Galtymore or Galteemore () is a mountain in the province of Munster, Ireland. At , it is one of Ireland's highest mountains, being the 12th-highest on the Arderin list, and 14th-highest on the Vandeleur-Lynam list. Galtymore has the 4th-highest
topographic prominence
In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...
of any peak in Ireland, which classifies Galtymore as a P600, or "major mountain". It is one of the 13
Irish Munro
This is a list of Furth mountains in Britain and Ireland by height. Lists of mountains and hills in the British Isles#Furths, Furths are defined as mountains that meet the Lists of mountains and hills in the British Isles#Munros, classification ...
s.
Galtymore is the highest of the Galty Mountains, or Galtee Mountains, a
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
and shale mountain range with 24 peaks above , which runs east-west for between counties
Tipperary
Tipperary is the name of:
Places
*County Tipperary, a county in Ireland
**North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh
**South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel
*Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...
and
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
; Galtymore is the highest point of both counties. The mountain is accessed by hillwalkers via the 3–4 hour ''Black Road Route'', but is also summited as part of the longer 5–6 hour ''Circuit of Glencushnabinnia'', and the at least 10–hour east-to-west crossing of the entire range, called the ''Galtee Crossing'', which is climbed annually in the ''Galtee Challenge''.
The mountain and its deep corrie lakes are associated with various Irish folklore tales regarding Saint Patrick and serpents.
Naming
Irish academic Paul Tempan in his ''Irish Hill and Mountain Names Database'' (2010), listed "Galtymore" as the name for the peak, and "Galty Mountains" as the name for the range. This is anglicised from . "Galtymore" is recorded as early as the ''Civil Survey of Co. Tipperary'' (Down Survey, 1654–56) as a boundary feature of the barony of Clanwilliam. The peak is named "Galtymore Mountain" on the Ordnance Survey Ireland Discovery Map. The
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...
on its southern slopes is named Knocknagalty (''Cnoc na nGaibhlte'').
Some guidebooks and other publications suggest that the name "Galty" or "Galtees" is an anglicisation of ''Sléibhte na gCoillte'' (mountains of the forests). The 19th century diarist
Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin
Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin (May 1780 – 1838) was an Irish language author, linen draper, politician, and one-time hedge school master. He is also known as Humphrey O'Sullivan.
He was deeply involved in Daniel O'Connell's Catholic Emancipatio ...
recorded a different Irish name, ''Beann na nGaillti'', and the names of three nearby places are derived from this: Glencoshnabinnia ( P. W. Joyce, Irish Names of Places iii, 366), Slievecoshnabinnia and Carrignabinnia.
The range was historically named ''Sliabh gCrot'' (the hump mountains), anglicised as "Slievegrot"; or ''Crotta Cliach'' (the humps of Cliú), after the territory of Cliú.
The summit of Galtymore is marked as ''Dawson's Table'', named after the Dawson-Massey family who were large landowners in the area (''Tipperary Directory'' 1889), owning much of the land on and around the north section of the Galty range.
The area also originated
Kerry Group
Kerry Group plc is a public food company headquartered in Ireland. It is quoted on the Dublin ISEQ and London stock exchanges.
Given the company's origins in the co-operative movement, farmer-suppliers of the company retain a significant in ...
's popular bacon food brand ''Galtee''; and the term ''Galtee Mountains'' is still in common use.
Geology
The geology of the Galty Mountains is described as being
Old Red Sandstone
The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...
shales
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...
. Old Red Sandstone is also common in the
MacGillycuddy's Reeks
, photo=MacGuillycuddy's Reeks.jpg
, photo_caption=
, country=Ireland
, country1=
, location = County Kerry
, region = Munster
, region_type = Provinces of Ireland
, parent=
, border=
, length_km=19
, length_orientation=East–West ...
mountain range, and as well as having a purple–reddish colour, is also devoid of fossils.
