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[[File:Derry from the International Space Station 2013-03-17.jpg|thumb|Seen from Space: [[Derry]] and the [[Ulster]] coastline, with Lough Swilly to the west and [[Lough Foyle]] and [[Inishowen]] to the north of the city]]▼
'''Lough Swilly''' ({{Irish place name|Loch Súilí|Lake of Shadows" or the "Lake of Eyes}}) in Ireland is a glacial [[fjord]] or sea inlet lying between the western side of the [[Inishowen|Inishowen Peninsula]] and the [[Fanad]] Peninsula, in [[County Donegal]]. Along with [[Carlingford Lough]] and [[Killary Harbour]] it is one of three glacial fjords in Ireland.
==Geography and ecology==
The lough is known for its wildlife-watching (dolphins, porpoise, seabirds, migratory geese and swans) and diving on a number of ship wrecks, including {{SS|Laurentic|1908|6}} sunk by a German [[Naval mine|mine]] (possible [[torpedo]]), which went down with 3,211 ingots of gold of which 3,191 were recovered.▼
In the south of the lough a number of islands (Burt, [[Inch Island|Inch]], Coney, Big Isle) were [[polder]]ed and the land reclaimed during the 19th century for agriculture and the [[Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway]] constructed embankments on the line from [[Derry]] to Letterkenny. These reclaimed lands are now [[wetlands]] associated with [[wildlife conservation]] and [[birdwatching]], and support over 4,000 [[whooper swan]]s and thousands of [[greater white-fronted goose|Greenland white front]], [[barnacle goose|barnacle]], [[Greylag goose|greylagg]] and [[brent goose|brent]] geese.{{fact|date=November 2017}}
▲The lough is known for its wildlife-watching (dolphins, porpoise, seabirds, migratory geese and swans) and diving on a number of ship wrecks, including {{SS|Laurentic|1908|6}} sunk by a German [[Naval mine|mine]] (possible [[torpedo]]), which went down with 3,211 ingots of gold of which 3,191 were recovered.{{sfn|Scoltock|2016|loc=synopsis}}
==History==
The lough, and the [[Grianán Ailigh]] hill fort (early fortification and palace dating from 2000–5000 BC) at its southeastern bend, were recorded on [[Ptolemy]]'s [[Geography (Ptolemy)|map of the world]]. It has a number of early [[Stone Age]] monuments and [[Iron Age]] fortifications along its shores, as well as a number of [[shell midden]]s dated to approximately 7000 BC.{{sfn|Kimball|1998|p=163}} It is best known for being the site of the [[Flight of the Earls]].{{fact|date=November 2017}} After a failed uprising in September 1607, [[Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone]], and [[Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell]], the last [[Gael]]ic chieftains and upholders of [[Brehon law]] in Ireland at that time, set sail from [[Rathmullan]] with ninety of their followers.
During a gale on 4 December 1811, the [[Royal Navy]] 36-gun {{sclass-|Apollo|frigate}} {{HMS|Saldanha|1809|6}} was shipwrecked in Lough Swilly. There were no survivors out of the estimated 253 aboard, with approximately 200 bodies washed up on shore.
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A subsequent reassessment of the threat of invasion led to the building of a series of fortifications guarding the different approaches and landing points within the lough which were completed between 1800 and 1820. [[Martello tower]]s were built around 1804 to defend the approaches to Derry. The six on the lough cost €1,800 each, were armed with smoothbore cannon, firing round shot and were completed in six months.{{sfn|Stevenson|1995|p=11-28}} Immediately prior to the [[First World War]] the War Office improved the Napoleonic forts and their armaments as well as adding another fort at the entrance to the lough at Lenan Head with {{convert|9|in|cm|adj=on|0}} guns (12-mile range) – the largest in Ireland at the time. The remains of these fortifications are still at [[Lenan Head Fort]], [[Fort Dunree]] (now a military and wildlife museum), [[Neds Point Fort|Ned's Point]], Buncrana, [[Inch Fort]] and on the west coast at Rathmullan, [[Knockalla Fort|Knockalla]] and [[Macamish Fort|Macamish Point]].{{sfn|Kerrigan|1995|p=236-238}}
During the First World War, the lough was used by the Royal Navy as an anchorage for elements of the [[Grand Fleet]], an amalgamation of the pre-war Home and Atlantic Fleets, under [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]] [[John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe|Sir John R. Jellicoe]] and a gathering/staging point for Atlantic convoys. During this period a boom was placed across the lough between Macamish Point and Ned's Point, supported by a number of [[Naval trawler|trawlers]], to prevent [[U-boat]] attacks. After the [[Irish War of Independence]] the lough was also one of the [[Treaty ports (Ireland)|Treaty Ports]] specified in the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] until its final handing over at Fort Dunree in 1938.{{sfn|Dundurn|2000|p=16}}
According to exhibits at Fort Dunree, during [[World War II]] Irish troops manned the guns there with explicit instructions to fire at any ship that might threaten Irish neutrality by entering the natural harbour. There was reportedly only one serious incident, when a Royal Navy ship entered the lough and did not initially respond to signals that it should turn back. However, the ship turned around before Irish forces fired upon it.
▲[[File:Derry from the International Space Station 2013-03-17.jpg|thumb|Seen from Space: [[Derry]] and the [[Ulster]] coastline, with Lough Swilly to the west and [[Lough Foyle]] and [[Inishowen]] to the north of the city]]
==References==
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===Sources===
* {{cite book|title=Inishowen: Paintings and Stories from the Land of Eoghan|author = Dundurn | year = 2000 | publisher = Dundurn | isbn = 9781900935173 | ref = harv }}
* {{cite book|title=Castles and fortifications in Ireland, 1485–1945 | isbn=1898256128 |first=Paul M. |last=Kerrigan |year=1995 |publisher=Collins Press| ref = harv}}
* {{cite book|title=The Lough Swilly Archaeological Survey: Investigations Into the Neolothic Transition in Eastern Donegal, Ireland, Volume 1 |first = Michael J. | last = Kimball | publisher = University of Wisconsin, Madison | year = 1998 | ref = harv}}
* {{cite book|title=We Own Laurentic | isbn=9781523742080 |first=Jack |last=Scoltock |year=2016 |publisher=CreateSpace | quote = ''[Laurentic] was mined at the mouth of Lough Swilly, Ireland in 1917. It sank in forty metres of water with the loss of 354 men. From 1917 to 1921 royal navy divers salvaged over 3,000 gold bars'' | ref = harv}}
* {{cite journal|title=Two Irish Loughs |journal = Redan: Journal of the Palmerston Forts Society|last = Stevenson | first = Ian | year = 1995 | place = Gosport | ref = harv}}
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