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Geography

With an area of 148 square miles (383 km2), it is the British Isles' largest lake by area and is ranked 34th in the list of largest lakes of Europe. Located 20 miles (32 km) west of Belfast, it is about 19 miles (31 km) long and 9 miles (14 km) wide. It is very shallow around the margins and the average depth in the main body of the lake is about 30 feet (9 m), although at its deepest the lough is about 80 feet (24 m) deep.

Geologically the Lough Neagh Basin is a depression, built from many tectonic events dating back as far as 400 million years ago. These tectonic events are responsible for a NE-SW bedrock structure which has controlled many subsequent events. During the Paleozoic era, the Lough Neagh Basin was a depositional graben.

Human history

The lough's English name derives from Irish Loch nEachach, meaning 'Eachaidh's lake'. At the start of the Plantation of Ulster, the English attempted to rename the lake 'Lough Sydney' and 'Lough Chichester', in honour of the Lord Deputies, but these did not supplant the older name.

In the Irish mythical tale Cath Maige Tuired ("the Battle of Moytura"), Lough Neagh is called one of the twelve chief loughs of Ireland. The origin of the lake and its name is explained in an Irish tale that was written down in the Middle Ages, but is likely pre-Christian. According to the tale, the lake is named after Echaid (modern spelling: Eochaidh or Eachaidh), who was the son of Mairid (Mairidh), a king of Munster. Echaid falls in love with his stepmother, a young woman named Ébliu (Ébhlinne).

Geography

The lakes contain many small islands and peninsulas, which are also called "islands" because of the highly convoluted shoreline and because many of them were islands prior to two extensive drainage schemes in the 1880s and the 1950s which dropped the water level by about 5 feet (1.5 metres). The Parliamentary Gazetteer of 1846 stated, "The islands are popularly fabled to be as numerous as the days of the year; but they have been more soberly estimated at 90 in the Upper Lake and 109 in the Lower".

The largest islands are Inishmore at the northern end of Upper Lough Erne (not to be confused with "Inish More or Davy's Island" in Lower Lough Erne) and Galloon Island at the lower end of Upper Lough Erne.

History

The Menapii are the only known Celtic tribe specifically named on Ptolemy’s AD 150 map of Ireland, where they located their first colony, Menapia, on the Leinster coast circa 216 BC. They later settled around Lough Erne, becoming known as the Fir Manach, and giving their name to Fermanagh and Monaghan. Mongán mac Fiachnai, a 7th-century King of Ulster, is the protagonist of several legends linking him with Manannán mac Lir. They spread across Ireland, evolving into historic Irish (also Scottish and Manx) clans.

The Annals of Ulster were written in the late 15th century on Belle Isle, an island in Upper Lough Erne.

During the Second World War, RAF Castle Archdale was based on Lough Erne, providing an essential airbase for the Battle of the Atlantic and the battle against U-boats.

Sport and tourism

The Lough Erne area is popular for angling and watersports, with waterskiing, rowing and wakeboarding being amongst the most popular; the stretch of water alongside the Broadmeadow, Enniskillen, has hosted stages of the World Waterski Championships annually since 2005, and in 2007, a pro-wakeboard competition, 'Wakejam' was hosted by the Erne Wakeboard Club (EWC) after successful national wakeboard competitions in the previous years. Canoeing is also a popular recreational sport on the Erne.

Lough Erne Yacht Club is based in Gublusk Bay. The Lough Erne Regatta is Ireland’s oldest event for racing under sail, with a lineage beyond 1820. The RNLI has an inland lifeboat and rescue watercraft based at Gublusk with a further station at Carrybridge on the Upper lake.

Geography

Loch Ness is an elongated loch located southwest of Inverness, extending for approximately 37 kilometres (23 miles) and flowing from southwest to northeast. At 56 km2 (22 sq mi), it is the second-largest Scottish loch by surface area after Loch Lomond, but due to its great depth it is the largest by volume in the British Isles, containing more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined. Its deepest point is 754 feet (229.8 metres; 125.7 fathoms), making it the second deepest loch in Scotland after Loch Morar. A 2016 survey claimed to have discovered a crevice extending to a depth of 271 m (889 ft), but further research determined this to be a sonar anomaly.

Modern history

On New Year's Eve 1939, a Royal Air Force Vickers Wellington Bomber (serial no. N2980) with 20 Operational Training Unit based at RAF Lossiemouth, was forced to ditch on Loch Ness after running into engine trouble. Initially, the pilot, Squadron Leader David Marwood-Elton, ordered the crew to bail out, before quickly cancelling the order upon spotting Loch Ness; this second order came too late for the rear gunner, Sergeant J.S. Fensome, aged 20, who bailed out before hearing it, and fell to his death after his parachute was destroyed after getting caught by the plane when he pulled the ripcord prematurely. The remaining seven crew survived the ditching. Fensome is buried at the Holy Trinity Churchyard in Biscot, Bedfordshire. The crash is memorialised on a plaque in a layby along the A82.

Geography

Located 16 km (10 mi) southwest of Loch Ness along the Great Glen, the loch is over 15 km (9 mi) long with an average width of about 1 km (5⁄8 mi). The River Lochy flows from its southwestern end while the Caledonian Canal links its northeastern extent to Loch Oich.

Loch Lochy should not be confused with Loch Loch, which lies to the east of Beinn a' Ghlò.

History

The Battle of the Shirts was fought at its northern end near Laggan in July 1544, between Clan Donald and Clan Fraser.

The Stand-off at the Fords of Arkaig in September 1665 ended a 360-year feud between the Camerons and the Chattan Confederation. It took place at Achnacarry, on the isthmus between Loch Lochy and Loch Arkaig.

Folklore tales mention a supernatural being called the River Horse which was said to emerge from the lake and assume a horse's shape before feeding on the loch's banks. The River Horse was also known as the Lord of the Lake and the Water King and would overturn boats and "entice mares from their pastures". Another tradition was that of the River Bull, "a gentle, harmless creature", who would "emerge from the lake into the pasture of cows".

Geology

The Grampian Mountains are chiefly made up of metamorphic and igneous rocks. The mountains are composed of granite, gneiss, marble, schists and quartzite.

The Quaternary glaciation (<2.6 Ma) eroded the region significantly, and glacial deposits, such as tills, are largely those of the last Ice Age (< 20 Ka).

Geology and topography

While Snowdonia contains a mix of volcanic rocks and sedimentary rocks of Cambrian and Ordovician age, the mountains of South Wales are mainly Devonian age Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous Limestone and similarly aged sandstones. The ranges of mid-Wales on the other hand are predominantly formed from Ordovician and Silurian sandstones and mudstones which in many areas outcrop only infrequently so resulting in more rounded grassy hills. The Cambrian Mountains (in the modern sense of the term) are generally less popular with hillwalkers and scramblers than the ranges to their north and south.