The southern smooth slopes of the Galty range give way to a steep northern face, pocked with deep corries and their accompanying moraine lakes. The long central ridge of the Galtys, which runs for about in an east-west direction, was too high to be overridden by the inland ice-sheets, and although it resulted in the creation of small corrie glaciers, its summits are capped by tors formed from
conglomerate rock
Conglomerate () is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed of a substantial fraction of rounded to subangular gravel-size clasts. A conglomerate typically contains a matrix of finer-grained sediments, such as sand, silt, or clay, which fill ...
(known as the Slievenamuck Conglomerate Formation).
Geography
The climbing guidebook writer Paddy Dillion said of the range: "the lofty Galty Mountains have forested flanks; and there is much heather, bogs, and steep slopes, but the effort is worth it and Galtymore is a splendid viewpoint".
The Galty (or "Galtee") Mountains are a broadly straight east-west grass-covered range with a central ridge section, stretching from Greenane in the east, to Temple Hill in the west. This central ridge section includes the highest peaks of Galtymore , Lyracappul , Carrignabinnia , and Slievecushnabinnia . Many of the peaks of the central section have a moderate
topographical prominence
In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...
, which means that the central ridge maintains a reasonably sustained height; an attractive feature for hill walkers.
The 24 peaks of the Galty range with a height above , and include 13 peaks with a height above , and five that are classified as Marilyns – being peaks with a prominence above . The Galtys are described as Ireland's highest "inland" range.
Galtymore and Galtybeg sit near the middle of the range and their north faces show evidence of glacial erosion with a number of deep corries, most of which are now occupied by
lough
''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch.
In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spel ...
s. Between Galtymore and Galtybeg lies Lough Diheen, while Lough Curra lies between Galtymore and Slievecushnabinnia.
Galtymore is the 460th-highest mountain, and 12th most prominent mountain, in Britain and Ireland, on the Simms classification. Galtymore is regarded by the
Scottish Mountaineering Club
Established in 1889, the Scottish Mountaineering Club is the leading club for climbing and mountaineering in Scotland.
History
The Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) was formed in 1889 as Scotland’s national club and the initial membership of ...
(SMC) as one of 34
Furths
This is a list of Furth mountains in Britain and Ireland by height. Furths are defined as mountains that meet the classification criteria to be a Scottish Munro, including being over in elevation, but which are ''furth'' of (i.e. "outside" of ...
, which is a mountain above in elevation, and meeting the other SMC criteria for a
Munro
A Munro () is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nev ...
(e.g. "sufficient separation"), and which are outside (or ''furth''), of Scotland; this is why Carrauntoohil is also referred to as one of the thirteen
Irish Munro
This is a list of Furth mountains in Britain and Ireland by height. Lists of mountains and hills in the British Isles#Furths, Furths are defined as mountains that meet the Lists of mountains and hills in the British Isles#Munros, classification ...
s. Galtymore's prominence qualifies it as a P600, which classes Galtymore as a "major" mountain in Britain and Ireland. Galtymore ranks as the 5th-highest mountain in Ireland on the
MountainViews Online Database
In these lists of mountains in Ireland, those within Northern Ireland, or on the Republic of Ireland – United Kingdom border, are marked with an asterisk, while the rest are within the Republic of Ireland. Where mountains are ranked by heigh ...
The most straightforward route to the summit of Galtymore is from the south via the 3–4 hour ''Black Road Route'', which starts at the end of the Black Road car park () (accessed from the
R639 road
The R639 road is one of Ireland's regional roads. Once designated the N8 national primary road (and before that some fractions were designated as the T6 and others as the T9), it was reclassified in stages as the R639 following the progress ...
near the village of Skeheenarinky), and summits Galtybeg , before the main summit of Galtymore. It then retraces its route back to the Black Road car park.
