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Slieve Croob () is a mountain with a height of in the middle of
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
Mourne Mountains
The Mourne Mountains ( ; ), also called the Mournes or the Mountains of Mourne, are a predominantly granite mountain range in County Down in the south-east of Northern Ireland. They include the highest mountain in all of Ulster, Slieve Donard ...
. It is designated an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...
and is the source of the
River Lagan
The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...
. There is a small road to the summit, where there is an ancient burial
cairn
A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
and several
transmitter station
A transmitter station or transmission facility is an installation used for transmitting radio frequency signals for wireless communication, broadcasting, microwave link, mobile telephone or other purposes.
Choice of location
The location may ...
s with radio masts. It has wide views over all of County Down and further afield. The Dromara Hills also includes Slievenisky, Cratlieve, Slievegarran and Slievenaboley.
Slieve Croob may have been the mountain named ''Brí Erigi'' or ''Brí Airige'' in medieval writings.Slieve Croob at Place Names NI . The cairn on its summit is believed to be the remains of an ancient
burial mound
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
, possibly of a
passage tomb
Passage, The Passage or Le Passage may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Films
* Passage (2008 film), ''Passage'' (2008 film), a documentary about Arctic explorers
* Passage (2009 film), ''Passage'' (2009 film), a short movie about three sisters
* ...
like the one on
Slieve Gullion
Slieve Gullion ( or ''Sliabh Cuilinn'', "Culann's mountain") is a mountain in the south of County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The mountain is the heart of the Ring of Gullion and is the List of Irish counties by highest point, highest point in t ...
. In the 19th century it was recorded to be around and in "conical height", with forty-two "pillar stones" or kerbstones around the edge. The cairn would have had a well-defined shape when it was built. Still, over time it has slipped and been damaged by visitors. Irish folklore holds that it is bad luck to damage such cairns. Some of its stones have been piled into smaller cairns on top of it, which led to the summit being nicknamed 'The Twelve Cairns'. Traditionally, people would gather on the summit at
Lughnasadh
Lughnasadh, Lughnasa or Lúnasa ( , ) is a Gaels, Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Traditionally, it is held on 1 August, or abo ...
where they would add a stone to one of the cairns. They would collect and eat bilberries and there would be folk music, dancing and games.
Local people still climb the mountain on the first Sunday in August (referred to as Cairn Sunday or Blaeberry Sunday), and carry a stone up the mountain to help bury the twelve Kings, who are said to be buried at the top.
Legannany Dolmen
The Legananny Dolmen is a megalithic dolmen or cromlech nine miles southeast of Banbridge and three miles north of Castlewellan, both in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the slopes of Slieve Croob near the village of Leitrim, County Down, ...
sits on the southern slopes of Slieve Croob near the village of Leitrim.
Gallery
File:The col between Slievenisky and Slieve Croob - geograph.org.uk - 3435671.jpg, Slieve Croob from Slievenisky
File:Slieve Croob near Dromara (3) - geograph.org.uk - 1739100.jpg, Slieve Croob from the west, covered with patches of snow
File:The top of Slieve Croob - geograph.org.uk - 1406296.jpg, The summit, looking towards the Mournes
File:Slieve Croob emergency service towers - geograph.org.uk - 223417.jpg, Communications towers on Slieve Croob