The small matter of what makes a lake a lake
Photographer Hu O'Reilly continues his popular series 'Chasing the Magical 365' in his quest to record and photograph all 365 lakes in County Cavan...
What is Cavan’s smallest lake? It’s a question I have pondered on my Lakes of Cavan social media pages and I’ve had a few suggested answers, but it’s hard to give a definitive answer.
A good starting point would be to define, what is a lake? I have over 340 lakes already photographed for this project, but I’m sure it’s debatable as to whether some qualify as lakes.
The Collins English Dictionary states a lake is - ‘an expanse of water entirely surrounded by land and unconnected to the sea except by rivers or streams’.
There are several other definitions of a lake, and there is no clear definition as to the size a body of water would have to be in order to be deemed a lake.
When is a lake a pond, for example? There are some explanations about the size, but the main difference is a pond can be shallow enough that plants can grow across their entire surface. This is called the photonic zone. I’m sure some of the ‘lakes’ I have photographed already might fall into this category, but many of them are called lakes on maps. Perhaps they were lakes in the past and have reduced in size to relegate them to pond status now.
A few modest sized lakes identified on maps, weren’t there when I arrived to photograph them. Some have vanished completely. I received a nice phonecall a few months ago from a man in West Cavan who explained that some lakes disappear when the limestone basin shifts over time, and the water drains underground.
The many shallow lakes in Cavan are usually connected with eachother by rivers and underground waterways also. And over time these lakes can disappear.
I was in Mullahoran a few months ago, taking aerial photographs of what appeared to be a lake, near the church. It was shown on the map but had no name attached. I bumped into someone I knew near the football pitch and asked if he knew the name of the lake.
“That’s not a lake” was the reply, “it’s a quarry”.
I was disappointed.
“That’s a pity,” I said, “Because it makes for a great photograph!”
That got me thinking, and I did some research online about lakes. And so, it seems that quarry lakes are lakes too, even though they may not be natural lakes like most others. So, it could yet be included in the project.
Folly
Another message I received was from my cousin Emma telling me: ‘You know Fleming’s Folly - there’s a body of water there - I don’t know if it’s a lake but it could be worth checking out.’
So I made the trip there during the summer and sure enough at its summit is a small body of water. Big enough to be called a lake? I’m not sure, but definitely worth considering.
Flemings Folly is a stone tower built around 1800. It’s well worth a visit and there is a lovely wooded walk to it – one of Cavan’s many hidden gems. The tower was built from the stones dug out of the nearby quarry – and it’s this old quarry that formed the small lake beside the tower.
Some of the smallest lakes I have photographed are Cloverhill, Kilnaleck, Namoyle, Island, Gartnanearne North, Castlecosby, Flemmings Folly, Roskeeragh, Lisclogher (East), Black Cornamucklahg), Tee, Cortehone, Cam, Derry, Corrinshigo, Drumheel, Cordonaghy, Cloggagh and Cuttragh.
Athough it’s hard to be sure, I think the smallest lakes are either Island Lough outside Shercock, or Derry Lough near Canningstown. In a future article, I plan to write about Cavan’s biggest lakes so keep an eye out for that over the coming months.
Feedback
I would be interested to hear feedback from readers about any of these lakes mentioned, or if you know of any other smaller lakes that I might have missed.
You can contact me via my Facebook or Instagram Pages (‘lakesofcavan’) or you can email me at hu@huoreillyphoto.com
Due to the lockdown and travel restrictions, I now expect to be launching the book and exhibition featuring 365 lakes of Cavan in October this year. I have around 20 lakes left to photograph and some of them are quite remote – up mountains in West Cavan. Hopefully, the smaller ones on the map will still be there and won’t have disappeared like has happened to me already! I’m looking forward to getting back on the road and travelling around our beautiful county, finding lakes big and small.
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