Lough Derravaragh ( ga, Loch Dairbhreach) is a lake in
County Westmeath
"Noble above nobility"
, image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Ireland
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 =
, subdivi ...
,
Ireland, north of
Mullingar
Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census.
The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmeath ...
between
Castlepollard
Castlepollard ( or ''Cionn Toirc'') is a village in north County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland. It lies west of Lough Lene and northeast of Lough Derravaragh and Mullingar.
Name
The name ''Castlepollard'' comes from the name of a castle or ...
,
Crookedwood
Crookedwood () is a small village in County Westmeath on the R394 regional road. Historically it was called ''Taghmon'' (), after the townland it occupies.
Geography
Overlooked by the dominating hill of Knockeyon to the north, the village re ...
and
Multyfarnham
Multyfarnham or Multyfarnam () is a village in County Westmeath, Ireland.
History
First founded in 1268, the Franciscan monastery at Multyfarnham is still home to a community of friars. During the English conquest of Ireland in the 17th cent ...
.
Lough Derravaragh sits on the
River Inny which flows from
Lough Sheelin
Lough Sheelin (), in standard Irish ''Loch Síleann'', is a limestone freshwater lough (lake) in central Ireland. The lake is a part of the River Inny course, and ultimately of the Shannon system.
Geography and geology
Lough Sheelin lies at ...
on its way to the
River Shannon. It is a popular lake for angling and other watersports.
History
There are
ringforts to the east of Lough Derravaragh, within the hills of
Ranaghan
Ranaghan is a townland and archaeological site in County Westmeath, Ireland.
Introduction
It is south-west of Lough Lene on high ground where there are a multitude of ringforts. Randoon (Randún), possibly the most famous fort of the area, is ...
.
Turgesius
Turgesius (died 845) (also called Turgeis, Tuirgeis, Turges, and Thorgest) was a Viking chief active in Ireland during the 9th century. Turgesius Island, the principal island on Lough Lene, is named after him. It is not at all clear whether the ...
the
Viking, renowned for taking
Dublin, also possessed strongholds nearby, southwest of
Lough Lene.
Knockeyon, the hill of Saint Eyon, is located on the south-eastern shore of the lough, rising steeply to 215 metres. Halfway up the hill are the ruins of the ancient Saint Cauragh chapel, built and dedicated to Saint Eyon. The ruins of Saint Cauragh's Well are adjacent to the chapel.
On the
Kiltoom side of the lough mounds of stone can be found, these were part of
artificial island
An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...
s and gave protection to the people who lived in
crannóg
A crannog (; ga, crannóg ; gd, crannag ) is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes and estuarine waters of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Unlike the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, which wer ...
s on these islands. In the 1970s a
dug-out canoe
A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek – ''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (t ...
from the Stone Age was recovered from the lake by employees of the Tullynally estate.
Legends
Children of Lír
Lough Derravaragh is best known for its connection with the Irish legend of the ''
Children of Lír''. The legend relates how the four children of
King Lír were turned into swans by their jealous stepmother and spent 300 years on Lough Derravaragh before moving to the
Straits of Moyle
The North Channel (known in Irish and Scottish Gaelic as , in Scots as the ) is the strait between north-eastern Northern Ireland and south-western Scotland. It begins north of the Isle of Man, where the Irish Sea ends, and runs north-west in ...
(between Ireland and
Scotland) for 300 years, and then spent 300 more years on the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...
by
Erris and
Inishglora.
Saint Cauragh
Legend tells that Saint Cauragh was expelled by Saint
Columcille
Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is tod ...
from the
Kells monastery, for breach of discipline. Consequently, he wandered throughout the countryside until he eventually arrived at Knockeyon.
At this location, far away from the eyes of the world, Cauragh desired to pass the remainder of his life praying to God and fasting. He became seriously ill at a later stage, and was dying when he prayed to God for water to quench his thirst. Having prayed for some time, he became aware of the sound of water trickling out of the rock above his head. He put out his hand and drank freely of this miraculous water. He was cured as a result, and then he built the chapel.
During the
Middle Ages, thousands of people visited this well on the first Sunday of harvest, undertaking the pilgrimage up the hill barefoot on what became known as Cauragh Sunday. When the pilgrimage concluded, everyone present adjourned to a green area at the foot of the hill where musicians played and everyone spent the remainder of the day picnicking, drinking and dancing.
Protected areas
Lough Derravaragh is north of Mullingar and is part of the Lough Derravaragh Natural Heritage Area.
Most of this area comprises the lake, but also it includes a variety of
wetland,
grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natu ...
, and
woodland habitats. The site includes a small area of
raised bog
Raised bogs, also called ombrotrophic bogs, are acidic, wet habitats that are poor in mineral salts and are home to flora and fauna that can cope with such extreme conditions. Raised bogs, unlike fens, are exclusively fed by precipitation ( omb ...
. The site is bound in the northwest by the River Inny.
The Inny, which is a major tributary of the
River Shannon, flows into and from Lough Derravaragh on its northwest shore. On this side, the lake is wide and shallow and raised bog and cutover bog are found within the immediate surrounding area (cutover bog is bog where some peat has been harvested, leaving remaining peat behind). Lough Derravaragh is shallow and its water is "hard", meaning it is
alkaline
In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of ...
