English: This artificial lake is among many historic reminders to be seen at Dun na Ri that this quiet and beautiful piece of Irish parkland, bisected by the deep-cut and thickly forested valley of the River Cabra, was once a bustling estate with a resident landlord (he left in 1814) and an ancient village of some thirty houses.

The ruins of the past can be seen deep in the forest near the river: there are remnants of the landlord’s mansion, an ancient Holy Well, Ice House, walled garden, the ruins of Fleming’s Castle (part of the Plantation of 1607), a military barracks, and a bridge built it is said by the Normans in the 12th century, across which Cromwell’s troops in the 17th marched to attack the castle of the O’Reillys at nearby Muff. Lady’s Lake is the only sign that the village of Cabra once stood here (that was before 1760); the lake used to take the water that passed through the village Flax Mill.

The 565 acre Dun na Ri estate, which was acquired by the Irish Forest & Wildlife Service in 1959 and developed into public parkland, is now run by Coillte who harvest the Norwegian Spruce and Oak trees.