Slieve Gullion
| Slieve Gullion / Sliabh gCuillinn | ||
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 Slieve Gullion by Aughanduff |
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| height | 573 m | |
| location | County Armagh , Northern Ireland | |
| Mountains | Cooley Mountains | |
| Coordinates | 54 ° 8 ′ 0 ″ N , 6 ° 26 ′ 0 ″ W | |
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| Type | volcano | |
The Slieve Gullion ( English ) or Sliabh gCuillinn ( Irish ), 573 m , is an extinct volcano in the "Ó Fiaich Country" in the south of County Armagh in Northern Ireland . The protected landscape area " Slieve Gullion Forest Park " ( Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - AONB) with extensive heathland is located on the mountain slopes facing the sun.
The 57 km long, marked "Ring of Gullion Way" leads around the mountain. A section of this circular hiking trail is the 13 km long “Slieve Gullion Walk”, which leads from the parking lot near Meigh to the summit and back to the parking lot.
Sights on the hiking trail
- A little further is the Killevy Castle, built in 1836 by George Papworth (builder of Heuston Bridge and Malahide Station , both in Dublin ) in the “ confectioner's Gothic ” style .
- Near the western flank are the cairn and dolmen of Ballykeel
- The megalithic complexes Clonlum north and south are on the eastern flank .
- Further north are the Killevy churches
- The stone pillar of Kilnasaggart is in a small enclosure near the hamlet of Jonesborough.
- Uphill past the spring " St. Bline's Well ", it goes to the cairns made of medium-sized volcanic material:
- the Cairns - the easiest way to visit is to drive through Slieve Gullion Forest Park (officially open only in summer) to the highest point, from where a signposted path leads to the summit.
North Cairn
The smaller, only three meters high, edgeless Nordcairn has a diameter of about 18 m. It is located on the 533 m high northern secondary summit. During the excavation in 1961, two small Bronze Age , rectangular stone boxes were discovered inside the cairn . One contained a cremation and the remains of a decorated vessel, the other was empty. Calliagh Berra's Lough (the lake of the witch Beara), a small crater lake, is located near the Cairn .
South Cairn
The South Cairn (known locally as " Calliagh Berra's House ") on the summit of Slieve Gullion is the highest preserved passage tomb in the British Isles . The facility is 30 m in diameter and consists of a massive cairn that contains a polygonal, almost cruciform chamber (with a clearly pronounced head niche) similar to the niches of the Loughcrew facilities (a dolmen with side chambers ) and is - untypical for Northern Ireland - with the remains is set by curbs. The 4.5 m long low corridor made of five preserved bearing stones is covered with four horizontal cap stones, while the partially collapsed chamber has a cantilever vault .
During the excavation carried out in 1961, burned bones and pieces of flint were found in the Hauptcairn . A bulge on the north side is a smaller Rundcairn added later. The Südcairn is open to the public in the summer months.
literature
- Alfred EP Collins, Basil CS Wilson: The Slieve Gullion Cairns. In: Ulster Journal of Archeology. Vol. 26, 1963, pp. 19-40, JSTOR 20567580 .
- A. Gavin Smith, Jonathan R. Pilcher: Pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating of deposits at Slieve Gullion passage grave, Co Armagh. In: Ulster Journal of Archeology. Vol. 35, 1972, pp. 17-21, JSTOR 20567706 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tomás S. Ó Máille: Cuileann in áitainmneacha. In: Béaloideas. The Journal of the Folklore of Ireland Society. Vol. 28, 1960, pp. 50-64, JSTOR 20722889 .
- ↑ Slieve Donard is at 850 meters the highest mountain in Northern Ireland and the seventh highest in Ireland. The cairn at its summit is the remnant of a Passage Tomb, which was the highest in Ireland and Great Britain. Slieve Donard was originally around 40 meters in diameter. His chamber is not preserved.
