Gougane Barra () is a scenic valley and heritage site in the

Shehy Mountains The Shehy Mountains (''Cnoic na Seithe'' in Irish, meaning ''"Hills of the animal hides"'') are a range of low mountains situated on the border between County Cork and County Kerry, in Ireland. Geography and geology The highest peak (also the h ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, Ireland. It is near

Ballingeary Ballingeary (, ) is a village in the Shehy Mountains in County Cork, Ireland. The village is located within the Muskerry ''Gaeltacht'' (Irish-speaking area). According to the 2016 census, over 42% of the population speak Irish on a daily basi ...

in the

Muskerry Muskerry ( ga, Múscraí) is a central region of County Cork, Ireland which incorporates the baronies of Muskerry West Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially recog ...

''. Gougane Barra is at the source of the

River Lee The River Lee (Irish: ''An Laoi'') is a river in Ireland. It rises in the Shehy Mountains on the western border of County Cork and flows eastwards through Cork, where it splits in two for a short distance, creating an island on which Cork's ...

and includes a lake with an oratory built on a small island. It also includes a

forest park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China *Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Fores ...

. The name ''Guagán Barra'' comes from Saint Finnbarr (or Barra), who is said to have built a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

on the island in the lake during the sixth century. The present ruins of a hermitage date from around 1700 when a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

called Denis O'Mahony retreated to the island. During the times of the Penal Laws, Gougane Barra's remoteness meant that it became a popular place for the celebration of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

. The nineteenth century oratory which stands near the original hermitage is famous for its picturesque location and richly decorated interior and is a popular place for wedding photography. St Finbar's Oratory is the final destination for one of the five

Pilgrim Paths of Ireland Pilgrim Paths Ireland (PPI) is a non-denominational representative body for Ireland's medieval pilgrim paths. PPI was founded in 2013 to oversee the development and promotion of Ireland's medieval pilgrimage paths, and consists of 12 community gr ...

, St Finbar's Pilgrim Path, which starts 35-kilometres away in

Drimoleague Drimoleague (historically ''Drumdalege'', ) is a village on the R586 road at its junction with the R593 in County Cork, Ireland. It lies roughly halfway between the towns of Dunmanway and Bantry, within the civil parish of Dromdaleague. As of ...

Reforestation Reforestation (occasionally, reafforestation) is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation, but also after clearcutting. Management A debate ...

of Gougane Barra began in 1938 and it is now home to a 1.42 square kilometre (or 138 hectare) forest park with twenty tree species, mainly non-native

Sitka spruce ''Picea sitchensis'', the Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, evergreen tree growing to almost tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth-larg ...

Japanese larch ''Larix kaempferi'', the Japanese larch or karamatsu () in Japanese, is a species of larch native to Japan, in the mountains of Chūbu and Kantō regions in central Honshū.Farjon, A. (1990). ''Pinaceae. Drawings and Descriptions of the Genera ...

and

Lodgepole pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, ...

, but also

Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...

and other native species of flora and fauna. The source of the

rises in the hills above the park and flows into Gougane lake. The forest park has 5 km of motor trail and 10 km of hill walks, nature points and vista trails. The

Coillte Coillte (; meaning "forests"/"woods") is a state-owned commercial forestry business in Ireland based in Newtownmountkennedy. Coillte manage approximately 7% of the country’s land, and operates three businesses - their core forestry business, a ...

-owned forest at Gougane Barra was temporarily closed in 2014 to allow felling of 16,000 trees, mostly larches, infected with or susceptible to ''

Phytophthora ramorum ''Phytophthora ramorum'' is the oomycete (a type of protist) plant pathogen known to cause the disease sudden oak death (SOD). The disease kills oak and other species of trees and has had devastating effects on the oak populations in California a ...

'', a pathogen responsible for Sudden Oak Death. These trees were to be replaced with native species such as oak and Scots pine. Since 2021 the company Wingleaf Ltd plans to erect a

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

of seven turbines in the area, which would be among the tallest in Ireland. Their application was refused by

Cork County Council Cork County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Chorcaí) is the authority responsible for local government in County Cork, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and co ...

, who voted unanimously against it. The company appealed to

An Bord Pleanála (; meaning "The Planning Board"; ABP) is an independent, statutory, quasi-judicial body that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2007, An Bord Pleanála directly decided major ...

. Their inspector also rejected it, stating that it "would have significant adverse environmental and visual impacts and is not sustainable at this highly sensitive location". Despite this, An Bord Pleanála granted permission, on the grounds that the wind farm would contribute "to the implementation of Ireland's national strategic policy on renewable energy". Tim Lucey, spokesman of the campaigners against the wind farm, said the decision was undemocratic as the local people and council opposed it.

Gallery

File:County Cork - St Finbarr's Oratory - 20200805134414.jpg, Lake and surrounding hills File:Gougane Barra Church - geograph.org.uk - 1532599.jpg, 19th century oratory File:Monastery at Gougane Barra - geograph.org.uk - 507513.jpg, 17th century hermitage

References

{{Reflist Towns and villages in County Cork Tourist attractions in County Cork Forests and woodlands of the Republic of Ireland Lakes of County Cork