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Lough Ennell () is a lake near the town 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 ...
, County Westmeath,
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 ...
. It is situated beside the
N52 road The N52 road is a national secondary road in Ireland. It links the M7 motorway from just south of Nenagh, County Tipperary to the M1 motorway north of Dundalk in County Louth. The route forms a connection between the north east of Ireland and th ...
, off the Mullingar/ Kilbeggan road. The lake is part of the Lough Ennell Special Protection Area. It is long by wide, with an area of about . Lough Ennell has a large area of shallow water with nearly two-thirds of its area being less than 25 feet (8 m) and almost half of it being under deep. The lake produced Ireland's largest ever lake brown trout at 26 lbs (11.8 kg). The main river flowing into Lough Ennell is the
River Brosna The River Brosna ( ga, An Bhrosnach) is a river within the Shannon River Basin in Ireland, flowing through County Westmeath and County Offaly. The river rises in Lough Owel north of Mullingar and is a tributary of the River Shannon. It mee ...
, which enters on the Mullingar side of the lake and exits on the opposite side at Lilliput. Lilliput and Lilliput House were frequently used by
Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dubl ...
as a holiday home and place to write, local tradition states that
Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dubl ...
was in a boat on the lake when he looked back at Lilliput and noticed how small the people looked at that distance, hence the inspiration for his most famous book '' Gulliver's Travels''. Lilliput at the time was called "Nure" however after the publication of '' Gulliver's Travels'' locals began to refer to the lakeshore as Lilliput, the name stuck and today the area is known as Lilliput.


Facilities

The loughside has a caravan and camping park, boat hire facilities, hotels and restaurants and a fishery. Belvedere House is also an attraction and is managed by the County Council, it hosts a number of sporting and cultural events annually such as concerts and triathlons.


Angling

Lough Ennell fishery is part of the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board's Midland Fisheries Group of managed waters. Brown trout 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 ...
are the main catches. In recent times it appears that stocks of both game and coarse fish in the lake have been declining. There is speculation locally as to the reason for this. In 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the water quality at Lilliput beach on the Lough as "poor".


Sport

*Westmeath County Council has banned the use of
jet ski Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft (PWC) manufactured by Kawasaki, a Japanese company. The term is often used generically to refer to any type of personal watercraft used mainly for recreation, and it is also used as a verb to ...
s on the lake. The prohibition came into effect in October 2006 and currently does not apply to speed boats. *The shores of Lough Ennell host Mullingar Golf Club, the local golf club to the north east of the lake. *The lake hosts Triathlons at Lilliput and Belvedere.


Gallery

File:Lough ennell ireland.png, October 2004 File:IMG LoughEnnel0869.jpg, Northeastern shore File:Lough-ennell-co-westmeath.jpg, Early morning Summer sunrise File:IMG LoughEnnel5368a.jpg, March 2007 File:Lough Ennell, 2021-07-21, 01.jpg, July 2021


See also

* List of loughs in Ireland


References

{{authority control Ennell Important Bird Areas of the Republic of Ireland Ennell Ramsar sites in the Republic of Ireland