Ox Mountains

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View of the Ox Mountains from Knocknarea

The Ox Mountains are a mountain range in County Sligo. They are also known as Saint Patrick's Mountains after the saint who built churches on its slopes and left his name to some of its wells.[1] In Irish they are known as Sliabh Gamh.[2]

Geography

The highest peak in the Ox Mountains is Knockalongy, which is 1,785 ft high.[3]

View from Culleenamore beach of Knockalongy, the range's highest peak

The mountains begin immediately south-west of Ballysadare, and run west-south-west for some forty miles to the border with County Mayo, where they are continued to the south-west by the Slieve Gamph range, which runs first on the border of the two counties, and then into Mayo. The mountains have several summits from 1,200 to 1,800 feet high; and Slieve Gamph reaches 1,363 feet.[4]

Geology

Gneiss, schist and granite form the bedrock of the Ox Mountains. This wild area of uplands is covered largely with blanket bog. Some parts are extensively forested, whilst others have numerous outcroppings of rock. To the north and south the land is underlain by limestones and sandstones of Carboniferous age, and is generally farmland.[5] Lead and copper mines were formerly worked in the Ox Mountains, but by 1900, the works had been long since discontinued.[4]

Peaks

Hill Height
Knockalongy 1,785 ft
Annatoran 1,680 ft
Cloonacool 1,444 ft
Sruffaungarve Top 1,312 ft
Meenamaddo 1,083 ft
Knocknashee 906 ft

References

  1. The History of Sligo: Town and County Terence O'Rorke, p. 3, 1890.
  2. Slieve Gamph or the Ox Mountains Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved: 2012-04-09.
  3. "Ox Mountains". MountainViews. http://mountainviews.ie/mv/index.php?mtnindex=366. Retrieved 24 February 2009. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Description of County Sligo from Atlas and Cyclopedia of Ireland (1900)". Library Ireland. http://www.libraryireland.com/Atlas/Sligo.php. Retrieved 24 February 2009. 
  5. "Walks in the Ox Mountains". Geological Survey of Ireland. http://www.gsi.ie/Education/Sites+Walks+Field+Trips/Walks+in+the+Ox+Mountains.htm. Retrieved 14 August 2011. 

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