The 5–6 hour ''Circuit of Glencushnabinnia'', which follows a loop around Galtymore's deep northern corries at Lough Curra and Lough Dihneen, is described as the "connoisseur's route". It starts at the forest car park () near the Clydagh Bridge in the north, and climbs Cush , Galtybeg , Galtymore and Slievecushnabinnia , before returning to the start (it can also be done anti–clockwise).
The annual ''Galtee Challenge'' organised by the Galtee Walking Club is the full , over 10-hour, east-to-west crossing of the range (also called the ''Galtee Crossing''), and takes in all major peaks of the Galty Mountains. The challenge normally starts in
Cahir
Cahir (; ) is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. It is also a civil parish in the barony of Iffa and Offa West.
Location and access
For much of the twentieth century, Cahir stood at an intersection of two busy national roadways: the Dubli ...
in the east, and finishes in Anglesboro Village, in the west. Despite the distance, longer than the MacGillycuddy's Reeks Ridge Walk, the 10–hour estimate is reasonable as the variation in elevation is moderate.
List of peaks
The MountainViews Online Database list 24 Galty mountain peaks with an elevation, or height, above .
Summit
Galtymore's summit is described a large concave plateau separated by two peaks. The plateau consists of Old Red Sandstone and is known as ''Dawson's Table'' after the historical landowners, the Dawson-Massey family. This is similar to '' Percy's Table'' on the summit of
Leinster
Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...
. There is a cairn on top of each peak and the eastern one marks the true summit of Galtymore. These twin summits give Galtymore a distinctive profile from a distance. The summit of Galtymore marks the boundary of Limerick and Tipperary.
In 1975, a white iron cross was erected on the north edge of ''Dawson's Table'' by Tipperary local Ted Kavanagh. The cross is situated a few metres away from the eastern summit cairn and looks into the glen of Aherlow. It is kept white by being painted every year.
To the west of the summit of Galtymore lies a
dry stone wall
Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...
known as the ''Galtee Wall'', that was built in 1878 to separate the Dawson-Massey Estate in the north, from the Galtee Castle Estate in the south. It is recorded that it took 30–40 men more than 4 years to complete the wall, and that the reason for its construction was to give employment to local small farmers during a period of economic depression (hence why is it also called a ''famine wall''). The ''Galtee Wall'' runs from below the west summit of Galtymore, across the top of Slievecushnabinnia, the top of Carrignabinnia, and on to the summit of Lyracappul, the second-highest peak in the Galtees.
Folklore
The mountains appear in Irish folk tales, and the deep corrie lakes of the Galtys were believed to be enchanted. In early Irish literature, the mountains are called '' liabCrotta Cliach'' (the ountainhumps of Cliú), which was the name of the surrounding territory. As can also mean a
celtic harp
The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring grea ...
, the name was interpreted as "mountains of Cliach's harps", and there is a tale of a legendary harper called Cliach playing his harps in the mountains to woo an otherworldly woman who lived in the summit cairn on
Slievenamon
Slievenamon or Slievenaman ( ga, Sliabh na mBan , "mountain of the women") is a mountain with a height of in County Tipperary, Ireland. It rises from a plain that includes the towns of Fethard, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir. The mountain is ste ...
. After failing, he plays his two harps together, and the hill bursts open and forms a lake. This lake is Lough Muskry, which is named after the
Múscraige
The Múscraighe (older spelling: Músgraige) were an important Érainn people of Munster, descending from Cairpre Músc, son of Conaire Cóem, a High King of Ireland. Closely related were the Corcu Duibne, Corcu Baiscind, both of Munster, and ...
people that lived in the south of Ireland.
Lake Muskry was formerly known as ''Loch Béal Séad'' (lake of the jewel mouth) and also as ''Loch Béal Dracon'' (lake of the dragon's mouth). The oldest mention of the name is in the tale entitled ''Aislinge Óenguso'' (The Dream of Aengus) which dates from c.750 AD. This states: ''Mac Og went to Loch Bél Draccon when he saw the 150 white birds at the loch with their silvery chains and golden caps around their heads''. The next oldest mention is in the
Dindsenchas
''Dindsenchas'' or ''Dindshenchas'' (modern spellings: ''Dinnseanchas'' or ''Dinnsheanchas'' or ''Dınnṡeanċas''), meaning "lore of places" (the modern Irish word ''dinnseanchas'' means "topography"), is a class of onomastic text in early Ir ...
