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Some
130 lakes in Monaghan
They
may talk about the beauty of The Lakes of Killarneyı and
they even call Westmeath The Lakeland Countyı, but there
is one county that seems to have been completely over looked
in practically all tourist literature and one that can equal
the best of them - and that is Co. Monaghan.
Perhaps, because we are not rated as a ‘tourist area’
in the same sense as are Kerry, Mayo, Clare, Connemara and
Donegal and perhaps because we have not had the politicians
and the ‘pull’ that so successfully advertises
the rest of the country, but the ‘Lakes of Co. Monaghan’
can rank with the very best of them and they are there for
all to explore and to enjoy.
The largest and most beautiful of all Co. Monaghan lakes
is Lough Muckno, which surrounds the town of Castleblayney
on two sides. Often described as “The Killarney of
the North’, it attracts thousands of visitors every
year, both for its fishing and for its many sporting activities.
Its beauty has been much appreciated for well over two centuries,
as is evident from this piece written by the writer and
historian C.J. Lewis in his magnificent ‘Topographical
Dictionary of Ireland’ (1837), volume 1, page 290:-
“The mansion of Castle Blayney, the seat of Lord Blayney,
is closely adjoining (the town) and is encompassed by a
demesne of great extent and beauty, which includes the Lake
of Mucknoe and some fine woodland scenery: It is a handsome
modern edifice, built near the site of the old castle. The
ruins of an ancient fortress in Cornero wood, on the shore
of the lake are also within the demesne”.
The beauty of the area has been recorded in song by one
if its own, the legendary and highly popular “Big Tom”
McBride. For the angler’s interest, some twenty-six
lakes are listed in the Castleblayney area, by the local
Development Association. Muckno is right beside the town
and is considered one of the best pike lakes in the country,
and it also boasts of an abundance of perch, trout and rudd.
In recent years Muckno has also been the venue for many
international water-skiing competitions and the potential
in this sphere is enormous. The other lakes in the area
are mainly fishing lakes and abound in rudd, pike, perch
and bream. Bream fishing is not considered that popular
with Irish anglers and stocks of this fish, especially in
Lough Dernaglug, are exceptionally good. Maggot bait is
available locally at all times and there is rarely a charge
or limitation on the amount of catch.
Ballybay is frequently described as “The Angler’s
Paradise’ in tourist brochures, and rightly so, as
it attracts countless fishermen from abroad every year,
with the Germans proving particularly favourably inclined
towards the many lakes in this mid-Monaghan area. Twenty-two
lakes lie within a three-mile radius of Ballybay and these
also abound in pike, bream, perch and rudd. Exceptionally
fine bream are to be found here, and at one spot, fish averaging
from four to six pounds have been landed. The bream abound
especially in Coolderry Lake.
Beside the town, Lough Major, first stocked by the then
Inland Fisheries Board as far back as 1953, provides rare
entertainment for the trout fisherman. The charges for fishing
are minimal while there is unrestricted fishing in many
of the other local lakes. Ample bank-fishing is widely available,
and on all the lakes in this area excellent fishing stands
have been erected, with required tackle also locally available.
All information needed can be obtained from the local Development
people, who are extremely helpful and forthcoming when they
are approached for information.
In the north of the county, adjacent to the county capital,
Monaghan, there are some thirty lakes listed, some of them
still unexplored and each and every one of them a heaven
for the coarse angler. Believe it or not, one of them -
Drumreaske Lake - was stocked with tench nearly a century
ago and had been preserved as a fish sanctuary ever since.
Two others, Lough Quig and Hollywood Lake, abound in large
bream, rudd (which all locals call roach), perch and pike.
In 1960, the local ‘Northern Standard’ newspaper
carried a photograph of a thirty-five pounds pike caught
in another of these Monaghan lakes, Lough Rooskey, and which
had been landed by a fifteen years old boy, using a hazel
rod cut from a hedge.
The ‘Convent Lake’ at Monaghan town is probably
the first ever lake in the county to be mapped, as it appears
on the 1600 map of Monaghan, and includes the crannog, which
is listed as ‘McMahon’s House’. Right in
the centre of the town is ‘Peter’s Lake’,
named after an extremely generous Monaghan businessman,
Peter McPhillips, who contributed so much to the building
of St. Macartan’s Cathedral and St. Macartan’s
Seminary during the 19th century. It was truthfully said
of him that ‘he had a hand in the building of every
Catholic church in the diocese of Clogher’. The town
is also remarkable in that it is the only town in Ireland
which has a lake to commemorate one if its most famous sons,
where other towns erect statues or other such monuments.
