List of loughs of Ireland explained

This is an alphabetical list of loughs (lakes) on the island of Ireland. It also shows a table of the largest loughs. The word lough is pronounced like loch and comes from the Irish loch, meaning lake.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there are an estimated 12,000 lakes in the Republic of Ireland, covering an area of more than 1,200 square kilometres.^[1] The largest lough, by area, in Ireland is Lough Neagh. Lough Corrib is the second largest, and is the largest in the Republic. The largest lough, by water volume, is Lough Neagh, with Lough Mask being the largest in the Republic.

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. It includes loughs that are in 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:^{[2] [3] [4]}

Rank (by area)	Lake	Area km^2 (sq mi)	Mean Depth m (ft)	Max Depth m (ft)	Volume ×10^6m^3 (×10^6cu ft)	Shoreline km (mi)^[5]	County/Counties
1	Lough Neagh	396abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	9abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	25abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	3528abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	186abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Londonderry
2	Lough Corrib^[6]	176abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	6.5abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	50.9abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	1158abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	392abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Galway and Mayo
3	Lough Derg (Shannon)^[7]	130abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	7.6abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	36abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	988abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	229abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Tipperary, Clare and Galway
4	Lower Lough Erne*^[8]	109abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	11.9abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	69abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	1300abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	270abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Fermanagh
5	Lough Ree^[9]	105abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	6.2abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	35abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	651abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	192abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Roscommon, Longford and Westmeath
6	Lough Mask^[10]	83abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	15abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	58abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	1300abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values^[11]	192abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Mayo and Galway
7	Lough Conn^[12]	50abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	7abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	34abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	350abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	108abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Mayo
8	Lough Allen^[13]	35abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	10.9abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	42.7abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	391abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	53abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Leitrim and Roscommon
9	Upper Lough Erne*^[14]	34abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	2.3abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	27abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	79abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	255abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Fermanagh
10	Lough Melvin ^[15]	23abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	7.8abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	44abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	175abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	54abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Fermanagh and Leitrim
11	Lough Leane^[16]	20abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	13.4abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	60abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	269abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	51abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Kerry
12	Poulaphouca Reservoir^[17]	20abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	6.8abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values		135abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	64abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Wicklow
13	Lough Sheelin^[18]	19abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	4.4abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	15abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	83.6abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	36abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	Westmeath, Cavan, Meath
14		16abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	1.8abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	18abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	28.8abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	75abbr=valuesNaNabbr=values	County Mayo

Muckross Lake (the middle lake of the Killarney lakes) is the deepest Irish lake, with a maximum depth of 75 metres.^[19]

(Volume = Area * Mean Depth)

Freshwater lakes

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 (pp. 10–13)^[20]

Lake	County	Area (km^2)	Area (sq mi)
	County Kerry	0.66disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	0.61disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare and County Galway	0.55disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	33.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cork	1.36disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	0.87disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	0.53disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	1.59disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	0.81disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Sligo and County Roscommon	12.47disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	0.38disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	0.5disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	0.74disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	1.7disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Tyrone*			when adding a value-->
	County Meath and Westmeath	0.75disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	0.63disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Londonderry and County Antrim*	4.7disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	1.01disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	4.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon and County Leitrim	5.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	0.92disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim and County Roscommon	2.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cavan	1.7disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	1.03disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Armagh	0.72disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	4.9disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	15.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cork	5.8disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	0.46disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	9.3disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	0.21disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	0.64disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Armagh*			when adding a value-->
	County Sligo	0.62disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	0.71disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	1.28disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	0.71disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	48.5disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	0.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway and County Mayo	172.9disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	1.5disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	0.5disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	1.11disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	0.5disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	1.55disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	10.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	10.4disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	3.9disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Wicklow	1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Wicklow			when adding a value-->
	Counties Clare, Galway and Tipperary	122.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	8.8disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Westmeath	9.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	2.24disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	1.3disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	1.55disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	0.49disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	0.05disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	0.7disp=tableNaNdisp=table
Lough Eidin (Drumharlow Lake)	County Roscommon	2.8disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	0.61disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	1.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Sligo	1.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Monaghan	1.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Londonderry*			when adding a value-->
	County Westmeath	11.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Fermanagh*	109disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Fermanagh*	34disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	0.82disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	3.8disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	1.74disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	4disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	1.81disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	1.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Longford	3disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	3.8disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	1.8disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Sligo	12.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	3.9disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	2.05disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Sligo	13.8disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	1.4disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	0.57disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	1.68disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	0.7disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cork	0.66disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim and County Sligo	1.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	0.83disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	1.7disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	0.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cavan and County Longford	4.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	3.7disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	2.46disp=tableNaNdisp=table
Lough Gullion^[21]	County Armagh	1.3disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Limerick	0.8disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	3.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	1.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	1.08disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	0.77disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cork	4.9disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Down*			when adding a value-->
	County Westmeath			when adding a value-->
	County Down*	1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	1.39disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	0.39disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	8.9disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	2.02disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Westmeath	2.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	0.43disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	Counties Longford, Westmeath and Cavan	1.95disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	0.61disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	1.32disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Wexford	3disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	19.78disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Westmeath	4.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	0.82disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	1.23disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	0.84disp=tableNaNdisp=table
Lower Lough MacNean^[22]	County Fermanagh	4.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
Upper Lough MacNean^[23]	County Fermanagh*, County Cavan and County Leitrim	10disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	0.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo and County Galway	83.4disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	0.56disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	0.28disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	0.57disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	1.16disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Fermanagh* and County Leitrim	22.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	0.67disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Clare	0.96disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Monaghan	3.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	2.7disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	2.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	2.5disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	Counties Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone and Londonderry	396disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	1.37disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cavan	6.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Westmeath	10.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Wicklow	19.5disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Antrim*	2.86disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cavan	7.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	3disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Westmeath, County Longford and County Roscommon	106.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	1.65disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Galway	1.4disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	1.14disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cavan, County Meath and County Westmeath	18.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Westmeath			when adding a value-->
	County Galway	0.7disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cavan	1.6disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Roscommon	1.14disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Leitrim	1.46disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Wexford	3.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Sligo	1.1disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Wicklow	0.5disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Sligo	1.2disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry	1.7disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Cavan	0.61disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Mayo	1.15disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Donegal	2.61disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Monaghan	0.54disp=tableNaNdisp=table
	County Kerry			when adding a value-->

