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"Lake of the Grouse"?
"The antiquary, John O'Donovan…dismissed the name, Loch Dearg, and corrected it to Loch Derc, meaning the Lake of the Cave..."
Forty-six small islands
"Lough Derg is dotted with forty-six small islands, some of them graced with shrubs and occasional rowans or ash, but the greater number are only bare rocks projecting out of the water..."
Tags: Alice Curtayne, Allingham Island, Ash Island, Bilberry Island, birdlife, Bull's Island, Derg Beg Island, Derg More Island, Eagle's Rock Island, Friars' Island, Gavelands Island, Goat Island, islands, isolation, Kelly's Island, loneliness, Philip Boy Island, Priors' Island, Saints' Island, Station Island, stones, Stormy Island, Trough Island, twentieth century
Friars' Island
"Friars' Island is unmistakable, because it is the nearest to the ferry. Unfortunately, the origin of its name is unknown..."
Saints' island and its soils
"The largest island in Lough Derg is Inishgoosk; it has no historical interest. The second largest island is Saints' Island, called St. Dabheoc's Island in early Christian times..."
"Rolling, tawny bogland framed the blue water"
"Turning back from [St. Dabheoc's Seat] to look down on Lough Derg, the aerial view of Station Island is exquisite..."
"Floating on some miracle raft"
"Down below [Dabheoc's Seat], Station Island rose up in imperial grandeur against its background of low hills..."
Seadavog Mountain
"Dabheoc's name is commemorated, too, in Seadavog mountain, a low peak to the west of his Seat on the southern shore of the lake..."
"The Chair stands out sharply against the vandyke brown of hibernating heathers and the orange of wilted bracken"
"Returning to the lake shore, another notable landmark there should be considered, Saint Brigid's Chair. It is a large rock, roughly-shaped like a high-backed chair, and its is prominent even among the large boulders surrounding it..."
"An ominous cloud appeared in the north"
"Early in the ninth century, an ominous cloud appeared in the north, which was presently to overcast all such fair scenses as that presented by Saints' Island..."
"A melancholy silence shrouded the scene"
"I remember a strange Easter Sunday spent on Saints' Island, not indeed with any hope of finding archaeological confirmation of its history, but simply in communing with the past..."