The lakes of Westmeath, like Loch Arrow in Sligo, are almost unknown to
those who go to Ireland in search of the picturesque. These lakes are, for
the greater part, in the centre of the County. Loch Ree is not included in
them. There may be said to be only four of them worthy of the attention of
those who see something to be admired in a lake besides the excellence of
the fish that is in it. Those in search of the beautiful very seldom go to
see the lakes of Westmeath. The only people who generally visit them are
fishermen, very few of whom would turn round their heads to gaze on the
fairest prospect the lakes afforded, for seldom, indeed, do those usually
styled sportsmen trouble themselves very much to see the beauties of
nature, and they are, unfortunately, about the only class of people who
come from afar to visit the lake district of Westmeath.
The lakes best worth seeing in Westmeath are Loch Deravarragh, Loch Ouel,
Loch Ennel, usually called Belvedere Lake, Loch Iron, and Loch Sheelin.
The last mentioned lake lies on the borders of four counties--Longford,
Cavan, Meath, and Westmeath. It cannot be claimed by the most devoted
admirer of the Westmeath lakes that there is very much historic interest
attached to any of them. It would be hardly possible to find a square mile
of Irish soil wholly devoid of historic interest; but while it may truly
be said that there is no country in Europe, not excepting even Greece,
where so many places of historic interest are to be found as in Ireland,
some parts of it are richer than others in memorials of the past. From
whatever cause it happened is not very clear, but it is a fact that
Westmeath is one of the least historic of Irish counties. The hill of
Uisneach is its most historic spot. There are, at the same time, some
other places of historic interest in it. Its most beautiful lake, Loch
Ouel, anciently called Loch Uair, is the one in which Malachy the First
drowned Turgesius the Dane. Turgesius seems to have had what Americans
would call "a high old time" in Ireland for some years--robbing churches
and monasteries, and living on the fat of the land; until the Irish, under
Malachy, at length defeated him in battle, took him prisoner, and drowned
him in one of the most beautiful lakes in Ireland. It seems queer that
Malachy, instead of giving him a grave in such a beautiful sheet of water,
did not fling him into a bog hole, and it is a pity that there should not
be any really trustworthy authority for the legend according to which it
was love for King Malachy's beautiful daughter that was the means of
entrapping Turgesius. Keating gives a very interesting account of the
capture of the Danish Viking in his History of Ireland; how Turgesius
asked Malachy for his daughter: how Malachy said that the marriage, or
rather the _liaison_ should not be made public for fear of giving offence
to the Irish; and how fifteen beardless youths, dressed as girls,
conducted Malachy's daughter to the Dane, overpowered his guard, took
himself prisoner, and then drowned him. A great deal of romance has been
written about this affair, but it remained for the inimitable Sam Lover to
write the funniest thing in the way of a poem about it. He said that the
tyranny of the Danes was so heavy on the Irish that the clergy ordered
them a long time of prayer and fasting to seek Divine aid to rid
themselves of their persecutors. But it would appear that the unfortunate
Irish had been keeping a compulsory fast for a long time previous, for
the Danes had left them nothing to eat. They could not understand being
ordered to fast still more, and said to the clergy:--
"We can't fast faster than we're fastin' now."
The account of the drowning of Turgesius is given with tantalising
curtness in the "Book of Leinster": "This is the year, A.D. 843, that
Turgesius was taken by Maelseachlainn (Malachy). He was then drowned in
Loch Uair."[15] The "Book of Leinster" does not say that Turgesius was
taken in battle, but those who do not believe Keating's story think he
was. If he had been taken in battle and defeated, it must be admitted that
it is strange that Irish annalists did not say so and give particulars of
the battle. This omission makes it appear probable that there is some
truth in the version of his capture as given by Keating, although it is
altogether discredited by those best read in Irish History.
Loch Ouel can be seen from the train on the Sligo division of the Great
Western Railway. Passing as the glimpse of it is from the train, it is
enough to reveal some of the beauties of this fairest of Westmeath lakes.
But to see it properly one should wander by its pebbly shores, for not a
yard of them is swampy, or ascend one of the hills of brilliant green that
are on all sides of it. Loch Ouel has the great defect of being almost
islandless. There are only one or two small ones in it. If it had
proportionately as many islands in it as Loch Erne, it would be one of the
fairest sheets of water of its size in Ireland.
Belvedere Lake is a good deal larger than Loch Ouel, and its shores are
better wooded, but part of them, in fact a very large part of them, is
boggy. Its banks are adorned with gentlemen's seats, and in spite of the
swampy shore on one side of it, it is a very beautiful lake.
Loch Derravaragh is the most peculiarly-shaped of all the Westmeath lakes.
It is shaped something like a tadpole, only that, unlike a tadpole, it is
its head that is narrow, and its tail, or lower part, that is wide. It has
bolder shores than any other lake in the county, some of the hills near it
being almost mountains. It has hardly any islands, and its shores are
wilder than any other of the Westmeath lakes. It wants the woods that do
so much to adorn the swampy shores of Belvedere Lake; but comparatively
bare as the shores of Loch Derravaragh are, it is a most picturesque
lake, and some think it more beautiful than Loch Ouel. Both Loch
Derravaragh and Loch Iron are formed by the river Inny, but it does not,
as most rivers do, flow through the lakes it forms and feeds, for it flows
out of them within a short distance of where it enters them, and the lakes
extend in an opposite direction from where they receive their water. This
is rather a strange fact in physical geography.
The next most important of the Westmeath lakes is Loch Sheelin, but as
three other counties--Longford, Meath, and Cavan--border it, it cannot be
strictly called a Westmeath lake. However, as it is so close to the very
picturesque sheets of water which are the chief scenic attractions of the
county they adorn, it has been thought best to include it when describing
them. Loch Sheelin has only a few islands, but its shores, although low,
are very well wooded. Seen from the hills in the vicinity of Oldcastle in
Meath, it is as fair a sight as can well be imagined, with its
wood-crowned, indented shores. If there are fairer lakes in Ireland than
Loch Sheelin, there are few that have a more beautiful name. It is euphony
itself. Its name is the original one of Moore's sweet melody, "Come, rest
in this Bosom." It has often been said, "What's in a name?" There is a
great deal. A name so beautiful as Loch Sheelin would give a certain charm
to a bog hole. It must be confessed that Celtic, of all European
languages, seems to contain the most sonorous place names. Such names as
Bassenthwaitewater, Ullswater, Conistonwater, Derwentwater, Thuner See,
and Zuger See, sound very tame compared with Loch Lomond, Loch Erne, Loch
Awe, Loch Ree, Loch Layn, and Loch Sheelin. There is, however, one
continental place-name of wonderful beauty of sound, and that is Lorraine.
Its German name is Lothringen, but the French, by eliding its consonants,
or by what is generally called aspiration in Gaelic grammar, have turned
the harsh German name into one of the most euphonious and beautiful in the
world.
Loch Iron and Loch Lene, pronounced Loch Layne, are small sheets of water,
but are well worth a visit, even from those who are neither fishers of
fish nor of men. The country all round the Westmeath lakes is as beautiful
as it is possible for any country to be in which there are neither
mountains nor waterfalls. It is never flat, and never uninteresting,
covered almost everlastingly with verdure, for although most of the county
is hilly, it is one of the most fertile in Ireland. Its still, clear
lakes, undulating surface, and rich soil, make it, even in the absence of
mountains (and, unfortunately, in the absence of good hotels in its small
towns and villages), one of the most picturesque of the counties of
Leinster.