The River Lagan (;

Ulster Scots Ulster Scots, may refer to: * Ulster Scots people * Ulster Scots dialect Ulster Scots or Ulster-Scots (), also known as Ulster Scotch and Ullans, is the dialect (whose proponents assert is a dialect of Scots language, Scots) spoken in parts ...

: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

which runs from the

Slieve Croob __NOTOC__ Slieve Croob () is a mountain with a height of in the middle of County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the heart of a mountainous area, the Dromara Hills, north of the Mourne Mountains. It is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Be ...

mountain in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

where it enters

Belfast Lough Belfast Lough () is a large sea inlet on the east coast of Northern Ireland. At its head is the city and port of Belfast, which sits at the mouth of the River Lagan. The lough opens into the North Channel and connects Belfast to the Irish ...

, an inlet of the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

. The Lagan forms much of the border between

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

and County Down in the east of

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

. It rises as a stream near to the summit of Slieve Croob. It runs to Belfast through

Dromara Dromara ()Placenames NI
is a village,

Donaghcloney Donaghcloney or Donacloney ()Dromore. On the lower slopes of the mountain, it combines with a branch from Legananny Mountain, just opposite Slieve Croob. The river then turns east to

Magheralin Magheralin () is a village and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the main A3 road between Moira and Lurgan, beside the River Lagan. It had a population of 2,041 people in the 2021 census. The civil parish of Magheralin co ...

into a broad plain between the plateaus of Antrim and Down. The river drains approximately 609 square km of agricultural land and flows to the Stranmillis Weir, from which point on it is

estuarine An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

. The catchment consists mainly of enriched agricultural grassland in the upper parts, with the lower section draining urban Belfast and

Lisburn Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...

. There is one significant tributary, the Ravernet River, and there are several minor tributaries, including the

Carryduff River The Carryduff River ( Irish ''Abhainn Cheathrú Aodha Dhuibh'') is a minor river in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a direct tributary of the River Lagan and is not navigable. Course The river rises in Killinure townland, in the boggy groun ...

, the River Farset and the

Blackstaff River The Blackstaff River is a watercourse in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It rises on the eastern slope of the Black Mountain (Belfast), Black Mountain before flowing down into the Bog Meadows and passing under the city of Belfast, where it ent ...

. Work is proceeding to restore a self-sustaining population of

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...

to the river.

History

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

's ''

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

'' (2nd century AD) described a river called Λογια (''Logia''). The river name is thought to connect with

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

''loeg'' (" calf") and with *''laks'' ("

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

").

The Lagan in Belfast

The name Belfast originates from the Irish ''Béal Feirste'', or the mouth of the Farset, the river on which the city was built and which flows into the Lagan. The Farset has been superseded by the River Lagan as the most important river. A section of the Farset is covered over by the city's High Street.

Laganside Corporation

In 1989 the Laganside Corporation was established by the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

to redevelop the areas surrounding the Lagan in Belfast. Major developments of the Laganside Corporation along the river include the regeneration of the city's former Gasworks, and the Lanyon Place development, which includes the

Waterfront Hall Belfast Waterfront is a multi-purpose conference and entertainment centre, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by local architects' firm Robinson McIlwaine. The hall is located in Lanyon Place, the flagship development of the Laganside Corp ...

. One of the earliest and most important undertakings of the corporation was the

Lagan Weir The Lagan Weir, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, crosses the River Lagan, Northern Ireland, River Lagan between the Queen Elizabeth Bridge and the M3 cross-harbour bridge. Prior to the building of the weir, the river would be subject to tidal fluc ...

. Completed in 1994 at a cost of £14 million (equivalent to £ million in ), the weir controls the level of water upstream. One of the main functions of the weir was to reduce unsightly

mud flats Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal f ...

at low tide. This was mostly successful, but mud flats are still evident on the river. The weir is a series of large steel barriers which are raised as the tide retreats to keep the river at an artificially constant level.

Dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

and aeration have increased water quality in the river.

Sport

The river is used by a number of rowing clubs, including Queen's University Boat Club, Queen's Ladies Boat Club, Methodist College Boat Club,

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...

(RBAI) Rowing Club, Belfast Rowing Club (BRC) and Lagan Scullers Club. The Boathouses are all based between the Governors Bridge and the Stranmillis Weir.

The Lagan in Lisburn

Lisburn City Council Lisburn City Council was the local authority for an area partly in County Antrim and partly in County Down in Northern Ireland. As of May 2015 it was merged with Castlereagh Borough Council as part of the reform of local government in Northern ...

built the Lagan Valley Island complex; a new headquarters for the council and an Arts Centre, wedding and conference facilities and a restaurant. Opened in 2001, the building is surrounded by the Lagan on one side and a channel linked to the river on the other.

The Lagan Navigation

In the late 19th century the

Lagan Canal The Lagan Canal was a canal built to connect Belfast to Lough Neagh. The first section, which is a river navigation, was opened in 1763, and linked Belfast to Lisburn. The second section from Lisburn to Lough Neagh includes a small amount of r ...

was built from

Lough Neagh Lough Neagh ( ; ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles. It has a surface area of and is about long and wide. According to Northern Ireland Water, it supplies 4 ...

, using some of the river as a navigable waterway and diverting water from other areas to supply separate canal sections. However, by the mid-20th century the route had fallen into disuse and was largely derelict. The

M1 motorway (Northern Ireland) The M1 is a motorway in Northern Ireland. It is the longest motorway in Northern Ireland and runs for from Belfast to Dungannon through County Antrim, County Down, County Armagh and County Tyrone. It forms part of the route via the A1 road ...

was built across a large section of the route. Currently, the section of the navigation's

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, Working animal, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mod ...

running from

to the centre of Belfast has been restored. A section of

National Cycle Route 9 It is the lowest-numbered route on the National Cycle Network outside of Great Britain. Route The route will eventually connect Belfast and Dublin. The route is currently signposted between the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, Belfast, Queen Eli ...

, which will eventually link Belfast with

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, follows this towpath.

Angling

became

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

in the River Lagan, which enters the

through the port of Belfast, between 1750 and 1800, coinciding with a period of major population growth, industrialisation and the construction of a navigable waterway based on the river. The latest record of a salmon population in the river dates from 1744. From 1950 to 1990, water quality in the river improved as a result of improved sewage treatment, the Lagan Navigation was abandoned and fell into disuse, and many industrial effluents were diverted to sewer. A fish survey in the early 1970s found no fish at all in the urban reach of river through Belfast.

Brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

and several other species remained present in the upper reaches of the river throughout the worst of the downstream urban problems. The 1980s saw some recreational angling for non-migratory fish developing in the Belfast reaches of the river, and there were very occasional reports of migratory salmon or sea trout being seen in the river. In 1991, the first of a series of stockings took place and the first adult salmon returned to the Lagan in 1993.

Wildlife

Plants such as ''

Elodea ''Elodea'' is a genus of eight species of aquatic plants often called the waterweeds described as a genus in 1803. Classified in the frog's-bit family ( Hydrocharitaceae), ''Elodea'' is native to the Americas and is also widely used as aquarium v ...

'' and others have been recorded from the Lagan.Hackney, P. (Ed) 1993. ''Stewart and Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland.'' Institute of Irish Studies and The Queen's University of Belfast. (HB) The river also hosts a population of otters and a variety of wildfowl.

References

External links

Nature & Wildlife
The Lagan Navigation Trust

* ttps://www.iwai.ie/lagan/ The Lagan Navigation at Inland Waterways of Ireland site*Lagan Gateway www.belfast.gov.uk/Lagan {{authority control Lagan Lagan Geography of Belfast