The Sperrins or Sperrin Mountains (Irish : Sliabh Speirín) [3] are a mountain range in Northern Ireland. The range stretches from Strabane and Mullaghcarn in the west, to Slieve Gallion and the Glenshane Pass in the east, in the counties of Tyrone and Londonderry. The landscape is mostly moorland and blanket bog. The region has a population of some 150,000 and is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
It has a distinctive glaciated landscape. The mountains mostly have rounded summits and the landscape is mainly moorland and blanket bog. The Glenshane Pass, part of the A6 Belfast to Derry road, is in the mountains and has notoriously bad weather in winter. Sawel Mountain is the highest peak in the Sperrins, and the seventh highest in Northern Ireland. Its summit rises to 678 m (2,224 ft). Another of the Sperrins, Carntogher (464 m), towers over the Glenshane Pass. [4]
Geologically, the Sperrins are formed mostly from Precambrian metamorphic rocks, with some younger Ordovician igneous rocks in the southern flank of the range. The Mountains are very sparsely populated and provide habitat for a diverse range of birds and mammals. Red fox, Sika Deer, Pine Marten and Red Squirrels are commonly found there alongside Peregrine Falcons, Buzzards and Sparrowhawks. Visiting Golden Eagles from the neighbouring reintroduced Donegal population have been sighted across the range from Strabane to Draperstown although no breeding population has yet been established. The Mountains also provide one of the last refuges of Red Grouse in Northern Ireland.
Rank | Name | Irish name [5] | Height [6] | Prominence [6] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sawel Mountain | Samhail Phite Méabha ("likeness of Méabh's vulva") | 678 m (2,224 ft) | 657 m (2,156 ft) |
2 | Mullaghclogha | Mullach Clocha ("summit of the stone") | 635 m (2,083 ft) | 207 m (679 ft) |
3 | Mullaghaneany | Mullach an Ionaidh ("summit of the wonder") | 627 m (2,057 ft) | 302 m (991 ft) |
4 | Meenard | Mín Ard ("high mountain pasture") | 620 m (2,030 ft) | 85 m (279 ft) |
5 | Dart Mountain | An Dairt ("the lump") | 619 m (2,031 ft) | 89 m (292 ft) |
6 | Mullaghasturrakeen | Mullach an Starraicín ("summit of the steeple") | 581 m (1,906 ft) | 46 m (151 ft) |
7 | Mullaghclogher | Mullach Clochair ("summit of the stony patch") | 572 m (1,877 ft) | 127 m (417 ft) |
8 | Oughtmore | Ucht Mór ("big mountain breast") | 569 m (1,867 ft) | 104 m (341 ft) |
9 | Spelhoagh | Speilg Chuach ("cuckoo rock") | 568 m (1,864 ft) | 20 m (66 ft) |
10 | Mullaghdoo | Mullach Dubh ("black summit") | 568 m (1,864 ft) | 20 m (66 ft) |
11 | Carnanelly | Carnán Aichle ("little cairn of the lookout") | 562 m (1,844 ft) | 307 m (1,007 ft) |
12 | Mullaghmore | Mullach Mór ("big summit") | 550 m (1,800 ft) | 235 m (771 ft) |
13 | Mullaghcarn | Mullach Cairn ("summit of the cairn") | 542 m (1,778 ft) | 377 m (1,237 ft) |
14 | White Mountain | Sliabh Bán ("white mountain") | 537 m (1,762 ft) | 42 m (138 ft) |
15 | Slieve Gallion | Sliabh gCallann ("mountain of the heights") | 528 m (1,732 ft) | 333 m (1,093 ft) |
16 | Crockbrack | Cnoc Breac ("speckled hill") | 526 m (1,726 ft) | 151 m (495 ft) |
17 | Mullaghcarbatagh | Mullach Carbadach ("boulder-strewn summit") | 517 m (1,696 ft) | 32 m (105 ft) |
Sperrin was the name of a proposed United Kingdom constituency in the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies. [7]
Strabane is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
The Pennines, also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "backbone of England" because of its length and position, the range runs from Derbyshire and Staffordshire in the north of the Midlands to Northumberland in North East England. From the Tyne Gap in the north, the range extends south through the North Pennines, Yorkshire Dales, South Pennines, and Peak District to end near the valley of the River Trent. The Border Moors and Cheviot Hills, which lie beyond the Tyne Gap, are included in some definitions of the range.
