Mount Brandon
Encyclopedia
Mount Brandon or Brandon Mountain is a 952 m (3123 ft) mountain
on the Dingle Peninsula
in County Kerry
, Republic of Ireland
. It is the highest peak of the unnamed central mountain range
of the Dingle Peninsula and the ninth highest peak in Ireland
. It is also the highest Irish peak outside the Macgillycuddy's Reeks
.
or Bréanainn (aka "The Navigator"), who legend suggests climbed to the summit around AD 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.
, sometimes called the Brandon Group, which runs north-south for 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) across the peninsula. This ridge also includes the peaks of Barr an Ghéaráin at 840 metres (2,755.9 ft), Binn Fhaiche 822 metres (2,696.9 ft), Más an Tiompán at 763 metres (2,503.3 ft), and Piaras Mór at 748 metres (2,454.1 ft).
Mount Brandon 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 Mount Brandon 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 Mount Brandon 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 grass
y 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 the Locha Chom an Chnoic (Coumaknock Loughs), Loch na Lice (Lough Nalacken) and Loch Cruite (Lough Cruttia).
pilgrim
s. 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 Cill Mhic an Domhnaigh (Kilvickadowning) at the southern end of the peninsula and ends at Sáipéilín Bréanainn (Brendan's Oratory) on the mountain's peak. Sáipéilín Bréanainn is the remains of a small stone building that was believed to have been used by Saint Brendan. The origin of Cosán na Naomh as a pilgrimage route pre-dates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, however; the historian Máire Mac Néill has argued that it has its origins in the pagan
festival of the Irish god Lug
.
In 1997, the Heritage Council
set up the Pilgrim Paths project to develop walking routes along medieval pilgrimage paths. One of the routes chosen for development was Cosán na Naomh and an 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) long waymarked trail has been constructed between Ventry Strand
and the grotto at Ballybrack at the foot of Mount Brandon. The trail has been developed to the standard required by the Irish Sports Council
for National Waymarked Trails
in Ireland. 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. The starting point of the trail at Ventry is one of the places pilgrims arriving by boat would have come ashore. The trail passes a number of important ecclesiastical heritage sites including Gallarus Oratory
and Kilmalkedar monastic site. The route has the greatest concentration of stones marked with the "cross of arcs", one of the principal symbols of pilgrimage in Ireland.
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
on the Dingle Peninsula
Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula is the northernmost of the major peninsulae in County Kerry. Its ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Ireland.-Name:...
in County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. It is the highest peak of the unnamed central mountain range
Mountains of the Dingle Peninsula
The Mountains of the Dingle Peninsula are grouped into two major unnamed mountain ranges, one running along the centre of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, in Ireland and the other found at its extreme western tip...
of the Dingle Peninsula and the ninth highest peak in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. It is also the highest Irish peak outside the Macgillycuddy's Reeks
Macgillycuddy's Reeks
MacGillycuddy's Reeks is a mountain range in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland. Stretching slightly over , it includes the highest peaks in Ireland and the only peaks on the island that are over . The highest of these is Corrán Tuathail or Carrauntoohil , followed by Binn Chaorach and Cathair na...
.
Name
The mountain takes its name from Saint BrendanBrendan
Saint Brendan of Clonfert or Bréanainn of Clonfert called "the Navigator", "the Voyager", or "the Bold" is one of the early Irish monastic saints. He is chiefly renowned for his legendary quest to the "Isle of the Blessed," also called St. Brendan's Island. The Voyage of St...
or Bréanainn (aka "The Navigator"), who legend suggests climbed to the summit around AD 530 to see the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, before setting sail for them. The small village of Brandon
Brandon, County Kerry
Cé Bhréannain or Bréanainn is a Gaeltacht village on the northern coast of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland...
lies at the foot of the mountain, on the north side.
Geography
Brandon is in the middle of a high ridgeRidge
A ridge is a geological feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Ridges are usually termed hills or mountains as well, depending on size. There are several main types of ridges:...
