The lake is about 900 acres (3.6 km2) in size and is surrounded to the north, east and west by the Bluestack Mountains, which occupy much of southern County Donegal.

Since they were brought to Donegal Town in the sixteenth century, the friars had had to abandon their convent on several occasions and it was frequently attacked and damaged, unsurprising given the political instability between the English and Gaelic Irish Lords at the time.

A British soldier, the general was well liked and respected by the local people as he was a benevolent landowner known for his charitable acts, as well has his generous donations to Christ Church.

In 1911, Captain Henry Herbert Ronald White and his wife commissioned the addition to the east end of the castle which included a ballroom, billiards room, and several bedrooms and bathrooms.

In July 1998, the Irish Daily Star published a story entitled ‘Look out, it's Eskie’, which made claims of a ‘monster’ sighting in the lake.

Staff and residents at Harvey's Point Hotel told the reporter that at 2.30pm on Sunday, 28 June 1998, they saw an unidentified object moving about 300 metres from the shore.

Some people implied that the Lough Eske Monster was a publicity stunt by the chairman of the local Donegal Summer Festival committee, Zack Gallagher.