Shannon Pot () is a pool in the karst landscape in the townland of Derrylahan near Cuilcagh Mountain in

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is based on the historic Gaelic territory of East Breffny (''Bréifn ...

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 ...

. An

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteri ...

-fed naturally fluctuating pool, it is the traditional source of the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( ga, Abhainn na Sionainne, ', '), at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of the island of Ireland. The Sha ...

. The pool itself is about wide, and has been dived to . Towns and villages near the Shannon Pot include Dowra, Blacklion and

Glangevlin Glangevlin () is a village in the northwest of County Cavan, Ireland. It is in the townlands of Gub (Glangevlin) and Tullytiernan, at the junction of the R200 and R207 regional roads. It is surrounded by the Cuilcagh Mountains and borders ...

History

An early reference to the Pot is in the Book of Magauran. Poem X, stanza 2, composed c. 1349 by Giolla na Naomh Ó hUiginn, which states, (In it is the well whence comes the Shannon, noblest stream in Inis Fáil).

Folklore

According to legend, the Shannon is named after Sionnan, who was the granddaughter of Manannán mac Lir, the god of the sea. She came to this spot to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, which was planted by the druids. As she began to eat it, the waters of the pool sprang up and overwhelmed her. She was drawn down into the pool and its water began to flow over the land, forming the River Shannon.

Diving and exploration

Shannon Pot was first explored by divers Roger Solari and John Elliot on multiple dives in 1971, to a depth of firstly 6, then . At this point the water was found to emerge from a wide slit, up to in height. Their progress was hampered by submerged tree branches, equipment problems and poor visibility in the dark brown water. The pot was later explored by Martyn Farr, among others, but no further progress was made until the late 2000s. In December 2008 and January 2009 the pot was dived again by Alasdair Kennedy and Paul Doig, and subsequently by Artur Kozłowski. After widening the slit and continuing downwards past a loose cobblestone slope, Kozłowski discovered an unstable chamber. A strong current was found to emerge from a tight, unstable shaft in the floor. Doig and Kennedy surveyed the chamber to a depth of .

Hydrology

Surveys have defined a immediate

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people ar ...

covering the slopes of Cuilcagh. This area includes Garvagh Lough, 2.2 km to the northeast of the pot. Water from Garvagh drains into ''Pollnaowen'''Poll nm1:' hole, pit, sink, leak, aperture (The Pocket Oxford Irish Dictionary – Irish-English) sink, before emerging at Shannon Pot. The highest point in the catchment is a spring at Tiltinbane on the western end of the Cuilcagh mountain ridge; this sources an unnamed stream which itself feeds into Shannon Cave. Further sinks that source the pot include ''Pollboy'' and, through Shannon Cave, ''Pollahune'' in County Cavan and ''Polltullyard'' and ''Tullyrrakeeragh'' in

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of ...

. Surveys suggest that Shannon Pot may once have had a much bigger catchment area. In times of high flow it has been shown to be hydrologically linked to Badger Pot and Pigeon Pot located 10.6 km north of the Shannon Pot in the Cuilcagh Mountain near Florencecourt Forest Park, Fermanagh.

Photography

Shannon Pot, entrance gate sign.jpg, Sign at entrance to the Shannon pot Shannon Pot.jpg, Reputed source of the river Shannon; 'Shannon Pot'

Notes

References

{{reflist Lakes of County Cavan River Shannon