Glencar Lough (), locally known as Glencar Lake, is a freshwater lake in the northwest of Ireland. It covers an area of and lies mostly 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 Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the an ...

. Glencar Waterfall is located near the lake's north shore on the Leitrim side.

Geography

Glencar Lough lies in the Glencar Valley, between the

Dartry Mountains The Dartry Mountains ( ga, Sléibhte Dhartraí) are a mountain range in the north west of Ireland, in the north of counties Sligo and Leitrim. They lie between Lough Melvin, Lough Gill and Lough MacNean. The highest point is Truskmore at . O ...

to the north and the mountain range including Cope's Mountain to the south. The lake is located about northeast of Sligo and about west of

Manorhamilton Manorhamilton () is the second-largest town in County Leitrim, Ireland. It is located on the N16 from Sligo and from Enniskillen. History Before the Plantations of Ireland, the settlement was known, and continues to be known in the Ir ...

. It is long from west to east and wide. The lake has two

crannog 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 were bu ...

s (artificial islands): one at the western end near the Drumcliff River outlet and the other at the eastern end near the Diffreen River. Glencar Lough - geograph

Hydrology

Glencar Lough is primarily fed by Glencar Waterfall, on the lake's northern shore, and by the Diffreen River, entering at the lake's eastern end. Sruth in Aghaidh an Aird also flows out to the northern shore, just west of the Glencar Waterfall outflow. The lake drains west into the Drumcliff River, which in turn flows into Sligo Bay. Lake depth is greatest near the southern shore with a shallower shelf at the northern shore.

Natural history

Fish present in Glencar Lough include

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

and brown trout. Bird life includes

tufted duck The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird ment ...

pochard Pochard is a common name used for several species of diving ducks: *Four species in the genus ''Aythya'': ** Common pochard, ''Aythya ferina'' ** Baer's pochard, ''Aythya baeri'' ** Ferruginous pochard, ''Aythya nyroca'' ** Madagascar pochard, '' ...

and

goldeneye ''GoldenEye'' is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Martin Campbell, it was the first in the se ...

. These are migratory species which winter at the lake.

Ecology

The water quality was reported to be excellent with an oligotrophic rating. The ecology of Glencar Lough, 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 invasive species.

History

Historically Glencar Valley was known as ''Glenn-Dallain'' and was part of the

Kingdom of Breifne Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

. The lake and its crannogs, then occupied, are mentioned in the

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 Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Flood myt ...

, specifically the eastern crannog where "the sons of Donough O'Rourke, i.e. Donnell and Ferganainm, made an attack upon the crannog, and privately set fire to the town".

Economy

Barite was mined at Glencarbury in the

above the lake between 1894 and 1979. A cable ropeway from the mine area to the lake shore was constructed in 1942. By this means the extracted barite was taken down for onward road transport. The Glencar Water Company has its bottling plant located near the lake's northern shore. The company, established in 2008, sells water drawn from an onsite spring emanating from within the nearby Dartry Mountains.

Geography

Hydrology

Natural history

Ecology

History

Economy

See also

References and notes

Notes

Primary sources

Secondary sources