Discovery made on Lough Derg

An exciting discovery was made on Lough Derg recently when a local historical society and scuba-diving club teamed up to search for a long talked-about historic structure.

Many local people will know the story of ‘Youghal Bay Castle’, a stone structure that became visible in the 1970s when the level of the lake dropped considerably. At the time, the structure attracted people to swim out for a closer look.

Local folklore holds that this was part of an O’Brien castle or tower-house dating from between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. It may also belong to the more recent development of an engineering benchmark dating from when exploratory efforts were made to see if a canal could be built from Lough Derg to Nenagh.

Derek Ryan of Arra Historical & Archaeological Society wrote about this discovery in last year’s publication of the society’s journal, ‘Annals of Arra’.

“The story goes that due to an explosion or malfunction at Ardnacrusha, the level of the lake dropped for a time and an unusual feature was revealed in Youghal Bay,” he wrote. “It was described as being like the base of a castle. A number of people swam out to it.

“Local folklore suggests that it was the ruins of an O’Brien castle. However, there is no record of a missing O’Brien castle, so what exactly was this unusual find?

“One suggestion is that it was a base for an ordnance survey triangulation point - possibly used to assess the potential of building a canal from Lough Derg to Nenagh in the early 1800s.

“So, the jury is out on this one until we get another dry spell or an investigation is done with an underwater drone/divers.”

Mr Ryan has been researching the location of the structure for a number of years, initially through his father Murt.

He was helped recently by local operator Paul Bourke of Irish Fishing Tours, who was able to provide some possible co-ordinates based on his vast experience and charts of the lake.

DIVERS GO IN SEARCH

After narrowing the location down to two nearby possibilities, Mr Ryan got in contact with Lough Derg Sub Aqua Club to see if divers could take a look at what lies beneath the water. He joined a group of Search & Recovery divers from the club on visiting the locations by boat.

Five divers swept the area on a line search. After around a half an hour, they came across what appeared to be a manmade structure at one of the locations. Though covered in vegetation and mussels, this large structure seemed to be a flat platform with sloping sides. It was in quite shallow water, with its base standing in just over three metres.

A second dive was made at the location the following week. Unfortunately, the very poor visibility and abundance of silt made it difficult to capture clear photographs or film. The divers plan to return again with better equipment in hopefully better conditions.

In any case, Mr Ryan was delighted with the chance to investigate this local story further and he thanked Mr Bourke and Lough Derg Sub Aqua Club for their assistance.

“Distances on water are very hard to estimate,” he pointed out. “We may not even have been at the location ascribed in folklore, but it is fascinating that something was at one of the points that we investigated.”