Further north still, near Emyvale, nestles the beautiful
Lough Emy, one of the largest lakes in the north of the
county, and which is a Mecca for game fishermen. This lovely
lake, often featured in music and song, was taken over by
the then Inland fisheries Trust during the 1950s and was
cleared of all coarse fish and stocked with trout, although
the complete elimination of pike has posed something of
a problem down through the years. At that time also, Lough
Emy was listed as one of the best lakes for its size, for
trout, in the entire country, There are several other smaller
lakes in the same area such as Tully, Back Lough, Astrish,
Glaslough lake and many others, all of which abound in coarse
fish.
Emy Lough, which covers some 145 acres, has quite a history,
as it was reputed that the great St. Enda, ‘The Tutor
of the Gael’, had a cell on the crannog there before
moving on to ‘found’ his famous monastery on the
Aran Islands, while the crannog later became a stronghold
and refuge of the McKenna clan, who were masters of the
area for some five hundred years from the mid 12th century
to the final overthrow of the Ulster chieftains in the 17th
century. Currently, the Donagh Development Association is
constructing a path-way around this lovely lake and, when
completed, this should prove yet another major tourist attraction
for this very scenic area.
In the north-west corner of Monaghan, deep into the Slieve
Beagh (Bragan) mountains, lies the lovely Lough More, partly
in Monaghan, partly in Tyrone. This lovely lake provides
a water scheme for many north-Monaghan homes as well as
for the Clogher Valley, north of the Border. An extremely
deep lake, its waters are reputed to be the purest in the
country, while it is also famed for being the burial place
of the legendary ‘Shane Bernagh’, the rapparee
who ‘robbed the rich to feed the poor’ in the
three counties - Monaghan, Tyrone and Fermanagh. Betrayed
by one of his own, he was eventually tracked down and killed,
with his body being thrown into Lough More. Many poems and
songs have been written about his exploits, and a glen in
the area is still called ‘Shane Bearnagh’s Stables’.
As everyone knows, all our town-land names throughout Ireland,
but particularly in the Ulster counties, are derived directly
from the Irish language and their translations give us much
valuable information on the geographical and historical
traditions of each area. In the Bragan (Slieve Beagh) area,
more that anywhere else, there are several lovely ‘high-bog’
lakes with Irish names that have never been diluted in any
way and are still ‘pure Irish’. The most remarkable
of these is ‘Lough Nablaneybane’, which is simply
‘Loch na Bleine Baine’, meaning ‘the lake
of the white cove or inlet’. Not far away is Lough
Bradan, from ‘Loch Bhradain’, meaning ‘the
salmon lake’, and Lough Naheery, from ‘Loch an
Aoire’, meaning the ‘shepherd’s lake’.
You simply cannot get ‘more-Irish’ than that.
In the extreme south of the county, in the Carrickmacross
area, where, as well as its remarkable tradition for lace-making,
its reputation as a lake-fishing area is also rapidly rising
to national, and international, importance. Near the town
are three magnificent lakes - Lough Naglack, Lough Fea and
Moynalty Lake, all of which have become very popular with
the English coarse-fishing fraternity. Boats are always
available for all of these lakes, just as they are in the
Castleblayney, Ballybay, Monaghan and Emyvale areas, and
these may be rented from local owners at very reasonable
daily charges.
Between Carrickmacross and the village of Rockcorry is a
host of small lakes, teaming with amazing quantities of
trout, pike, perch, bream and rudd, and all within easy
reach of all the aforementioned towns. This last plethora
of lakes stretches right across the county from the Aughnamullen
lakes, namely Lough Egish, Lough Bawn, Creeve lake, Shantonagh
lake, Lough Avaghen and others, to Derrygooney Lough, Mullanary
Lough, White Lough, and Inner Lough at Rockcorry, while
near Clones is Bishop’s Lake, and near Smithboro is
Lough Ooney, all with their own local reputations and histories.
The crannog on Lough Ooney was a McMahon refuge and is probably
the best preserved crannog in the county.
In fact, there are some one-hundred-and-thirty lakes in
Co. Monaghan, and it would be impossible to name them all
in this short article. Inevitably, some will have been left
out, but a visitor to any of our towns or villages will
soon be given all the information they require on these
same lakes, whether for fishing, for scenery, or for water-sports,
as there are no more friendly people than the country-folk
of Co. Monaghan, even though we do say so ourselves.
Taken from Monaghan's Match
December 2004
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