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List of lakes and lochs of the United Kingdom

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The list of lakes, lochs, loughs and llyns of the United Kingdom is a link page for some large lakes of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), including lochs fully enclosed by land.

Lakes in Scotland are called lochs, and in Northern Ireland loughs (pronounced the same way, i.e. (/lɒç/)). In Wales a lake is called a llyn. The words "loch" and "lough", in addition to referring to bodies of freshwater ("lakes"), are also applied to bodies of brackish water or seawater, which in other countries or contexts may be called fjord, firth, estuary, bay etc. In particular, the term "sea-loch" is used in Scotland in this way, as the English language equivalent of 'fjord'. (There are many examples, including Loch Carron, Loch Torridon etc.)

Some of the largest lakes in England and Wales are man-made reservoirs or lakes whose size has been increased by damming.

Largest water bodies in the United Kingdom

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NASA Landsat image of Lough Neagh
Loch Lomond in winter
Loch Ness With Urquhart Castle in the foreground
The islands of Loch Maree

This table includes the ten largest fresh water bodies by area. Lough Neagh is the largest water body in the UK by this measure, although Loch Ness is the largest by volume and contains nearly double the amount of water in all the lakes of England and Wales combined.[1] Loch Morar is the deepest of the UK's lakes and Loch Awe the longest. Murray and Pullar (1910) note that the mean depth of Loch Ness is 57.4% of the maximum depth – higher than in any other large deep loch in Scotland.[2] The deepest lake in England is Wast Water which descends to 76 metres (249 ft).

Name Location Area (mi2) Area (km2) Volume (km3) Length (km) Max. depth (m) Mean depth (m)[3]
Lough Neagh Northern Ireland 147.87 383[4] 3.528 30 25 9
Lower Lough Erne Northern Ireland 42.28 109.5[5] 1.3[6] 29[7] 62[6] 11.9[5]
Loch Lomond Scotland 27.45 71 2.6 36 190 37[8]
Loch Ness Scotland 21.78 56 7.45 39 230 132[2]
Loch Awe Scotland 14.85 39 1.2 41 94 32[9]
Upper Lough Erne Northern Ireland 13.3 34.5[5] < 0.35 19[7] < 60[7] 2.3[5]
Loch Maree Scotland 11.03 28.6 1.09 20 114 38[10]
Loch Morar Scotland 10.3 27 2.3 18.8 310 87[11]
Loch Tay Scotland 10.19 26.4 1.6 23 150 60.6[12]
Loch Shin Scotland 8.7 22.5 0.35 27.8 49 15.5[13]

Largest natural lakes in England

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Main article: List of lakes of England § Largest lakes and reservoirs by surface area
Lake Area (sq mi)
Windermere 5.69
Ullswater 3.44
Bassenthwaite Lake 2.06
Derwent Water 2.06
Coniston Water 1.89

Largest natural lakes in Wales

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These are largely 'natural' but some have minor modifications to regulate their outflow.

Lake Area (sq mi)
Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid) 1.87
Llangorse Lake 0.59
Llyn Cowlyd 0.42
Llyn Padarn 0.38
Tal-y-llyn lake 0.34
Llyn Cwellyn 0.34
Llyn Llywenan 0.20
Kenfig Pool 0.11

Largest reservoirs in the United Kingdom

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Main article: List of reservoirs in the United Kingdom
Lake Area (sq mi) Location
Rutland Water 4.86 England
Kielder Water 4.25 England
Lake Vyrnwy 3.18 Wales
Pitsford Water 2.85 England
Grafham Water 2.85 England
Chew Valley Lake 1.88 England
Trawsfynydd 1.84 Wales
Clywedog 1.55 Wales
Carron Valley 1.51 Scotland
Haweswater 1.50 England
Derwent Reservoir 1.44 England
Llyn Brenig 1.44 Wales
Colliford 1.4 England
Thirlmere 1.25 England
Llyn Celyn 1.25 Wales

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Botanical survey of Scottish freshwater lochs" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine SNH Information and Advisory Note Number 4. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  2. ^ a b Murray and Pullar (1910) "Lochs of the Ness Basin" Pages 381-85, Volume II, Part II. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  3. ^ Source for all quantities is the same unless otherwise stated.
  4. ^ "Lough Neagh" Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine discoverireland.com. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d "ECN Sites: Lough Erne" Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine Environmental Change Network. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  6. ^ a b Gibson, C.E.; Foy, R.H.; and McNally, J. (2005) "Stratification and Oxygen Depletion in Lower Lough Erne 1991-2000" Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 105 No. 2, pp. 81-86.
  7. ^ a b c "Lough Erne" Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  8. ^ Murray and Pullar (1910) "Lochs of the Clyde Basin" Archived 2012-09-04 at archive.today Page 262, Volume II, Part II. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  9. ^ Murray and Pullar (1910) "Lochs of the Etive Basin" Page 270, Volume II, Part II. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  10. ^ Murray and Pullar (1910) "Lochs of the Ewe Basin" Page 211, Volume II, Part II. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  11. ^ Murray and Pullar (1910) "Lochs of the Morar Basin" Page 197, Volume II, Part II. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  12. ^ Murray and Pullar (1910) "Lochs of the Tay Basin" Page 80, Volume II, Part II. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  13. ^ Murray and Pullar (1910) "Lochs of the Naver Basin" Pages 293-94, Volume II, Part II. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2 January 2010.

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lakes of the United Kingdom.
  • Murray, Sir John and Pullar, Laurence (1910) Bathymetrical Survey of the Fresh-Water Lochs of Scotland, 1897-1909. London; Challenger Office.
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