Lough Tay

Not to be confused with Loch Tay

Lough Tay, County Wicklow

Lough Tay is a scenic lake set on private property, in the Wicklow Mountains in County Wicklow. It has an area of some 119 acres; not one of the great Irish lakes but full of charm. It is a mountain lough at some 807 feet above sea level, which delves to 115 feet at its deepest.

The lake lies between the mountains of Djouce and Luggala, and is most easily viewed from above, from the R759 road or the Wicklow Way as that trail descends past the J. B. Malone memorial. The lake is fed by the Cloghoge River, which then drains into Lough Dan to the south. It is not possible to visit Lough Tay without prior permission.

Lough Tay is on the course of the little Cloghoge River, which both fills and drains it.

Name

The lake is commonly called The Guinness Lake. The northern coastline forms part of an estate belonging to the Guinness family; it is edged with a beach of startlingly white sand, the dark peaty water and the white sand create a striking similarity to a pint of Guinness.

The name of the lake in Irish is Loch Té. It is asserted that Té derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *teh₂w-, "melt", "dissolve", "flow"..

Bertrand Russell

The philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote in his autobiography:

Twice I went with my Aunt Agatha to Ireland. I used to go for walks with Michael Davitt, the Irish patriot, and also by myself. The beauty of the scenery made a profound impression on me. I remember especially a small lake in County Wicklow, called Lugala. I have associated it ever since, though for no good reason, with the lines:

Like as the waves make toward the pebbled shore,

So do our minutes hasten to their end.

Fifty years later, when visiting my friend Crompton Davies in Dublin, I induced him to take me to Lugala. But he took me to a wood high above the lake, not to the ‘pebbled shore’ that I had remembered, and I went away convinced that one should not attempt to renew old memories.

Location

• Location map: 53°6’22"N, 6°16’0"W

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