. There is only a small area of raised bog on the side, but formerly it comprised a very large
bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
complex which extended towards the northwest of the lake. Most of this area has now been cutover and large areas have been reclaimed for agriculture. The remaining area of bog has hummock/hollow complexes but no water pools.
Conifers have been planted upon the high bog and a section of cutover. Cutover is found dispersed around the high bog areas and there is also a separate small area of old cutover south of this raised bog.
Much of the high bog possesses vegetation typical of an Irish Midland raised bog, with such species as ling heather (''
Calluna vulgaris
''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found wide ...
'') and hare's tail cottongrass (''
Eriophorum vaginatum''). The hummock-forming bog moss, ''Sphagnum papillosum'' has been recorded situated around one third of the high bog as has the more scarce ''Sphagnum imbricatum''. Overall, sphagnum covers around one-third of the high bog area. The centre of the bog is wet with stagnant water in places. The aquatic bog moss ''
Sphagnum cuspidatum'' has been recorded in the hollows of the bog. There are dried-out channels of the bog which are colonised by
algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from u ...
, deergrass (''
Trichophorum cespitosum
''Trichophorum cespitosum'', commonly known as deergrass or tufted bulrush, is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family. It was originally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1753 as ''Scirpus cespitosus'', but was tran ...
'') and
lichens. On the cutover on the southeast shore of the lake there are areas of downy birchy (''
Betula pubescens
''Betula pubescens'' (syn. ''Betula alba''), commonly known as downy birch and also as moor birch, white birch, European white birch or hairy birch, is a species of deciduous tree, native and abundant throughout northern Europe and northern As ...
'') woodland, with patches of gorse (''
Ulex europaeus
''Ulex europaeus'', the gorse, common gorse, furze or whin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to the British Isles and Western Europe.
Description
Growing to tall, it is an evergreen shrub. The young stems are g ...
'').
A notable feature of Lough Derravaragh, as found at Lough Lene, are the range of
stoneworts that occur within the lake. Eight species have been recorded here, several of which have a restricted range in Ireland. Fringing the lake's shores, a range of habitats has been created as a result of drainage of the River Inny. At the western side are extensive reed beds and swamps of
downy birch
''Betula pubescens'' (syn. ''Betula alba''), commonly known as downy birch and also as moor birch, white birch, European white birch or hairy birch, is a species of deciduous tree, native and abundant throughout northern Europe and northern Asi ...
and
willows. Nearby, there is also
freshwater marches vegetation dominated by sedges (''
Carex
''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' ...
'' spp.) and often
tussock-forming grasses such as tufted hair-grass (''
Deschampsia cespitosa
''Deschampsia cespitosa'', commonly known as tufted hairgrass or tussock grass, is a perennial tufted plant in the grass family Poaceae. Distribution of this species is widespread including the eastern and western coasts of North America, parts o ...
'') and fescues (''
Festuca'' spp.), with a flowering herbs including ''
Bidens cernua
''Bidens cernua'' is a species of flowering plant in the aster family, Asteraceae. ''Bidens cernua'' is distributed throughout much of Eurasia and North America. '', and
trifid bur-marigold.
The lake shore is a
mineral-rich substrate and several plant species of poor
fen
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...
habitats occur in abundance, such as black bog rush ''
'' and long-stalked yellow-sedge ''Carlex lepidocarpa''.
Lough Derravaragh is also a Special Protection Area (SPA) under the EU Bird Directive (EC/79/409).
Three species (
Greenland white-fronted goose
The greater white-fronted goose (''Anser albifrons'') is a species of goose related to the smaller lesser white-fronted goose (''A. erythropus''). It is named for the patch of white feathers bordering the base of its bill, in fact ''albifrons ...
(''Anser albifrons flavirostris''),
whooper swan (''Cygnus cygnus''), and
golden plover
'' Pluvialis '' is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds comprising four species that breed in the temperate or Arctic Northern Hemisphere.
In breeding plumage, they all have largely black underparts, and golden or silvery upperparts. Th ...
(''Pluvialis apricaria'')) are listed on Annex I of the directive, requiring special conservation measures concerning their habitat in order to ensure their survival and reproduction.
The rare
Charophyte
Charophyta () is a group of freshwater green algae, called charophytes (), sometimes treated as a division, yet also as a superdivision or an unranked clade. The terrestrial plants, the Embryophyta emerged within Charophyta, possibly from terres ...
, ''Chara denundata'', has been recorded in the area, while the Red List
species
otter
Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes we ...
(''Lutra lutra'') and
Irish hare
The mountain hare (''Lepus timidus''), also known as blue hare, tundra hare, variable hare, white hare, snow hare, alpine hare, and Irish hare, is a Palearctic hare that is largely adapted to polar and mountainous habitats.
Evolution
The mountai ...
(''Lepus timidus hibernicus'') have also been observed within the lake district of North Westmeath.
Water sports
The lake is used for
canoeing
Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other acti ...
and other water activities. As in
Lough Ennell
Lough Ennell () is a lake near the town of Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland. It is situated beside the N52 road, off the Mullingar/Kilbeggan road. The lake is part of the Lough Ennell Special Protection Area. It is long by wide, with an ...
,
Lough Owel, and
Lough Lene, the lake acts as an important amenity for anglers, as it sustains a population of
brown trout
The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...
.
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 Environ ...
References
{{Commons category, Lough Derravaragh
Derravaragh
Ramsar sites in the Republic of Ireland