Brandon Mountain
| Brandon Mountain | |||
| County Kerry | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 On Mount Brandon | |||
| Range: | Dingle Peninsula | ||
| Summit: | 3,123 feet Q460116 52°14’7"N, 10°15’15"W | ||
Brandon Mountain or Mount Brandon is a mountain of 3,123 feet mountain on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry. It is the highest peak of the mountains of the peninsula's mountainous spine and the highest Irish mountain outside the MacGillycuddy's Reeks.
Contents
Name
The mountain takes its name from Saint Brendan or Bréanainn (known as "Brendan the Navigator"), who, legend suggests, climbed to the summit around 530 to see the Americas, before setting sail for them. The small village of Brandon lies at the foot of the mountain, on the north side, so it is as likely that the mountain is named for the village at its foot, albeit that the village is taken to be named from the Saint.
Geography
Brandon is in the middle of a high ridge, sometimes called the Brandon Group, which runs north-south for 6 miles across the peninsula. This ridge also includes the peaks of Barr an Ghéaráin (2,756 feet), Binn Fhaiche (2,697 feet), Más an Tiompán (2,503 feet), and Piaras Mór at 2,454 feet.[1]
Brandon Mountain owes its craggy shape to the work of local glaciers during the Ice Age, which gouged out a series of corries on the eastern flank of the mountain. The summit of Brandon Mountain is rounded and smooth because it was a nunatuk, and presents a stark contrast to the conical top of Barr an Ghéaráin, which is almost alpine in appearance. The western slope of Brandon Mountain presents a huge contrast from its eastern side, as it largely escaped the gouging effect of the glaciers, with the result that it presents an almost unbroken grassy slope.
The glen on the mountain's east side is a series of rock steps, each of which includes a small "Paternoster lake". There at least ten of these lakes, which grow in size as one descends the mountain. From highest to lowest (and smallest to biggest) they are named the Locha Chom an Chnoic (Coumaknock Loughs), Loch na Lice (Lough Nalacken) and Loch Cruite (Lough Cruttia)
Pilgrimage
Due to its link with Saint Brendan, the mountain is popular with Irish Roman Catholic pilgrims. The path to the peak is marked by small white crosses and the peak itself is topped by a large metal cross. The pilgrimage route called Cosán na Naomh (The Saints Road) begins at Kilvickadowning at the southern end of the peninsula and ends at Brendan's Oratory on the mountain's peak. Brendan's Oratory is the remains of a small stone building that was believed to have been used by Saint Brendan. The historian Máire Mac Néill has argued for the origin of Cosán na Naomh to pre-date the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, as a pagan ceremonial route.[2]
Pilgrim Paths and their bureaucracy
In 1997, the Heritage Council set up the Pilgrim Paths project to develop walking routes along mediæval pilgrimage paths.[3] One of the routes chosen for development was Cosán na Naomh and an 10-mile long waymarked trail has been constructed between Ventry Strand and the grotto at Ballybrack at the foot of Mount Brandon.[4] The trail has been developed to the standard required by the Irish Sports Council for National Waymarked Trails in Ireland.[5]
For safety reasons, it was decided not to mark the trail to the very end of the traditional route at the summit of Brandon but to finish at Ballybrack.[6] The starting point of the trail at Ventry is one of the places pilgrims arriving by boat would have come ashore.[7] Notwithstanding its diversion by civil servants, the trail passes a number of important ecclesiastical heritage sites including Gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar monastic site.[8] The route has the greatest concentration of stones marked with the "cross of arcs", one of the principal symbols of pilgrimage in Ireland.[9]
Pictures
The Brandon range
Cosán na Naomh at about 500 m
Cosán na Naomh, nearer the summit
Summit
Shrine at the foot of the mountain
Brandon
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Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Brandon Mountain) |
- Cosán na Naomh at the Heritage Council
References
Notes
- ↑ Mountainviews.ie
- ↑ Harbison & Lynam 2002, p. 17.
- ↑ "The Pilgrim Paths". Heritage Council. http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/recreation/heritage-council-initiatives/the-pilgrim-paths/. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- ↑ "Cosán na Naomh, Co. Kerry". Heritage Council. http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/recreation/heritage-council-initiatives/the-pilgrim-paths/cosan-na-naomh/. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- ↑ O Caoimh 2004, p. 8.
- ↑ Harbison & Lynam 2002, p. 19.
- ↑ Harbison & Lynam 2002, p. 25.
- ↑ Harbison & Lynham 2002, p. 22.
- ↑ O Caoimh 2004, p. 4.
Books
- Harbison, Peter; Lynam, Joss (2002). Cosán na Naomh: The Saint's Road, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry. Mediæval Irish Pilgtim Paths. No. 1. Kilkenny: Heritage Council. ISBN 1-9011-37-309.
- The Pilgrim's Path: Promoting Sustainable Development of Walking Routes through Sacred Sites in Ireland Thomas O Caoimh (2004; 7th US/ICOMOS Symposium, 25-27 March 2004)
