Burren Lake 1985

Burren Lake is located on the western side of the townland of Burren. It is recorded in the maps of the area as Lough Lómain. This was probably its local name before the anglicisation of the local place-names, when it was changed to Burren Lake.

In times when the Lack School authorities adopted a relaxed approach to control, some of the senior male pupils had their lunch on the lakeshore. It was an enjoyable relaxing break from the stress of the classroom. It is likely to have involved a flexible attitude to the length of the lunch break, which was scheduled for half an hour, given the time taken in travelling to and from the lake.

The lake was one of the few sources of attraction in the area. Locals, mainly from Tonlegee, assembled there on fine Sunday afternoons throughout the summer. The southern lakeshore was the more popular location for talk and relaxation. Bathing and swimming were generally not practised, as the lake was known to be dangerous. It had claimed two lives in the late nineteenth century − a coal miner and his wife. A few locals fished the lake from time to time. They included Colonel Henn from Paradise and Pappy Enright from Ardnagla.

In times of hard frost the lake froze over. When the frost was particularly severe, the ice increased to many inches in thickness and the youth from the area took to ice-skating on Sunday afternoons. One such ice-skater says that he recalls 20 to 30 people at a time, ice-skating on the lake. The last time the lake froze over with thick ice was in the winter of 1962−63 when I walked across it, much to the horror of my parents.

During the second half of the twentieth century, the size of the lake diminished due to the vigorous growth of the surrounding bog and water lilies into its territory. A small pool is all that now remains.