Mangerton Mountain

Template:Short description Template:Good article Template:Use Hiberno-English Template:Infobox mountain Mangerton or Mangerton Mountain (Template:Langx, meaning 'the long-haired (mountain)'), at , is the 19th-highest peak in Ireland on the Arderin list, and the 26th–highest mountain according to the Vandeleur-Lynam list. Mangerton is the tallest mountain in the Mangerton Mountain Group, also called the Mangerton Mountains or the Mountains of East Kerry, a range that includes five other major mountains that have a height above . Mangerton's western slopes lie within the Killarney National Park. On Mangerton's north-western face lies a deep corrie lake called the Devil's Punchbowl, which is a popular scenic destination for hill walkers; although the mountain is often overlooked by walkers due to the proximity of its more scenic and accessible neighbour, Torc Mountain. The far northern slopes of Mangerton was the site of an important 13th-century battle between the Mac Cárthaigh (Gaelic forces), and the FitzGeralds (Norman forces), known as the "Tooreencormick battle site".

Naming

Irish academic Paul Tempan notes in the Irish Hill and Mountain Names database that Mangerton is most likely a translation of Template:Langx, meaning "the long-haired". Tempan discussed the possibility that an alternative interpretation of Template:Langx may be worth considering, as it could be the noun Template:Langx with the suffix ach. Tempan notes P. S. Dinneen's Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla—Irish-English Dictionary (1927), defines Template:Langx as "movement" or "shaking". Thus the adjective (not listed in any dictionary) could mean "moving", "shaking", or "quaking", which could refer to the physical movement of Mangerton bog prevalent on the southern slopes, or could be understood figuratively as meaning "vacillating" or "fickle".

Geography

Mangerton

File:Mangerton and Mangerton North Top.jpg

Mangerton Mountain (l), Lough Erhogh (c), and Mangerton North Top (r), seen from across the Horse's Glen from the summit of Stoompa

Mangerton's flat boggy summit plateau includes the satellite summits of Mangerton North Top and Glencappul Top , and its "horseshoe-shaped" massif includes the summit of Stoompa . The Horses' Glen (or Glencappul), and the Devil's Punchbowl carve deep hollows, or corries on the north-west and north-east sides of Mangerton's massif, but the southern flanks form a huge plateau, one of the most extensive areas of mountain wilderness in Ireland, where herds of red deer and sika deer still roam.

There are three lochs that flow from Managerton's corries into the Horse's Glen (or Glencappul), namely the lowest, Lough Garagarry (Loch Garaigre), the middle, Lough Mannagh (Loch Meáin) and the Lough Erhogh, which is a hanging glacial lake set into a corrie on Mangerton's north-east face.

File:Devil's Punchbowl Mangerton Mountain.jpg

Devil's Punchbowl on the north-west face of Mangerton

The Devil's Punchbowl (Template:Langx),Template:Efn at on Mangerton's north-west face is a deep oval-shaped corrie filled by a loch in its base that drains into the Owengarriff River from which Torc Waterfall is formed, before finally flowing into the Lakes of Killarney below. Mangerton's western slopes lie within the Killarney National Park.

Mangerton Mountain's height and topographic prominence, qualifies it to meet the British Isles Marilyn classification, as well as the Arderin, Simm and Hewitt classifications. Mangerton Mountain ranks as the 10th-highest mountain in Ireland on the MountainViews Online Database, 100 Highest Irish Mountains, where the prominence threshold is over 100 metres (e.g. higher mountains with sub-100-metre prominences are excluded).

Range

Surrounding Mangerton are 25 other peaks with an elevation above in a range known as the Mangerton Group (or Mangerton Mountains). The range is bounded by the "square" road system surrounding Mangerton, being the N71 to the north and the west side, the N22 to the east side, and the narrow R569 road from Kenmare to the N22 via Kilgarvan on the south side. Most notable are Dromderalough (), and its slightly higher Dromderalough North-East Top (), as well as Crohane (), and Knockbrack (). It also includes the tourist peak of Torc Mountain in the north-west corner.

Hill walking

File:Peat haggs on Mangerton summit plain - geograph.org.uk - 458131.jpg

Mangerton's summit plateau

Mangerton's flat boggy summit plateau means that it can get overlooked when guidebooks of Ireland's best walks are compiled, particularly given its proximity to the rocky ridges and summits of the MacGillycuddy's Reeks; sometimes even nearby Torc Mountain is recommended instead. However, Mangerton's scale, summit views and deep corries are well regarded, and its proximity to Killarney town and ease of access are recognised by climbers.

The most direct route to the summit of Mangerton is via the 4–5 hour Devil's Punchbowl Route. It starts from the concrete slab bridge (at ), and follows a worn track southwards up to the Devil's Punchbowl at , before reaching the Mangerton summit plateau via the west ridge of the Punchbowl, and then walking circa 300 metres across the plateau to the true summit of Mangerton itself, before returning via the same route (or taking the steeper eastern arete of the Punchbowl). The summit plateau of Mangerton can be difficult to navigate in poor or misty weather as there are few features.

