HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Lough Allen () is a
lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
on 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 Shan ...
in northeastern
Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...
,
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 ...
. Most of the lake is in
County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...
, with a smaller part in
County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...
. The lake lies to the south of the River Shannon's source, near the Iron Mountains, and is the uppermost of the three main lakes on the river. The other two,
Lough Ree Lough Ree () is a lake in the midlands of Ireland, the second of the three major lakes on the River Shannon. Lough Ree is the second largest lake on the Shannon after Lough Derg. The other two major lakes are Lough Allen to the north, and Loug ...
and Lough Derg are much further to the south.


Geography

Lough Allen, out of which the Shannon takes its source, is nine miles long, and three miles wide. The lake is shaped like an
isosceles triangle In geometry, an isosceles triangle () is a triangle that has two sides of equal length. Sometimes it is specified as having ''exactly'' two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having ''at least'' two sides of equal length, the latter versio ...
. The Shannon enters the lake at the wider northern end and leaves the lake at the narrow southern end. Other rivers that feed the lake include the Diffagher (northwest), the
Yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...
(northeast), the Stoney (east) and the Arigna (southwest). The R280 regional road skirts the west side of the lake, while the R207 follows the east bank, from Ballinagleragh to
Drumshanbo Drumshanbo (, ridge of the old huts) is a small town situated in the heart of County Leitrim, Ireland. Drumshanbo is surrounded by a scenic area of soft rolling hills, woodlands, lakes and the Sliabh an Iarainn and Arigna mountains. It is a wel ...
. The R200 road is on the north side of the lake, traveling west from
Dowra Dowra () is a village and townland in northwest County Cavan, Ireland. Located in a valley on Lough Allen, it is the first village on, and marks the most uppermost navigable point of, the River Shannon. On one side of its bridge is County Cav ...
to
Drumkeeran Drumkeeran () is a village in County Leitrim, Ireland located at the junction of the R280 and R200 roads. It is situated in drumlin hills at the foot of Corry Mountain, just north of Lough Allen. History Throughout at least the 19th and 20th ...
.
Slieve Anierin Sliabh an Iarainn (Irish for "iron mountain"), anglicized Slieve Anierin, is a mountain in County Leitrim, Ireland. It rises to and lies east of Lough Allen and northeast of Drumshanbo. Its present form evolved from the southwestward movement ...
lie to the east of Lough Allen. There has been speculation that notable reserves of oil and gas lie beneath the Allen basin.


Ecology

Between , water quality was reported to be excellent with an
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 of ...
rating. The pike population is the "native Irish strain" ( ga, liús meaning 'Irish
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 ...
') not the other European
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 ...
strain ( ga, gailliasc meaning 'strange or foreign fish'). The ecology of Lough Allen, and other Irish waterways, remain threatened by curly waterweed,
zebra mussel The zebra mussel (''Dreissena polymorpha'') is a small freshwater mussel. The species originates from the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas and has become an invasive species in ma ...
, and
freshwater clam Freshwater bivalves are one kind of freshwater mollusc, along with freshwater snails. They are bivalves that live in fresh water as opposed to salt water, which is the main habitat type for bivalves. The majority of species of bivalve molluscs l ...
invasive species.


Prehistory

Significant traces of Mesolithic inhabitation have been found around the lakeshore, with hundreds of stone tools collected. In total almost 1000 stone tools were collected during a set of surveys by
Killian Driscoll Killian or Kilian, as a given name, is an Anglicized version of the Irish name Cillian. The name Cillian was borne by several early Irish saints including missionaries to Artois and Franconia and the author of the life of St Brigid. The name is s ...
, and 95% were formed on silicified dolomite, which outcrops locally. The remaining 5% were formed from flint, chert and quartz, along with the shale/mudstone and basalt ground/polished axes. The majority of the stone tools are characteristic of the Later Mesolithic, with possible evidence for the Early Mesolithic and limited evidence for Neolithic activity. The assemblage includes a number of stone axes and axe roughouts, and the roughouts represent the first recorded, by the
Irish Stone Axe Project Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
, as found in a lakeside context in Ireland, with most previously provenanced examples coming from axe quarry sites.


History


Ironworks

Iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
has been extracted at
Slieve Anierin Sliabh an Iarainn (Irish for "iron mountain"), anglicized Slieve Anierin, is a mountain in County Leitrim, Ireland. It rises to and lies east of Lough Allen and northeast of Drumshanbo. Its present form evolved from the southwestward movement ...
for millennia. From the early 17th century a number of mines and works were conveniently contiguous to Lough Allen, allowing for the transportation of iron ore over water to the
ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...
in boats of up to forty tons. During the
Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantatio ...
nearly all ironworks were destroyed, but many were revived by the English after the
Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (from ga, Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in the kin ...
. Extensive forests around Lough Allen before the 17th century were denuded to make charcoal for ironworks, the industry later collapsing in the 19th century.


Reservoir

On the construction of the
Shannon hydroelectric scheme The Shannon hydroelectric Scheme was a major development by the Irish Free State in the 1920s to harness the power of the River Shannon. Its product, the Ardnacrusha power plant, is a hydroelectric power station which is still producing power to ...
in 1925–9, the lake became a storage reservoir for the power station nearly 100 miles away, with sluices to control the flow into the river. This helps to maintain the flow during dry periods and manage flooding at other times. It made the
Lough Allen Canal ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spelli ...
, which was rarely used by this time, unusable until restored in 1996.


Regattas

In the mid-19th century, regattas were held by M. O'Conor at Lough Allen Island which is also known as O'Reilly's Island at the southern end of the lake. The house is destroyed, and only a ruin now exists. Regatta parties were held at Birchill's House, Blackrock. E.K. Tenison of Kilronan Castle, the photographer, Captain Tottenham, Captain Birchill and Francis la Touche attended the Regatta parties. Among the yachts competing in the regattas were 'Corsair', 'Avenger', 'Querida', 'Meta' and 'Shamrock'. The Water Wags from Dun Laoghaire, organised a regatta on Lough Allen, in September 2015, for their 14'-3" long historic open clinker dinghies. competed in a regatta in 2014, including Penelope (1933), Scallywag, Swift, Moosmie (1910), Mollie, Chloe, Marie Louise (1927) and Good Hope. This was probably the first regatta on the lake since the mid-19th century.Water Wag Newsletter 2015


Recreation


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 ''lough'' is pronounced like ''loch'' () and comes from the Irish ''loch'', meaning ''lake''. According to the Environm ...
*
Slieve Anierin Sliabh an Iarainn (Irish for "iron mountain"), anglicized Slieve Anierin, is a mountain in County Leitrim, Ireland. It rises to and lies east of Lough Allen and northeast of Drumshanbo. Its present form evolved from the southwestward movement ...


References and notes


Notes


Primary sources


Secondary sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen Lakes of County Leitrim Lakes of County Roscommon River Shannon