Benbradagh () is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

in Dungiven

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It is the second most northerly summit in the

Sperrin Mountains The Sperrins or Sperrin Mountains () are a range of mountains in Northern Ireland and one of the largest upland areas in Northern Ireland. The range stretches from Strabane eastwards to Slieve Gallion in Desertmartin and north towards Limavady ...

area and the 564th highest summit in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It rises to and lies to the east of

Dungiven Dungiven () is a small town, townland and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is near the main A6 Belfast to Derry road, which bypasses the town. It lies where the rivers Roe, Owenreagh and Owenbeg meet at the foot of the B ...

. It was used from the 1940s to the early 1970s as a

United States Military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

Base. Col Buckley, of the

Directorate of Military Intelligence (Ireland) , image = Badge of the Irish Defence Forces.svg , image_size = 150 , alt = Badge of the Irish Defence Forces , caption = Badge of the Irish Defence Forces , dates = , country = , countries = , allegiance = , branch = DFHQ , type = Mili ...

, believed nuclear weapons could be situated at underground facilities inside Benbradagh mountain in Derry, which US forces used as a communications hub in order to communicate with its North Atlantic fleet, but which were also designed for the storage of conventional high explosives. Col Buckley complained that he did not have "the monitoring or surveillance systems" to confirm the presence of nuclear weapons in Northern Ireland, but that the British strongly denied land-based systems in the territory and refused to confirm the movements of air and sea-based nuclear weapons. It is popular with paragliders due to the steep terrain. The mountain is accessible via the Curragh Road which stops near the summit. Benbradagh is also the name of a district electoral area centred in

which is part of the

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council is a local authority in Northern Ireland that was established on 1 April 2015. It covers most of the northern coast of Northern Ireland and replaced Ballymoney Borough Council, Coleraine Borough Council ...

References

Mountains and hills of County Londonderry Marilyns of Northern Ireland {{Londonderry-geo-stub