, composed c.1000. The Metrical Dindsenchas of Crotta Cliach states: ''At the spot where he died of terror, Cliach sang sweet melody; there seized him there suddenly, not unprotected, the loathly dragon that dwells in this place - Loch Bel Dragon''. The Rennes Dindsenchas also relates a further tale of
Saint Fursey
Saint Fursey (also known as Fursa, Fursy, Forseus, and Furseus: died 650) was an Irish monk who did much to establish Christianity throughout the British Isles and particularly in East Anglia. He reportedly experienced angelic visions of the a ...
drowning the dragon in the lake. There is a folk tale of a serpent that was killing livestock on the Galty Mountains being banished by Saint Patrick and confined to Lake Muskry. According to the tale, Saint Patrick chained the serpent under the lake and promised to release the creature on ''Lá an Luan'' (the Day of Judgement), which the serpent mistook as ''An Luain'' (
Monday
Monday is the day of the week between Sunday and Tuesday. According to the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 8601 standard, it is the first day of the week and in countries that adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is t ...
or Easter Monday). The serpent comes up each Easter Monday and asks "Is it the Monday morning yet Patrick?" and Patrick says "No", and the serpent goes down again for another year. The same legend is also associated with Lough Dihneen, below Galtybeg. The belief in the serpent under Lough Dihneen was held so strongly that a Captain Dawson, a local landlord, attempted to drain Lough Dihneen in the 1830s to kill the serpent.
Folk tales attribute the banishing of the serpent by Saint Patrick with the subsequent richness of farming in the area. In addition to local folklore, Lake Muskry also features in the Irish mythological tale of the Caer Ibormeith.
1976 air crash
On 20 September 1976, three airmen: Tom Gannon, Jimmy Byrne and Dick O'Reilly from Abbeyshrule, were killed when their plane crashed not far from ''O'Loughlin's Castle'', a rock–formation near Greenane West, on the Galtys. The three were founding members of Abbyshrule Air Club. A stone monument in the shape of a plane's tailfin was erected () a short distance into the ''Black Road Route'' on the path to Knockeenatoung. The crash led to the founding of the South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association (SEMRA) in 1977. The event was remembered on its 40th anniversary by SEMRA in September 2016.
See also
*
Lists of mountains in Ireland
In these lists of mountains in Ireland, those within Northern Ireland, or on the Republic of Ireland – United Kingdom border, are marked with an asterisk, while the rest are within the Republic of Ireland. Where mountains are ranked by heigh ...
*
List of mountains of the British Isles by height
This is a list of mountains in Britain and Ireland by height and by prominence. Height and prominence are the most important metrics for the classifications of mountains by the UIAA; with isolation a distant third criterion. The list is sourced ...
List of Furth mountains in the British Isles
This is a list of Furth mountains in Britain and Ireland by height. Furths are defined as mountains that meet the classification criteria to be a Scottish Munro, including being over in elevation, but which are ''furth'' of (i.e. "outside" of) ...
*
List of Marilyns in the British Isles
This is a list of Marilyn hills and mountains in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Ireland by height. Marilyns are defined as peaks with a prominence of or more, regardless of height or any other merit (e.g. topographic isolation, as used i ...
*
List of Hewitt mountains in England, Wales and Ireland
This is a list of Hewitt mountains in England, Wales and Ireland by height. Hewitts are defined as "Hills in England, Wales and Ireland over two thousand" feet in height, the general requirement to be called a "mountain" in the British Isl ...
DoBIH
The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attemp ...