17-592: Killykeen Forest Park straddling Lough Oughter is situated in County Cavan , Ireland approximately five miles from Cavan town. Responsibility for the upkeep of Killykeen is through the state's commercial forestry service Coillte together with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) where Lough Oughter and its associated loughs are protected under the EU Habitats Directive as
34-439: A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Special Protection Area (SPA) for wildlife and particularly wintering birds. The forest consists of mainly mixed woodland including Norway and Sitka spruce, Ash , Oak and Beech . The area is popular with anglers because of its location along Lough Oughter which is connected to thousands of hectares of lakeland complexes. Canoeing, biking and windsurfing are also popular activities at
51-477: Is a ruined circular castle on a small island in Lough Oughter , 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of the town of Killeshandra in County Cavan , Ireland . The castle is located in the historic Kingdom of Breifne , specifically in the part that would later be subdivided into East Breifne , roughly corresponding to County Cavan . The spot may have been a crannóg , or an artificially created island, and it
68-551: Is an ecotourism destination. Killykeen Forest Park , managed by Coillte , is a woodland of 240 hectares (590 acres) located five miles from Cavan town, and sitting alongside the Lough Oughter system. Trinity Island, located on Lough Oughter, was once home to a monastic settlement, and a friary on the island dates from the 12th or 13th century. Following the arrival of the Anglo Normans, Clogh Oughter Castle
85-654: Is part of the UNESCO Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark . The main threats to the quality of the site, according to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, are water pollution sources like run-off from fertiliser and slurry applications, and sewage discharge which have raised the nutrient status of some lakes to hypertrophic. Afforestation has also resulted in some loss of wetland habitat and feeding grounds for some wintering birds. The Lough Oughter complex of lakes and wetlands
102-498: Is possible there was fortification there as early as the sixth century. In the latter part of the 12th century, it was owned by the O'Rourkes , but early in the 13th century seems to have come into the hands of the Anglo-Norman de Lacy family. Architectural elements from the lower two stories show construction may have started as early as the first quarter of the 13th century. In 1233, the O'Reilly clan took possession of
119-677: The River Erne , and forms the southern part of the Lough Erne complex. The lakes are bounded roughly by Belturbet in the north, Cavan town to the east, Crossdoney to the south and Killeshandra to the west. A 1977 report by An Foras Forbartha (precursor to the Environmental Protection Agency ) describes Lough Oughter as the "best inland example of a flooded drumlin landscape" in Ireland, and details
136-505: The area and completed the castle. They retained it for centuries in the midst of their ongoing conflicts with the O'Rourkes, and with members of their own clan. It was there that Philip O'Reilly was imprisoned in the 1360s with "no allowance save a sheaf of oats for day and night and a cup of water, so that he was compelled to drink his own urine." After the land confiscations that followed the Plantation of Ulster in 1610, Cloughoughter
153-517: The castle became a frequent subject of art in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its visual impact was described in a travelogue published in The Dublin University Magazine in 1852: It stands on a small island, scarce three hundred feet in diameter, just sufficient to contain the castle and a small margin of rock around it. The island stands in very deep water; the shores are a mile distant, wild, yet thickly wooded. The castle
170-578: The cold winter. In 1649 Owen Roe O'Neill , commander of the Ulster Army died at the castle. In March 1653, it was besieged by Commonwealth forces under Sir Theophilus Jones , brother of Henry and thus related by marriage to the Culme family. It was the last major Confederacy position to surrender on 27 April. Jones set up his artillery in the nearby townland of Innishconnell and the damage caused by cannon shot remains to this day. Left in ruins,
187-517: The late nineteenth century, water levels on Lough Oughter were lowered to alleviate flooding of low lying farmland. However, a 2008 proposal by Waterways Ireland suggested that levels be raised to facilitate tourism and allow pleasure boats to gain access into the lough via the River Erne from Belturbet to Killashandra. Cloughoughter Castle Cloughoughter Castle ( Irish : Cloch Locha Uachtair , meaning 'stone castle of Loch Uachtair')
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#1732780466713204-418: The park. Other Attractions include Cloughoughter Castle and Gartnanoul Court Tomb . This article related to the geography of County Cavan , Ireland is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lough Oughter Lough Oughter ( Irish : Loch Uachtair ) is a lake, or complex of lakes, in County Cavan covering more than 8,900 hectares (22,000 acres). The complex of lakes lies on
221-658: The total European population while the lake also houses 10% of the estimated breeding total of Great Crested Grebes in the Republic, having become almost extinct in the 19th century. As an angling lake, Lough Oughter is designated as a suitable wetland for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. The Lough Oughter complex, along with Killykeen Forest Park, are designated Natura 2000 habitats, Special Areas for Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Areas (SPA) under EU legislation. Lough Oughter
238-416: The varied biological communities of the area. According to a National Parks and Wildlife Service summary of the site, there is nowhere else in the country with such "mixture of land and water occur over a comparable area", with many species of wetland plants, which are common to Lough Oughter, characterised as "infrequent elsewhere". The number of whooper swans which winter in the area represents about 3% of
255-414: Was also built in the area, also in the 13th century. It stands on a tiny island in Lough Oughter, and is circular in construction. Measuring approximately 15.5 metres in outside diameter, it is almost 18 metres high. The nearest shore is approximately 130 metres away, close to the narrowest part of the lough at Inishconnell Rinn Point. During the seventeenth century, the castle changed hands several times and
272-714: Was granted to Captain Hugh Culme. In 1641, Philip O'Reilly , MP for Cavan and a prominent leader of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 , seized control of the castle, which he held until 1653. During this phase of its existence, it was used as a jail, with Culme himself being one of the prisoners, along with his son-in-law Henry Jones . Another was William Bedell , Bishop of Kilmore in the Church of Ireland , who died in February 1642, evidently due to inadequate shelter from
289-605: Was one of the last defended castles to hold out during the Confederate Wars. Before this, Clogh Oughter Castle was used as a prison, and the Anglican Bishop of Kilmore, William Bedell was held hostage here. Irish Confederate general Eoghan Ruadh Ó'Néill is reputed to have died here in 1649 and was secretly brought to Trinity Island for burial. The castle was captured in 1653 and its walls breached by cannon shot. It has remained unoccupied ever since. During
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