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Remembering Glenbower Lake — and keening its loss
Killeagh and Glenbower Wood have really entered the national consciousness in recent months through the chart-topping 'Killeagh' by Irish band Kingfishr.
From the woods of Glenbower to the river Dissour
From the arms of my mother to the land ever pure
Yet the connection between this ancient woodland and the East Cork community runs back for centuries. As local choral conductor Dr Mary Pedder Daly's song 'Old Glenbower' attests, both the community-owned Glenbower Wood and, perhaps most notably, the former Glenbower Lake have long been woven into the identity and cultural life of the community.
While the exact date of a lake being introduced to Glenbower Wood is uncertain, the Glenbower Lake of living memory dates to the mid-19th century, when a reinforced dam was constructed on the River Dissour to power the Old Mill in the village. The resulting six-acre body of water, later stocked with trout by Inland Fisheries from the late 1950s, became a much-loved beauty spot and regional attraction.
Cork Examiner May 26, 1988
On June 14, 1988, amid many divisive controversies, Glenbower Lake was dramatically drained, leaving the community of Killeagh in shock and at a loss for their much-loved Lake. In 1995, after several years of fundraising, the people of Killeagh purchased 30 acres of Glenbower Wood, including the former site of the former lake, with the aim of reinstating it. More than three decades later, this ambition remains unrealised, but the Glenbower Wood and Lake Committee, an entirely voluntary group, continues to steward this rare remnant of ancient woodland.
Nowadays, the committee undertakes the day-to-day management of the woods and, in recent years, has successfully overseen the funding and delivery of new infrastructure — including three new bridges in August 2022, which reinstated the walking route across the site of the former dam wall for the first time since the lake was drained in 1988.
Greywood Arts, a local arts organisation who often works closely with the committee, has been key in the development of various arts-based initiatives to strengthen community connections to Glenbower Wood and the River Dissour, notably revitalising the May Sunday Festival — a celebration of Bealtaine that has taken place in Killeagh for more than 200 years.
Glenbower Lake — in all her glory. Picture taken shortly before the lake was drained in June 1988
Idir an Dá Linn / Meanwhile / Between the Two Lakes builds on this long-standing convergence of place, ecology, arts and collective identity. Part of the three-year placemaking initiative Seeing the Wood for the Trees — a partnership between Glenbower Wood and Lake CLG, Greywood Arts and Nocht Studio — the project explores the space between absence and presence, loss and renewal, the lost lake, and the one that might never return.
The work engages local residents across generations in creating a community keen (caoineadh pobail) — drawing on the Irish language and tradition of lamentation to process ecological grief and shared memory. Facilitated by artist-musician Mícheál Ó Catháin, with artists Basil Al-Rawi and Philip Ryan, the project is developed through storytelling walks, vocal workshops and site-based creative experimentation in the woodland. The community is invited to contribute memories, photographs, artefacts and reflections on their present-day relationship with the wood, which will be incorporated into a bilingual publication and short film.
'Listening closely to people, place, and the woodland has been a privilege that has shaped Idir an Dá Linn as both an act of remembrance and a way to engage with what endures: the physical traces of the lake, the community's memories, and the voices rooted in this landscape. The project invites us to recognise these connections to water, woods, and one another; carrying them forward into the future," notes Philip Ryan, of Nocht Studio.
Programme of Events – National Heritage Week 2025
Keening Walks (Development Workshops)
Mondays, August 11 and 18 from 6:30–8:30pm
Meet at Greywood Arts
Twilight walks with Mícheál Ó Catháin shaping a collective caoineadh pobail for the lake.
Exhibition Opening
Saturday, August 16 at 5pm at Greywood Arts
An immersive exhibition of sound, image and memory recreating Glenbower Lake. Developed through community storytelling walks and workshops, facilitated by Basil Al-Rawi and Philip Ryan.
Community Performance - Caoineadh Pobail
Sunday, August 24 at 5pm. Water Heritage Day.
Meet at Greywood Arts A culminating performance along the former lakeshore, leading through Glenbower Wood to a shared Gather Round picnic at the woodland entrance.
Funded by: Create — the National Development Agency for Collaborative Arts, the Arts Council of Ireland, Cork County Council, Creative Ireland, Community Foundation Ireland, with Water Heritage Day support from the Local Authority Waters Programme.
'Everyone is invited to come along and share in this special experience in Glenbower Woods over the coming days and weeks' — Jessica Bonenfant, Greywood Arts director.
