Ritual site - pond

The National Monuments Service's description

Lough Lugh is a small lake located in a slight hollow (166m above sea-level) between the western and eastern summits of Uisneach, at the approximate centre of the monument complex (WM024-177----). The lake has been identified as Loch Lugborta where, according to early Irish tradition, the god Lug was drowned by the mythical trio, Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht and Mac Greine and subsequently buried in a cairn nearby (Schot 2011; Schot 2010, 5; Gwynn 1924, 278-81). The lake measures c.80m N/S by 60m E/W and has a floating vegetation mat at its centre. Its associated mythology and comparison with similar bodies of water at other royal centres, such as within the Navan Complex, Co. Armagh, suggest that the lake might have been a ritual focus in prehistory. Recent palaeoenvironmental investigations, involving a study of the lake sediments and the fossilised remains of insects and pollen, have shown that the lake has an interesting and complex history (Schot et al. 2014; McGinley et al. 2015). A lake was present here at the end of the last ice age, some 12,000 years ago, but it began to develop into a marsh before 8,000BC. Sometime later, possibly in the late prehistoric or early medieval period, the accumulated sediments were dug out to restore open water conditions. The existing lake, therefore, is the combined result of natural processes and human endeavour and may have been created as a ritual pond and/or as a watering hole for livestock (ibid.).

See attached photo (WM024-064002-_01) provided by Dr. Roseanne Schot

Compiled by: Dr. Roseanne Schot

Date of upload: 08 May 2019

References

Schot, R. 2010 Geophysical survey at Uisneach. Co. Westmeath, 2009. License No. 09R090. Unpublished Heritage Council Report.

Schot, R., Stuijts, I., McGinley, S. and Potito, A. 2014 Reflections on a lake: a multi-proxy study of environmental change and human impacts at Lough Lugh, Uisneach, Co. Westmeath. Discovery Programme Reports 8, 113–26. Dublin.

McGinley, S., Potito, A.P., Molloy, K., Schot, R., Stuijts, I. and Beilman, D.W. 2015 Lough Lugh, Uisneach: from natural lake to archaeological monument? The Journal of Irish Archaeology 24, 115–30.

Schot, R. 2011 From cult centre to royal centre: monuments, myths and other revelations at Uisneach. In R. Schot, C. Newman and E. Bhreathnach (eds), Landscapes of cult and kingship, 87–113. Dublin.

Schot, R. et. al. 2016 Conservation Plan for the Hill of Uisneach, Co. Westmeath – Part 1: Assessment of Cultural Significance, with contributions by D. Drew and R. Sherlock.

Gwynn, E. 1924 The metrical Dindshenchas. Part IV. Dublin, Hodges Figgis.