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. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

lake 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 ...

, Ireland. It is located in the south of the county and now forms part of the

Shannon–Erne Waterway The Shannon–Erne Waterway ( ga, Uiscebhealach na Sionainne is na hÉirne) 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 sixt ...

Geography

Garadice Lough is located east of

Ballinamore Ballinamore (, meaning "mouth of the big ford") is a small town in County Leitrim, Ireland. Etymology , corrupted ''Bellanamore'', means "town at the mouth of the big ford", so named because it was a main crossing (ford) of the Yellow River. T ...

in South Leitrim. It is about wide from west to east and covers an area of . The lake has three islands, two of which are named: Church Islandhttp://faculty.georgetown.edu/earleyj/IslandChurchPaper.pdf and Cherry Island (

Irish 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 ...

: ''Cloch-inse-na-dtorc'').

Hydrology

Garadice Lough now forms part of the

. Its inflow was formerly named the Yellow River and the outflow was the Woodford River (

: ''Sruth Gráinne'', meaning 'the Gravelly Stream' or 'the Gravelly River'; also

anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

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 Ballyconnell () is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. It is situated on the N87 national secondary road at the junction of four townlands: Annagh, Cullyleenan, Doon (Tomregan) and Derryginny in the parish of Tomregan, Barony of Tullyhaw. Ball ...

, eventually emptying into

Upper Lough Erne Lough Erne ( , ) is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is the second-biggest lake system in Northern Ireland and Ulster, and the fourth biggest in Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River Erne, ...

near

Teemore Teemore () is a townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, three miles south of Derrylin. In the 2001 Census it had a population of four hundred people. It is situated within the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council area. Places of intere ...

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 the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

Natural history

Fish present in Garadice Lough include

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also ...

roach 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 * California roach ...

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including ''Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), ''Acanthopagrus'', '' Argyrops'', ''Blicca'', '' Brama'', ''Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', ''Lepo ...

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 ...

. 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 of ...

status , before dropping back to mesotrophic rating .

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 ...

infestation is present. The ecology of Garadice Lough, and other Irish waterways, remains threatened by curly waterweed, 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.

History

The earliest surviving mention of the lake is in the 9th century ''

Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii The ''Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii'' (''The Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick'') is a bilingual Life of Patrick, written partly in Irish and in parts in Latin. It is a hagiography focusing on Patrick. The text is difficult to date. Kathleen Mul ...

'', in connection with the crossing of the lake by

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...

on his way to destroy the idol

Crom Cruach Crom Cruach ( sga, Cromm Crúaich ) was a pagan god of pre-Christian Ireland. According to Christian writers, he was propitiated with human sacrifice and his worship was ended by Saint Patrick. He is also referred to as ''Crom Cróich'', ''Ce ...

. In medieval times Garadice Lough was known as Lough Finvoy (

: ''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'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Deluge, dated as 2,24 ...

'' 1386 and ''

Annals of Connacht The ''Annals of Connacht'' (), covering the years 1224 to 1544, are drawn from a manuscript compiled in the 15th and 16th centuries by at least three scribes, all believed to be members of the Clan Ó Duibhgeannáin. The early sections, commenci ...

'' 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 Breifn ...

Geography

Hydrology

Natural history

Ecology

History

See also

References and notes

Notes

Primary sources

Secondary sources