Brackish loughs

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

Turloughs

See main article: article and Turlough (lake).

• Loughareema, County Antrim*
• 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

See also

• Rivers of Ireland
• List of rivers of Ireland
• List of loughs of County Mayo
• Lake-burst

Notes and References

1. https://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/water/waterqua/Water%20Quality%20in%20Ireland%202010-2015.pdf EPA Water Quality in Ireland 2010–2015
2. http://www.osi.ie/Education/Primary-Schools/Seniors/Mountains,-Rivers-Lakes-(1).aspx Ordnance Survey Ireland: Mountains, Rivers and Lakes
3. http://www.fishinginireland.info/trout/shannon/derg.htm Fishing in Ireland, Lough Derg
4. http://www.ecn.ac.uk/sites/site/lakes/lough-erne UK Environmental Change Network, Lough Erne
5. Ordnance Survey Ireland Generalised Rivers & Lakes dataset (attribute table)
6. http://invasivespeciesireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Case_Study_2_Lagarosiphon_major_Lough_Corrib.pdf Lagarosiphon major – An Aggressive Invasive Species in Lough Corrib
7. http://wldb.ilec.or.jp/Lake.asp?LakeID=EUR-22&RoutePrm=0%3A%3B14%3Aload%3B14%3Aload%3B14%3Aload%3B14%3Aload%3B14%3Aload%3B World Lake Database
8. Heavily Modified Water Bodies – North Western River Basin District P.31 Web site: Archived copy . 2014-10-25 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141025024015/http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/hmwb_nw.pdf . 2014-10-25 .
9. http://wldb.ilec.or.jp/Lake.asp?LakeID=EUR-21&RoutePrm=0%3A%3B14%3Aload%3B14%3Aload%3B14%3Aload%3B14%3Aload%3B World Lake Database
10. http://www.epa.ie/licences/lic_eDMS/090151b28039ad8b.pdf Mayo County Council P.8
11. http://www.epa.ie/licences/lic_eDMS/090151b28039ad8b.pdf Mayo County Council P.12
12. "The trophic status of Lough Conn" P.7 by Mayo County Council
13. http://www.epa.ie/wfdstatus/LAKES/LK_Appendices_all_FK_8-10-2007.pdf EPA P158
14. Heavily Modified Water Bodies – North Western River Basin District P.29 Web site: Archived copy . 2014-10-25 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141025024015/http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/hmwb_nw.pdf . 2014-10-25 .
15. http://www.epa.ie/wfdstatus/LAKES/LK_Appendices_all_FK_8-10-2007.pdf EPA P159
16. http://www.nsshare.com/publications/documents/Ecological%20Classification%20Tools/Hydromorphology%20Rivers_Lakes%20T1%20-%20A7/Lakes/Lake%20Hydromorphology%20Part%201%20Review%20of%20Existing%20Bathymetric%20Information%20for%20Lakes%20T1%20(A7b.1)%20–%201.0.pdf North South Shared Aquatic Resource (NS Share) P.15
17. http://www.nsshare.com/publications/documents/Ecological%20Classification%20Tools/Hydromorphology%20Rivers_Lakes%20T1%20-%20A7/Lakes/Lake%20Hydromorphology%20Part%201%20Review%20of%20Existing%20Bathymetric%20Information%20for%20Lakes%20T1%20(A7b.1)%20–%201.0.pdf North South Shared Aquatic Resource (NS Share) P.16
18. http://www.wfdfish.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Sheelin_report1.pdf Sampling fish for the Water Framework Directive P.3
19. http://www.gleannfia.com/lakes.htm Glen Fia: Lakes of Killarney
20. Web site: A Reference Based Typology and Ecological Assessment System for Irish Lakes . 2006 . 10–13 . . 14 October 2022.
21. http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/protected_areas_home/new_assi_landing_page/county_armagh-2/lough_gullion_assi.htm Northern Ireland Environment Agency
22. http://wfdfish.ie/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Macnean_Upper_report_2010.pdf Inland Fisheries of Ireland: Sampling Fish (Page 2)
23. http://wfdfish.ie/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Macnean_Upper_report_2010.pdf Inland Fisheries of Ireland: Sampling Fish (Page 2)