[5] It is a large, deep, calcareous spring-fed lake and has clear water with a high pH.

St Loman was a hermit on the island, where he was said to have subsisted on a diet of wild alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum).

[6] The Viking chieftain Turgesius is said to have been drowned in Lough Owel by Máel Sechnaill mac Maíl Ruanaid in 845.

The lake is inhabited by a variety of interesting fish populations and there are many resident and migratory birds.

The farmland surrounding the lake is the home to a considerable number of overwintering white-fronted geese from Greenland.