List of loughs of Ireland

This article is an alphabetical list of loughs on the island of Ireland. It also shows a table of the largest lakes in Ireland. The word lough is pronounced loch and comes from the Irish loch, meaning lake. There are more than 12,000 lakes in Ireland.[1] The largest lake, by area, in Ireland is Lough Neagh. Lough Corrib is the second largest and the largest in the Republic of Ireland. The largest Irish lake, by water volume, is Lough Neagh with Lough Mask the largest in the Republic of Ireland.

The list below contains only those loughs that are of geographic, geological or historical importance and almost all of them are over a square kilometre in area.. The list includes loughs that are situated within Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Those partly or wholly within Northern Ireland are marked with an asterisk (*).

Largest Irish Lakes

The largest freshwater loughs in Ireland are:[2][3][4]

Rank (by area) Lake Area (km²)Mean Depth (m) Max Depth (m) Volume x 106m3 Shoreline (km)[5] County/Counties
1 Lough Neagh* 396 9.0 25 3,528 186 Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Derry/Londonderry
2 Lough Corrib[6] 176 6.5 50.9 1,158 392 Galway and Mayo
3 Lough Derg (Shannon)[7] 130 7.6 36 988 229 Tipperary, Clare and Galway
4 Lower Lough Erne*[8] 109 11.9 69 1,300 270 Fermanagh
5 Lough Ree[9] 105 6.2 35 651 192 Roscommon, Longford and Westmeath
6 Lough Mask[10] 83 15.0 58 1,300[11] 192 Mayo and Galway
7 Lough Conn[12] 50 7.0 34 350 108 Mayo
8 Lough Allen[13] 35 10.9 42.7 391 53 Leitrim and Roscommon
9 Upper Lough Erne*[14] 34 2.3 27 79 255 Fermanagh
10 Lough Melvin*[15] 23 7.8 44 175 54 Fermanagh and Cavan
11 Lough Leane[16] 20 13.4 60 269 51 Kerry
12 Poulaphouca Reservoir[17] 20 6.8 135 64 Wicklow
13 Lough Sheelin[18] 19 4.4 15 83.6 36 Westmeath, Cavan, Meath
14 Lough Carra 16 1.8 18 28.8 75 County Mayo

Muckross Lake (the middle lake of the Killarney lakes) is the deepest Irish lake, with a maximum depth of 75 metres.[19]

(Volume = Area multiplied by Mean Depth)

Freshwater loughs

Fishing boats on Inchiquin, Lough Corrib.
Lough Derravaragh and Knockeyon
Lough Lene and Turgesius Island
Lough Cullin, County Mayo under Nephin

Lakes with the county/counties where they are situated and their area in square kilometres. Most of the Republic of Ireland lake areas are taken from the Environmental Protection Agency's: A Reference based Typology and Ecological Assessment System for Irish Lakes (P. 10-13)[20]