, sometimes called the Brandon Group, which runs north-south for 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) across the peninsula. This ridge also includes the peaks of Barr an Ghéaráin at 840 metres (2,755.9 ft), Binn Fhaiche 822 metres (2,696.9 ft), Más an Tiompán at 763 metres (2,503.3 ft), and Piaras Mór at 748 metres (2,454.1 ft).
Mount Brandon owes its craggy shape to the work of local glaciers during the ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
, which gouged out a series of corries
Cirque
Cirque may refer to:* Cirque, a geological formation* Makhtesh, an erosional landform found in the Negev desert of Israel and Sinai of Egypt*Cirque , an album by Biosphere* Cirque Corporation, a company that makes touchpads...
on the eastern flank of the mountain. The summit of Mount Brandon 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
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
in appearance. The western slope of Mount Brandon 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 grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
y slope.
The glen
Glen
A glen is a valley, typically one that is long, deep, and often glacially U-shaped; or one with a watercourse running through such a valley. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower than a strath."...
on the mountain's east side is a series of rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
steps, each of which includes a small Paternoster lake
Paternoster lake
A Paternoster lake is one of a series of glacial lakes connected by a single stream or a braided stream system. The name comes from the word Paternoster, another name for the Lord's Prayer derived from the Latin words for the prayer's opening words, "Our Father"; Paternoster lakes are so called...
. 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 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 CatholicIrish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
pilgrim
Pilgrim
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...
s. The path to the peak is marked by small white crosses and the peak itself is topped by a large metal cross. The pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
route called Cosán na Naomh (The Saints Road) begins at Cill Mhic an Domhnaigh (Kilvickadowning) at the southern end of the peninsula and ends at Sáipéilín Bréanainn (Brendan's Oratory) on the mountain's peak. Sáipéilín Bréanainn is the remains of a small stone building that was believed to have been used by Saint Brendan. The origin of Cosán na Naomh as a pilgrimage route pre-dates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, however; the historian Máire Mac Néill has argued that it has its origins in the pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
festival of the Irish god Lug
Lugh
Lug or Lugh is an Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past. He is known by the epithets Lámhfhada , for his skill with a spear or sling, Ildánach , Samhildánach , Lonnbeimnech and Macnia , and by the...
.
In 1997, the Heritage Council
Heritage Council
The National Heritage Council is an organisation created by the Irish government to "propose policies and priorities for the identification, protection, preservation and enhancement of the national heritage."...
set up the Pilgrim Paths project to develop walking routes along medieval pilgrimage paths. One of the routes chosen for development was Cosán na Naomh and an 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) long waymarked trail has been constructed between Ventry Strand
Ventry
Ceann Trá is a Gaeltacht village in County Kerry, Ireland. Located on the Dingle Peninsula, 7 kilometres west of Dingle, the village of Ventry was once the main port of the peninsula...
and the grotto at Ballybrack at the foot of Mount Brandon. The trail has been developed to the standard required by the Irish Sports Council
Irish Sports Council
The Irish Sports Council or ISC is the organisation which directs the development of sport within the Ireland.The ISC is a statutory authority and was established in July 1999 under powers provided by the Irish Sports Council Act...
for National Waymarked Trails
Long-distance trails in the Republic of Ireland
There are 43 long-distance trails in the Republic of Ireland designated as National Waymarked Trails by the National Trails Office of the Irish Sports Council. These trails are inspected annually by the National Trails Office and are maintained by local management committees, Local Authorities,...
in Ireland. 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. The starting point of the trail at Ventry is one of the places pilgrims arriving by boat would have come ashore. The trail passes a number of important ecclesiastical heritage sites including Gallarus Oratory
Gallarus Oratory
The Gallarus Oratory is believed to be an early Christian church located on the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland...
and Kilmalkedar monastic site. The route has the greatest concentration of stones marked with the "cross of arcs", one of the principal symbols of pilgrimage in Ireland.