Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is the largest freshwater lake in the UK and Ireland; it’s name comes from the Irish Loch nEachach, the Lake of Eachaidh, or Eochu’s Lough; it is supposed to mean the lake of the horseman or horse god.
Lough Neagh, containing 800 billion gallons of water, is massive; it is nearly 9 ½ miles wide, 15 ½ miles long and with a surface area of almost 150 square miles. However it is not very deep; on average it’s about 30 foot deep, apart from one area which is over a hundred foot in depth. It’s fed by six rivers, the Maine, Six Mile Water, the Upper Bann, Blackwater, the Ballinderry, and the Moyola; however, only one river leaves it, the Lower Bann which carries the waters to the Atlantic Ocean.
As with most geographical features there are legends about how it was created; apparently, the giant Finn McCool was in pursuit of the Scottish giant, Benandonar, and grabbed a handful of earth and threw it after him. The giant handful of earth and rocks fell into the Irish Sea and became the Isle of Man; the hole left behind filled with water and became Lough Neagh. In actual fact, the more boring truth is that millions upon millions of years ago, volcanic activity caused the formation of the huge lough.
People have lived in the island of Ireland since Mesolithic times, and there is evidence that people settled by the lake ten thousand years ago; it would have given them everything they needed, food, and shelter in its wooded shores. There are several islands in the lough including Rams Island and Coney Island on which some of the oldest evidence of human settlement has been found.
We first visited twenty years ago when we first came to Ireland for a family holiday; we’ve picnicked there, walked there, and just sat and watched the birds and the water. We were there again last week, stopping for breakfast on our way to Belfast. We sat in the café and enjoyed an ‘Ulster fry’ and watching the ducks and a swan gobble up the bread the waitress was giving them. A party of Japanese tourists got off a coach and had great fun feeding the gulls and other birds and taking pictures of each other.
Lois Elsden 