Lake County Area (km²)
Lough Allen County Leitrim 33.6
Lough Allua County Cork 1.36
Lough Arrow County Sligo 12.47
Lough Atorick County Clare 1
Ballynahinch Lough County Galway 1.7
Ballysaggart Lough County Tyrone*
Lough Bane County Meath and Westmeath
Lough Beg County Derry/Londonderry and County Antrim* 4.7
Belhavel Lough County Leitrim
Lough Beltra County Mayo 4.1
Lough Boderg County Longford 5.1
Lough Bofin County Longford 2.6
Lough Brackley County Cavan 1.7
Lough Bunny County Clare 1
Caragh Lake County Kerry 4.9
Lough Carra County Mayo 15.6
Carrigadrohid Lake County Cork 5.8
Carrowmore Lake County Mayo 9.3
Clea Lake County Armagh*
Cloonaghlin Lough County Kerry 1.3
Cloonee and Inchiquin Loughs County Kerry
Lough Conn County Mayo 48.5
Lough Corrib County Galway and County Mayo 172.9
Lough Corry County Roscommon 1.5
Cross Lake County Mayo 1.1
Lough Cullaunyheeda County Clare 1.6
Lough Cullin County Mayo 10.2
Lough Currane County Kerry 10.4
Lough Cutra County Galway 3.9
Lough Dan County Wicklow 1
Lough Derg Counties Clare, Galway and Tipperary 122.2
Lough Derg County Donegal 8.8
Lough Derravaragh County Westmeath 9.1
Derryclare Lough County Galway 2.2
Doo Lough County Clare 1.3
Doolough Lake County Mayo 1.6
Drumharlow Lake/Lough Eidin County Roscommon 2.8
Lough Dunlewey County Donegal 1.1
Easky Lough County Sligo 1.2
Lough Egish County Monaghan 1.2
Enagh Lough County Londonderry/Derry*
Lough Ennell County Westmeath 11.6
Lower Lough Erne County Fermanagh* 109
Upper Lough Erne County Fermanagh* 34
Lough Eske County Donegal 3.8
Lough Fee County Galway 1.7
Lough Feeagh County Mayo 4
Lough Fern County Donegal 1.8
Lough Finn County Donegal 1.2
Lough Forbes County Longford 3
Lough Funshinagh County Roscommon 3.8
Lough Furnace County Mayo 1.8
Lough Gara County Sligo 12.6
Lough Garadice County Leitrim 3.9
Lough Gartan County Donegal 2.1
Lough Gill County Sligo 13.8
Lough Gill County Kerry 1.4
Lough Glen County Donegal 1.7
Glenade Lough County Leitrim 0.7
Glencar Lough County Leitrim and County Sligo 1.2
Lough Glenicmurrin County Galway 1.7
Lough Gowna County Cavan and County Longford 4.2
Lough Graney County Clare 3.7
Lough Guitane County Kerry 2.5
Lough Gullion[21] County Armagh 1.3
Lough Gur County Limerick 0.8
Lough Inagh County Galway 3.1
Lough Inchiquin County Clare 1.1
Lough Inishcarra County Cork 4.9
Loughinisland County Down*
Lough Iron County Westmeath
Lough Island Reavy County Down* 1
Lough Islandeady County Mayo 1.4
Loch an Iúir County Donegal 1.59
Lough Key County Roscommon 8.9
Lough Kilglass County Roscommon 2
Lakes of Killarney County Kerry
Lough Killinure County Westmeath 2.6
Lough Kinale County Cavan 2
Kylemore Lough County Galway 1.3
Lady's Island Lake County Wexford 3
Lough Lene County Westmeath 4.2
Levally Lough County Mayo 1.2
Lough MacNean (Lower)[22] County Fermanagh 4.6
Lough MacNean (Upper)[23] County Fermanagh*, County Cavan and County Leitrim 10
Lough Mask County Mayo 83.4
Lough Meelagh County Roscommon 1.2
Lough Melvin County Fermanagh* and County Leitrim 22.1
Lough Muckanagh County Clare 1
Lough Muckno County Monaghan 3.6
Muckross Lake County Kerry 2.7
Lough Nacung Upper County Donegal 2.1
Lough Nafooey County Galway 2.5
Lough Neagh Counties Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone and Derry/Londonderry 396
Lough O'Flynn County Roscommon 1.4
Lough Oughter County Cavan 6.6
Lough Owel County Westmeath 10.2
Poulaphouca Reservoir County Wicklow 19.5
Portmore Lough County Antrim* 2.86
Lough Ramor County Cavan 7.1
Lough Rea County Galway 3
Lough Ree County Westmeath, County Longford and County Roscommon 106.1
Lough Rinn County Leitrim 1.7
Ross Lake County Galway 1.4
Lough Scur County Leitrim 1.1
Lough Sheelin County Cavan, County Meath and County Westmeath 18.2
Lough Sheever County Westmeath
Lough Sillan County Cavan 1.6
Lough Skean County Roscommon 1.1
St. John's Lake County Leitrim 1.5
Tacumshin Lake County Wexford 3.2
Lough Talt County Sligo 1.1
Lough Tay County Wicklow 0.5
Templehouse Lake County Sligo 1.2
Upper Lake Kerry, County Kerry 1.7
Urlaur Lough County Mayo 1.2
Lough Veagh County Donegal 2.6
Loughs Yganavan and Nambrackdarrig County Kerry

Brackish loughs

An example of a brackish lagoon is Lady's Island Lake, County Wexford

Turloughs

Main article: Turlough (lake)

Reservoirs

Sea loughs

Fjords

References

  1. ↑ EPA Lakes
  2. ↑ Ordnance Survey Ireland: Mountains, Rivers and Lakes
  3. ↑ Fishing in Ireland, Lough Derg
  4. ↑ UK Environmental Change Network, Lough Erne
  5. ↑ Ordnance Survey Ireland Generalised Rivers & Lakes dataset (attribute table)
  6. ↑ Lagarosiphon major – An Aggressive Invasive Species in Lough Corrib
  7. ↑ World Lake Database
  8. ↑ Heavily Modified Water Bodies – North Western River Basin District P.31
  9. ↑ World Lake Database
  10. ↑ Mayo County Council P.8
  11. ↑ Mayo County Council P.12
  12. ↑ “The trophic status of Lough Conn” P.7 by Mayo County Council
  13. ↑ EPA P158
  14. ↑ Heavily Modified Water Bodies – North Western River Basin District P.29
  15. ↑ EPA P159
  16. ↑ North South Shared Aquatic Resource (NS Share) P.15
  17. ↑ North South Shared Aquatic Resource (NS Share) P.16
  18. ↑ Sampling fish for the Water Framework Directive P.3
  19. ↑ Glen Fia: Lakes of Killarney
  20. ↑ A REFERENCE BASED TYPOLOGY AND ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT SYSTEM FOR IRISH LAKES (Pages 10-13)
  21. ↑ Northern Ireland Environment Agency
  22. ↑ Inland Fisheries of Ireland: Sampling Fish (Page 2)
  23. ↑ Inland Fisheries of Ireland: Sampling Fish (Page 2)

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lakes of Ireland.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lakes of Northern Ireland.