Loughareema
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Loughareema is a remarkable upland lough in County Antrim, found beside an isolated stretch of road in the north of the county. It is known locally as the Vanishing Lake, because it repeatedly empties and refills rapidly. Those coming over the hills to the place may find one day a sparkling lake, and by the afternoon just a bed of cracked mud.
The filling and emptying is not from a slow coming and going of a water supply, but is a rapid change that comes across the lake periodically, and can empty it in a matter of hours. This is a geological phenomenon, and the lough is considered one of Ulster's most enigmatic geological sites.
This ephemeral lake, remote, high up and often shrouded in mist, has generated a number of ghosts stories. One local legend tells us of the drowning of a coach and horses in the 19th century as they tried to cross the lake when it was full. The story insists that a road was built through the lake when it was empty, and when the coach came down the road in the dead of night, it had filled up again.
Vanishing and filling
Three streams flow into the lough, but none flows out. Instead, there is a natural sink at the base of the lake from which water drains into an underground drainage system, only to emerge over a mile away as a large spring, which feeds the Carey River. As the drain is naturally blocked by sediment, the water builds in the lough. When the water reaches a certain level, the pressure it exerts on the drain suddenly unblocks it, and the lake water vanishes down the hole.
This drainage system is little understood.[1]
Paul Wilson, a hydrogeologist at the British Geological Survey in Belfast, wrote:
Loughareema is a dynamic landscape and on approach to the lake it's exciting to guess what state it will be in. The water disappears into an underground drainage system, the details of which we currently know very little about.
A small road runs through the middle of the Vanishing Lake, though today on a causeway so that cars do not suffer the fate of the coach of local legend.
Location
- Location map: 55°9’26"N, 6°6’29"W
References
- ↑ Loughareema: The Geological Society
- 'Loughareema: The 'vanishing lake' in Northern Ireland that mysteriously drains and refills itself within hours': Sascha Pare in Live Science 29 August 2025
- Loughareema (The Vanishing Lake): Visit Northern Ireland