or ''mac Cumail'' or ''mac Umaill''), often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is leader of the '' Fianna'' bands o ...

was hunting with his

hound A hound is a type of hunting dog used by hunters to track or chase prey. Description Hounds can be contrasted with gun dogs that assist hunters by identifying prey and/or recovering shot quarry. The hound breeds were the first hunting dogs. ...

s; Conn and Cullin. They came across a wild

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

. Fionn and the hounds attempted to chase it. However, as the boar ran, water poured from its feet. The hounds ran ahead of Fionn and eventually Conn was ahead of Cullin. Conn chased the boar for days until a lake appeared. The boar swam back to land but Conn was drowned. This happened again in the south to Cullin. According to another account, the name means in Irish "the lake of the hounds". The story is that the fierce hounds of the chieftain Modh pursued a wild pig into the lake, where they drowned.http://celt.ucc.ie/published/G106500C/index.html: The Metrical Dinnseanchas lacename lore: Poem 74, ''Loch Con''. English translation here: http://www.ucd.ie/tlh/trans/ws.rc.15.002.t.text.html

Location

The lake is connected to Lough Cullin by a channel that passes under the R310

regional road The term regional road (or route) is used in a number of places to designate roads of more than purely ''local'' but less than ''national'' strategic importance in a country's highway network. It is used formally and officially in reference to: *R ...

at Pontoon. The River Deel flows into Lough Conn and exits Lough Cullin at its southern end near

Foxford Foxford () is a village 16 km south of Ballina in County Mayo, Ireland. It stands on the N26 national primary route from Swinford to Ballina and has a railway station served by trains between Manulla Junction and Ballina. Foxford lies ...

, joining the River Moy which discharges into the Atlantic at

Killala Bay Killala Bay ( ga, Cuan Chill Ala) is a bay on the west coast of Ireland between County Mayo and County Sligo. It is situated between Kilcummin Head to the west and Lenadoon Point to the east. and is the estuary for the River Moy. The village of ...

Name

Location

References

See also