Slieve Beagh
| Slieve Beagh | |
| Fermanagh, Tyrone, County Monaghan | |
|---|---|
| Summit: | 1,247 feet H5238643640 54°20’20"N, 7°11’43"W |
Slieve Beagh (pronounced Sleeve Bay) is a hill which stands across the borders of three counties and two countries: Fermanagh and Tyrone in the United Kingdom and County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland.
The top of the mountain is a wind-blasted moorland. In contrast to the wooded slopes below, it is a fairly flat moorland rolling slowly to its top.
The summit is on the boundary of Fermangh and Tyrone, marked with a cairn. The border runs slightly below to the east so that a point just east of the summit is the highest point in County Monaghan at 1,201 feet.
Slieve Beagh East Top
The Monaghan county top, know as the Slieve Beagh East Top, is all within Monaghan by a few yards, and is marked by a small rise south Lough Sallach (a tarn through which the border wades).
Shane Barnagh's Stables
The Fermangh side of the hill, the slope south of the summit, is known as Shane Barnagh's Stables and Shane Barnagh's Lough is the name of another tarn on this slope, from which a burn runs down over waterfalls in the woodland that coats the Fermanagh slopes of the hill, and on into the Colebrooke River.
Name and myth
According to Irish mythology, Bith, a son of Noah who escaped mention in the Bible, came here and founded a kingdom. The Carn Rock on Sliabh Beagh is said to his burial place.
The name Sliabh Beagh is said to mean "Bith's mountain".
Another theory has it that the name of the hill is from the Gaelic name is Sliabh Beatha, which means "birch mountain".