| Lough Swilly | |
|---|---|
| Loch Súilí (Irish) | |
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  Location in Ireland | |
| Location | County Donegal, Ireland |
| Coordinates | 55°08′17″N7°29′56″W / 55.138°N 7.499°W /55.138; -7.499 |
| Primary inflows | River Swilly |
| Settlements | Inishowen |
Lough Swilly (Irish:Loch Súilí, meaning 'lake of eyes')[1] in Ireland is a glacialfjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of theInishowen Peninsula and theFanad Peninsula, inCounty Donegal. Along withCarlingford Lough andKillary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords in Ireland.[2][3]
Both Lough Swilly (Irish:Loch Súilí) and the adjoiningRiver Swilly (An tSúileach)[4] have the same derivation,[5][6][7] and are sometimes associated with a legendary multi-eyedsea monster,Suileach, that was reputedly killed bySaint Colmcille (521–597).[8][9] InThe Origin and History of Irish Names of Places (1900), the historianPatrick Weston Joyce writes thatsúil may refer to whirlpools or to eyes and thatsuileach means "abounding in eyes or whirlpools".[7]
Located on the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal, the northern extremities of the lough are marked byFanad Head with its lighthouse and Dunaff Head. Towns situated on thelough includeBuncrana on Inishowen andRathmullan on the western side. At the southern end of the lough liesLetterkenny.
In the south of the lough a number of islands (Burt,Inch, Coney, Big Isle) werepoldered and the land reclaimed during the 19th century for agriculture and theLondonderry and Lough Swilly Railway constructed embankments on the line fromDerry to Letterkenny. These reclaimed lands are nowwetlands associated withwildlife conservation andbirdwatching, and support over 4,000whooper swans and thousands ofGreenland white front,barnacle,greylag andbrent geese.[citation needed]
The lough is known for its wildlife-watching (dolphins, porpoise, seabirds, migratory geese and swans) and diving on a number of ship wrecks,[1] includingSS Laurentic sunk by a Germanmine (possibletorpedo), which went down with 3,211 ingots of gold of which 3,191 were recovered.[10]
Lough Swilly has a number of earlyStone Age monuments andIron Age fortifications along its shores, as well as a number ofshell middens dated to approximately 7000 BC.[11]
The lough, and theGrianán Ailigh hill fort (early fortification and palace dating from 2000 to 5000 BC) at its southeastern bend, were recorded onPtolemy'smap of the world.
Swilly was the departure point for the 'Flight of the Earls' in 1607. This event, which followed a failed uprising in September 1607, sawHugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, andRory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell (the lastGaelic chieftains in Ireland at that time), set sail fromRathmullan with ninety of their followers.[12][13]
Due to its natural shelter and its depth, the lough was an important naval port. In October 1798, immediately prior to the outbreak of theNapoleonic Wars, a French fleet carryingWolfe Tone of theUnited Irishmen, plus troops to assist in1798 rebellion, was intercepted and defeated in anaval battle at the entrance to Lough Swilly. Subsequently, Tone was captured and taken ashore at Buncrana on the east side of the Swilly.[14]
A subsequent reassessment of the threat of invasion led to the building of a series of fortifications guarding the different approaches and landing points within the lough which were completed between 1800 and 1820.[15]Martello towers were built around 1804 to defend the approaches to Derry. The six on the lough cost €1,800 each, were armed with smoothbore cannon, firing round shot and were completed in six months.[16]
During a gale on 4 December 1811, theRoyal Navy 36-gunApollo-classfrigateHMS Saldanha was shipwrecked in Lough Swilly. There were no survivors out of the estimated 253 aboard, with approximately 200 bodies washed up on shore.[17]
Immediately prior toWorld War I the War Office improved the Napoleonic forts and their armaments as well as adding another fort at the entrance to the lough at Lenan Head with 9-inch (23 cm) guns (12-mile range) – the largest in Ireland at the time. The remains of these fortifications are still atLenan Head Fort,Fort Dunree (now a military and wildlife museum),Ned's Point, Buncrana,Inch Fort and on the west coast at Rathmullan,Knockalla andMacamish Point.[18]
During the war, the lough was used by the Royal Navy as an anchorage for elements of theGrand Fleet, an amalgamation of the pre-war Home and Atlantic Fleets, underAdmiralSir John R. Jellicoe and a gathering/staging point for Atlantic convoys.[19][20] During this period a boom was placed across the lough between Macamish Point and Ned's Point, supported by a number oftrawlers, to preventU-boat attacks.
After theIrish War of Independence the lough was one of theTreaty Ports specified in theAnglo-Irish Treaty until its final handing over at Fort Dunree in 1938.[20] According to exhibits at Fort Dunree, duringWorld War II Irish troops operated the guns there with explicit instructions to fire at any ship that might threaten Irish neutrality by entering the natural harbour. On one occasion in this period, a Royal Navy ship entered the lough and – while it did not initially respond to signals that it should turn back – left the area without any action being taken.[citation needed]
The trains of theLondonderry and Lough Swilly Railway served the area around Lough Swilly until 1953, when the company's trains were replaced by buses. These operated until 2014, when the company was closed down and liquidated.
In some parts of the country it [súil] is applied to a whirlpool in a river ; and in this sense it has given name to the river Swilly in Donegal, which is called in the Annals, suileach, i. e. abounding in eyes or whirlpools. The river gave name to Lough Swilly
Swilly (Súileach) ( river ) Donegal. Suileach 1258. 'Seeing one'. The name probably has supernatural connotations
Suileach [..] Multi-eyed, eponymous sea-monster of Lough Swilly (Co. Donegal) thought to have been dispatched by St Colum Cille (521–95)
[Laurentic] was mined at the mouth of Lough Swilly, Ireland in 1917. It sank in forty metres of water with the loss of 354 men. From 1917 to 1921 royal navy divers salvaged over 3,000 gold bars
The River Swilly [..] takes its name from Suileach (sharp sighted), a man eating water monster known for its many eyes and immense size
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