The Algae and the Earl: How an Algae Bloom dredged up Lough Neagh’s Past

By Eimear Crawford

Lough Neagh is seemingly always in the local news, and for rather depressing reasons. The lough – supplying 40% of Northern Ireland’s drinking water and half of Belfast’s – is polluted with disease-causing algae. Both upsetting and dangerous, this points to the severity of the climate crisis and the destruction of our natural environment; the news has increasingly brought questions surrounding the lough’s ownership back into the public attention. The story behind its ownership, however, is most certainly bizarre.

When I first heard about the Lough Neagh’s possession by the Earl of Shaftesbury, I found it almost laughable. Like a plotline from a period drama, the haughty aristocrat refuses to give up his land, causing all sorts of trouble for the locals. But this is very real. In 2023, British nobility still owns the largest lake in Ireland. The 12th Earl, Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, is increasingly coming under fire after defending his ownership of the polluted body of water. But the story of the family’s acquisition of the lake takes us back through the centuries.

The year is 1601. The 1st Baron Chichester tore across Ulster, subjugating its land for the Crown. Chichester, a particularly ruthless figure, viewed Irish Catholics as threatening the Crown. Partaking in their persecution, he executed two bishops and caused a famine amongst the soldiers of the Gaelic nobility. He led a raid in east Tyrone and massacred its populace along the shores of Lough Neagh. Chichester wrote, “We have burned and destroyed along the Lough…where we killed man, woman, child, horse, beast and whatever we found.” But this was not enough for Chichester. Not only taking the lives of the people inhabiting the area, but he also laid claim to the Lough itself, possibly without the permission of the King; this was the first time the Lough fell into the hands of English nobility. Wrenched away from the people of Ulster through bloodshed, it remained in the Chichester family for some time. Later, the lough passed to the Shaftesbury’s through marriage where its ownership remains to this day.

The family has no connection to Ireland. To this day, the Earl resides in London. A modern-day absentee landlord. A distant figure. Like his ancestors, he allows ruthless sheriffs free reign to destroy the lives of his tenants, only this time they are the blue-green algae, choking the waters of Lough Neagh and the life and livelihoods surrounding it. The Earl remains blasé and detached about the issue of his ownership. He recognises the political controversy surrounding his possession of the lough yet steadfastly refuses to return it to the people of Northern Ireland unless he sells it for profit. Bemoaning being blamed for the algae, he points out that he only owns the lakebed and soil, not the water itself, and believes he should be treated as any other business owner.

But he is not like any other business owner. The Lough is simply not some soulless corporate entity to be bartered over. It is the heart of Northern Ireland. It touches five of the six counties that comprise this province. Naturally, its ownership should return to the public, in the hands of the people of Northern Ireland. Of course, it would not be fair to lay all the blame for the lough’s condition at the door of the Shaftesbury family. The preservation of Lough Neagh is governed by a sprawling network of organisations, including the Northern Ireland Assembly and devolved government departments. The ongoing suspension of the assembly, its second hiatus since 2017, has barred any fresh talks surrounding the lough’s ownership and has undoubtedly contributed to its deterioration. James Orr, director of Friends of the Earth NI, likened the condition of the lough to a person suffering from ‘multiple organ failure’. So great is the number of organisations failing to tend to its care.

Still, as uncomfortable as the Earl may be with his ownership of Lough Neagh being considered a political issue, I find sympathy is lacking. It is, and always has been, a political reality that many people across Northern Ireland take issue with British possession of land. If the Earl finds it uncomfortable to think of his ownership as a political issue, I wonder what he would make of the suffering his predecessor inflicted on the people living on the lakeshore all those centuries ago. To them, it was not about politics. It was life or death.

Whatever you may make about the intricacies of history and politics on this island, the maintenance of Lough Neagh would be simpler if its ownership was streamlined into a public model operated by the NI Assembly. In 2023, there is no reason why Lough Neagh should not belong to the people of Northern Ireland.

Edited by Ben Coxon