List of loughs of Ireland facts for kids

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

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

(Volume = Area multiplied by Mean Depth)

Freshwater lakes

Lough Bunny in The Burren

Fishing boats on Inchiquin, Lough Corrib.

Lough Cullin, County Mayo under Nephin

Lough Dan

Donegal's Lough Derg and Station Island

Lough Derravaragh and Knockeyon

Derryclare Lough

Mayo's Doo Lough and Delphi Pass

Glanmore Lake

Glenbeg Lough

Glencar Lough and Benbulbin

Lough Gur

Lough Inagh and the Twelve Bens

Lough Key and Castle Island

Kylemore Lough and Diamond Hill

Lough Lene and Turgesius Island

Lower Lough MacNean and Inishee Island

Maumeen Lough and the Twelve Bens

Lough Tay and the Wicklow Mountains

Lough Veagh in the Glenveagh Valley

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)

Brackish loughs

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

Turloughs

• Glenamaddy Turlough, County Galway
• Rahasane Turlough, County Galway
• Shannon Pot, County Cavan

Reservoirs

• Poulaphouca Reservoir, County Wicklow
• Silent Valley Reservoir, County Down* Spelga Reservoir, County Down* Vartry Reservoir, County Wicklow

Sea loughs

• Belfast Lough, between County Antrim and County Down* Strangford Lough, County Down* Lough Foyle, between County Donegal and County Londonderry* Galway Bay, County Galway
• Lough Hyne, County Cork
• Larne Lough, County Antrim* Lough Mahon, County Cork
• Shannon Estuary, Munster
• Tralee Bay, County Kerry
• Waterford Harbour, County Waterford
• Wexford Harbour, County Wexford

Fjords

• Carlingford Lough, between County Louth and County Down* Lough Swilly, County Donegal
• Killary Harbour, between County Mayo & County Galway

Images for kids

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  Lough Oughter at Killykeen