A variation of the Devil's Punchbowl Route is the inclusion of Stoompa, in a 5–6 hour route, that can either be done as an extension of the Devil's Punchbowl route (e.g. over and back from Mangerton's summit to Stoopma), or as a "horseshoe" or "loop-route" that starts up the Devil's Punchbowl on the westside but finishes by descending down the northern slopes of Stoompa on the eastside.

Tooreencormick battle site

File:Tooreencormick (Tuairín Cormaic) Killarney.jpg

Memorial stone for the 1262 battle site of Tooreencormick

The far northern slope of Mangerton was the site of a battle in 1262 between the Mac Cárthaigh (Gaelic forces, being the Kingdom of Desmond) and the FitzGeralds (Anglo-Norman forces, being the Geraldines), following the rout at the Battle of Callann Glen near Kilgarvan the previous year. The battle site is marked on the ordnance maps and also by a commemorative stone monument, and is known as Tooreencormick (Template:Langx, meaning 'little field of Cormac') after Cormac MacCarthy Reagh, who was killed during the clash (his brother Fínghin Mac Carthaigh had been killed at the Battle of Callann). Other notable knights including Gerald Roche, "the third best baron in Erin", were slain at Tooreencormick. Despite the losses, the battle is considered a MacCarthy success as the Anglo-Normans were kept out of South Kerry and West Cork (i.e. the Kingdom of Desmond), for the next three centuries.

In spite of such two-edged victories, the battle of Callann and Tuairin Cormaic, for good or for evil, effectually prevented the establishment of an Anglo-Norman rule in [The Kingdom of] Desmond. It is that owing to dissensions among the Irish tribes the earls of Desmond eventually ' overtopped them all ', but in the region from which they drew their title they had more of the character of a Celtic chief than of a feudal lord, and it was left to the more resolute Tudor statesman and ruthless Tudor generals to break down the clan-system there.

— Template:Comma separated entries

List of peaks

The MountainViews Online Database lists 26 Mangerton Mountain Group peaks more than in height.

  Marilyn: Any height, and prominence over

Peaks of the Mangerton Mountain Group (MountainViews Online Database, December 2018)

Height rank	Prom. rank	Name	Irish name (if different)	Translation	Height (m)	Prom. (m)	Height (ft)	Prom. (ft)	Topo. map	OSI Grid Reference
1	1	Mangerton	An Mhangara	The long-haired	838	583	2,750	1,913	78
2	12	Mangerton North Top	—	—	782	67	2,566	220	78
3	11	Stoompa	Stumpa	Stump	705	90	2,313	295	79
4	25	Glencappul Top	—	Horse's Glen	700	12	2,297	39	78
5	20	Dromderalough North-East TopTemplate:Efn	—	—	654	29	2,146	95	78
6	2	Crohane	An Cruachán	Little stackTemplate:Efn	650	385	2,133	1,263	79
7	15	Dromderalough	Drom idir Dhá Loch	Ridge between two lakesTemplate:Efn	650	45	2,133	148	78
8	26	Dromderalough North-West Top	—	—	625	12	2,051	39	78
9	16	Knockbrack	Cnoc Breac	Speckled hill	610	45	2,001	148	78
10	22	Stoompa East Top	—	—	608	23	1,995	75	79
11	4	Peakeen MountainTemplate:Efn	Péicín	Boundary marker	555	280	1,820	919	78
12	13	Knockrower	Cnoc Ramhar	Fat hill	554	59	1,818	194	78
13	10	Peakeen Mountain West Top	—	—	539	93	1,767	305	78
14	3	Torc Mountain	Sliabh Torc	Mountain of wild boarTemplate:Efn	535	300	1,755	984	78
15	23	Peakeen Mountain Far North-West Top	—	—	526	22	1,724	73	78
16	24	Peakeen Mountain North-West Top	—	—	523	17	1,715	56	78
17	6	Knockanaguish	Cnoc an Uaignis	Hill of the solitude	509	178	1,670	584	78
18	8	Derrygarriff	Doire GharbhTemplate:Efn	Rough (oak) grove	492	128	1,614	420	78
19	18	Crohane SW Top	—	—	477	32	1,565	105	79
20	19	Torc Mountain West Top	—	—	470	32	1,542	105	78
21	7	BennaunmoreTemplate:Efn	An Beannán Mór	The big (little) peak	454	149	1,490	489	79
22	14	Carrigawaddra	Carraig an Mhadra	The dog's rock	425	50	1,394	164	79
23	17	Foardal	An Fordal	pass gap; wanderingTemplate:Efn	410	36	1,344	118	78
24	5	Esknabrock	Eisc na mBroc	Ravine of badgers	406	251	1,332	823	79
25	21	Shaking RockTemplate:Efn	—	—	402	27	1,319	89	78
26	9	Inchimore	An Inse Mhór	Big river-meadow	256	100	840	328	78

See also

• Lists of mountains in Ireland
• List of mountains of the British Isles by height
• List of Marilyns in the British Isles
• List of Hewitt mountains in England, Wales and Ireland

External links

• MountainViews: The Irish Mountain Website Mangerton
• The Database of British and Irish Hills , the largest database of British Isles mountains ("DoBIH")
• Hill Bagging UK & Ireland, the searchable interface for the DoBIH
• Ordnance Survey Ireland ("OSI") Online Map Viewer