Belmore Mountain
| Belmore Mountain | |
| Fermanagh | |
|---|---|
 Belmore Mountain, Spring 2005 | |
| Summit: | 1,306 feet H138417 54°19’26"N, 7°47’19"W |
Belmore Mountain is a hill in the townland of Gortgall in western Fermanagh. With a summit at 1,306 feet above sea level,[1] it is the second highest point in Fermanagh (the highest being at Cuilcagh on the border with County Cavan and the Republic of Ireland).
Belmore Mountain dominates the skyline in the nearby county town, Enniskillen, and gives its name to the town's Belmore Street.
Geography
Geologically dominated by limestone, outcropping of the sedimentary rock forms extensive sheer cliffs near the summit. Chemical erosion caused by the natural acidity of water has formed a cave system underneath the mountain, accessible at the village of Boho. Faulting has produced the Knockmore escarpment on the western flanks of Belmore. Other small villages and hamlets around the foot of Belmore include Letterbreen and Springfield.
Agriculture is limited due to the steep slopes and thin peaty soils on Belmore, however extensive plantations of coniferous forest can be found on the upper plateau.
In 1894, archaeologist Thomas Plunkett excavated both the Eagle’s Knoll Cairn passage tomb and Moylehid ring cairn in the townland of Moylehid; one of which is situated on an eastern spur of Belmore Mountain overlooking the Erne valley.[2]
Name
The name of the mountain is from the Irish language, apparently from Béal Mór meaning 'Big Mouth'.[3] The historian John O Donovan (1834) states that the indigenous population called the mountain Bel Mor Muintir Pheodachain .[4]
The Belmore Forest on the lower slopes is named form the mountain, as is Belmore Street in Enniskillen.
The mountain also gives its name to an Irish earldom, that of the Earl Belmore, of the Lowry-Corry family. Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore, served from 1868 to 1872 as the 14th Governor of New South Wales, where several features are named for him: the Belmore River, the suburb of Belmore in Sydney, Belmore Park, also in Sydney and in Goulburn.
See also
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Belmore Mountain) |
References
- ↑ Kelly, p. 226
- ↑ Martin, p.170
- ↑ Placenames Database of Ireland
- ↑ John O Donovon (1834). "John O'Donovan's letters from County Fermanagh". p. 5. http://www.peterspioneers.com/odonovanfee.pdf.
- Hughes, William (1882), Geologic Notes of Ireland, Dublin: Gill
- Kelly, John (1859), "The Carboniferous Rocks of Ireland", The Atlantis (July)
- Martin, C. P. (1935), Prehistoric Man in Ireland, London: Macmillan