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The Carneddau are a group of mountains in Snowdonia, Wales. They include the largest contiguous areas of high ground in Wales and England, as well as six or seven of the highest peaks in the country—the Fifteen Peaks. The range also encloses a number of lakes such as Llyn Cowlyd and Llyn Eigiau, and the Aber Falls waterfall. It is delimited by the Irish Sea to the north, the Conwy valley to the east, and by the A5 road from Betws-y-Coed to Bethesda to the south and west. The area covers nearly 200 square kilometres (80 sq mi), about 10% of the area of Snowdonia. The area is bordered by three main roads—the A55, the A5 to the south and the A470 to the east.
Donemana is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is 7 miles or 11 kilometres north-east of Strabane, on the banks of the Burn Dennett and at the foothills of the Sperrins. In 2001, it was the largest of the thirteen villages in the former Strabane District Council area and it had a population of 586 in the Census that year.
The Glenshane Pass is a major mountain pass cutting through the Sperrin Mountains in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is in the townland of Glenshane Pass on the main Derry to Belfast route, the A6.
Artigarvan is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
The Ballyhoura Mountains are in south-east County Limerick and north-east County Cork in central Munster, Ireland, running east and west for about 6 miles on the borders of both counties.
Benaughlin Mountain, or simply Benaughlin, is a large hill in the Cuilcagh Mountain range in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It rises to 373 metres (1,224 ft) above sea level and is mainly composed of sandstone, limestone and shale. A section of the Ulster Way formerly passed around the side of Benaughlin, within 300 m of the summit until it was revised in 2009 and now instead ascends from Florencecourt.
Allan Bresland is a retired Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician who was a Derry and Strabane Councillor for the Sperrin DEA from 2014 to 2023. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for West Tyrone from 2007 to 2011.
The South Pennines is a region of moorland and hill country in northern England lying towards the southern end of the Pennines. In the west it includes the Rossendale Valley and the West Pennine Moors. It is bounded by the Greater Manchester conurbation in the west and the Bowland Fells and Yorkshire Dales to the north. To the east it is fringed by the towns of West Yorkshire whilst to the south it is bounded by the Peak District. The rural South Pennine Moors constitutes both a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation.
Slieve Beagh is a mountainous area straddling the border between County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland and County Fermanagh and County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. A point just east of its summit is the highest point in Monaghan; however the true summit is on the Fermanagh-Tyrone border. The point where the three counties meet, is referred to as the "Three County Hollow".
Sawel Mountain is the highest peak in the Sperrin Mountains, and the 8th highest in Northern Ireland. It is also the highest mountain in Northern Ireland outside of the Mourne Mountain range located in County Down.
Slieve Gallion is a mountain in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is the easternmost of the Sperrin Mountains. It reaches a height of 528 metres (1,732 ft) and dominates the western shore of Lough Neagh. Its prominent northeastern summit has a transmitter station with a small road leading to it, and stands at a height of 496 metres (1,627 ft).
Glenelly Valley or simply Glenelly, is the longest valley in the Sperrin Mountains in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies within the Sperrin Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and is also in an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA).
Mullaghcarn is a mountain in the southwest Sperrins, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The peak reaches a height of 542 m (1778 ft), and is the 370th highest in Ireland. Mullaghcarn is in the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council area, on the edge of Gortin Glen Forest Park, and is the most southerly peak in the Sperrins. It is 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of Omagh, and is 3.1 miles (5.0 km) south of Gortin.
Derry City and Strabane is a local government district that was created on 1 April 2015 by merging the City of Derry District and Strabane District. It covers most of the northwest of Northern Ireland. The local authority is Derry City and Strabane District Council.
The Stack's Mountains are a range of hills northeast of Tralee in County Kerry, Ireland. Traditionally they are deemed part of the hilly region known as Sliabh Luachra, which also includes the Mullaghareirk Mountains.
Moylussa is a mountain in the Slieve Bernagh range in western Ireland, and the highest point in County Clare at 532 metres (1,745 ft).
Sliabh an Iarainn, anglicized Slieve Anierin, is a mountain in County Leitrim, Ireland. It rises to 585 metres (1,919 ft) and lies east of Lough Allen and northeast of Drumshanbo. It is part of the Cuilcagh Mountains. The mountain was shaped by the southwestward movement of ice age glaciers over millions of years, the morainic drift heaping thousands of drumlins in the surrounding lowlands. Historically there were many iron ore deposits and ironworks in the area. Irish mythology associates the mountain with the Tuatha Dé Danann, particularly the smith god Goibniu. Sliabh an Iarainn is an important natural heritage site with exposed marine and coastal fauna of paleontological interest