Lower Lough MacNean is a large freshwater lake in County Fermanagh

County Fermanagh

Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. The lake is fed by a small river which flows from Upper Lough MacNean into the lake at a bridging point between the villages of Belcoo

Belcoo

Belcoo is a small village and townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, 10 miles from Enniskillen. It is on the County Fermanagh/County Cavan border beside the village of Blacklion in the Republic of Ireland...

 and Blacklion

Blacklion

Blacklion is a border village in west County Cavan, Ireland. It is situated on the N16 national primary road, just across the border from the County Fermanagh village of Belcoo.- History :The village is within the townland of Tuam...

, County Cavan

County Cavan

County Cavan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Cavan. Cavan County Council is the local authority for the county...

. This river forms the border between County Fermanagh and County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. The lake then empties into the Arney River

Arney River

The Arney River is a small river in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, feeding from Lower Lough MacNean and into Upper Lough Erne. It meanders through a wide, flat Glacial Trough between the uplands of Fermanagh, Belmore Mountain and the Cuilcagh Mountains. The valley is characterised by wide flat...

.

The lake contains two islands, Cushrush Island is the larger of these and it has been extensively farmed, there is also Inishee or Jinny's Island which is smaller and is completely forested. A causeway was built out to Cushrush Island in the 1960s to allow animals to be moved more easily out to the land on the island.

Cushrush Island appears to have been inhabited since the Mesolithic

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

 period as there have been many deposits of microlithic flint

Flint

Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...

 tools found upon the island.

The shape of Lough MacNean was changed dramatically during the 1960s when a major draining operation took place; prior to this, the lake was used for eel

Eel

Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

 fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, but dredging during the drainage process decimated their numbers.

External links

• The Lough Macnean Valley – Northern Ireland Environment Agency