[2] Lough Leane (from Irish Loch Léin 'lake of learning')[3] is the largest and northernmost of the three lakes, approximately 19 square kilometres (4,700 acres) in size.

[1] On the eastern edge of the lake, Ross Island, more properly a peninsula, was the site of some of the earliest Copper Age metalwork in prehistoric Ireland.

[1] According to folklore, the lakes were the haunt of Kate Kearney, who is said to have sought there O'Donaghue, an enchanted chieftain, and to have died in madness.

Kearney is the subject of Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poetical illustration to a view of The Upper Lake of Killarney.

by William Henry Bartlett,[9] and in a further Landon poem, Kate is Craz'd., which accompanies a picture by Joseph John Jenkins.