Slieve Mish Mountains

Slieve Mish Mountains (), is a predominantly sandstone mountain range at the eastern end of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. Stretching , from the first major peak of Barnanageehy outside of Tralee in the east, to Cnoc na Stuaice near Central Dingle in the west, the range has over 17 material peaks (e.g. height above 100 m), with the core of the mountain range based around the massif of its highest peak, Baurtregaum, and its deep glacial valleys of Derrymore Glen and Curraheen Glen.

Naming The Irish language term "Sliabh" denotes a mountain, however, the precise meaning of "Mis" has not been validated. Irish academic Paul Tempan notes that it could be related to Slemish mountain in County Antrim, where the term "Mis" is from a female name, and thus translates as "the mountains of Mis".

Geology Like many of the mountain ranges in County Kerry, such as the MacGillycuddy Reeks in the Iveragh Peninsula, the Slieve Mish Mountains are composed predominantly of Devonian period Old Red Sandstone, with a band of Ordovician period metasediments on the western slopes of the range.

The rocks of the Slieve Mish Mountains and the Brandon Group in the Dingle Peninsula are Ordovician to Late Carboniferous in age, 485 to 330 millions years ago (Ma).Williams B, 2020, The Dingle Peninsula: A Kerry Diamond, Geoexpro

At the time Ireland was in a hot equatorial setting. During a 60 million year period, Ireland was the site of a major basin, known as the Munster basin, and Cork and Kerry were effectively a large alluvial floodplain.

The rocks in the Dinge Peninsula have an earlier, Silurian, shallow marine facies and a later, Devonian, continental red-bed facies. The transition between the two is unconformable or faulted. The island of Inishnabro just off the peninsula is an exception in the area in that the contact between the two facies is conformable.

The rocks are purple–red due to the oxidation of iron-rich sediments which accumulated in semi-arid climate. In places they are green from chlorination. These colours are still visible today. There are virtually no fossils in Old Red Sandstone. The composition of Old Red Sandstone is variable. Largely fluvial sandstones and conglomerates dominate and there are mudstones, siltstones. Boulders containing quartz pebbles are visible throughout the range.

The Palaeozoic rocks of the Dinge Peninsula have been affected by deformations caused by three orogenies (mountain building events) the Early Caledonian (c. 470 Ma) Acadian (c. 400 Ma) and Variscan (c. 318–297 Ma) orogenies. The Variscan orogeny uplifted and deformed the Devonian and Early Carboniferous rocks, tightened the folds of the Caledonian and Acadian orogenies and reactivated many of the older major faults. Very large NE-SE trending (in the west) and E-W trending (in the east) open upright folds were created in the Dinge Peninsula. The Slieve Mish Anticline in the east provides evidence of this. The erosional products of this were deposited in the Munster Basin.

The Slieve Mish range was also subject to significant glaciation with corries (e.g. the upper lakes of the Derrymore Glen), U-shaped valleys (e.g. the Derrymore Glen and the Curraheen Glen), however the range does not have the sharp rocky arêtes and ridges of the MacGillycuddy Reeks range.

Geography

Overlooking Tralee Bay on the northern side and Dingle Bay on the south, the range extends for 19 kilometres from just outside Tralee in the east to the centre of the Dingle Peninsula in the west. The range is often described as the "backbone" of the Dingle Peninsula because of distribution of most of its major peaks along narrow south-west to north-east "spine" that extends to 6 kilometres at its widest part.

The core of the range is the massif of its highest point Baurtregaum , and the main peaks of the range sit and Baurtregaum's high grassy ridge from Baurtregaum Far NW Top in the east, to Caherconree , and Gearhane , in the west.

Bautregaum has two major glacial U-shaped valleys, the long 4.5-kilometre easterly Curraheen Glen (with the Curraheen River), and the shorter but deeper northerly Derrymore Glen (Derrymore River), with its three corrie lakes.

After descending to the north–south mountain pass of Bóthar na gCloch ("road of the stones") to the west, the spine of the range rises up again at Knockbrack and Lack Mountain , to run in a further south-westerly direction to finish at Cnoc na Stuaice .Mountainviews, (September 2013), "A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits: The Vandeleur-Lynams & the Arderins", Collins Books, Cork,

List of peaks

The following is a download from the MountainViews Online Database, who list 17 identifiable Slieve Mish peaks with an elevation, or height, above 100 metres

Peaks of the Slieve Mish Mountain range (MountainViews Online Database, July 2019)HeightRankProm.RankNameIrish Name (if different)TranslationHeight(m)Prom.(m)Height(ft)Prom.(ft)TopoMapOSI GridReference11BaurtregaumBarr Trí gCom Top of Three Hollows 851 643 2,792 2,110 7124CaherconreeCathair Conraoi Cú Roí's Stone Fort 835 129 2,740 423 71317Baurtregaum NE Top—— 819 14 2,687 46 71416GearhaneAn GéaránThe Fang 792 17 2,598 56 71515Baurtregaum NW Top—— 723 18 2,372 59 71612Baurtregaum Far NE Top—— 603 28 1,978 92 71711Castle Hill—— 600 35 1,969 115 7186Caherbla Cathair BhláthStone Fort of Flowers 586 91 1,923 299 7192MoanlaurMóin Láir Middle Bog 566 289 1,857 948 711014KnockmoreAn Cnoc MórThe Big Hill 565 27 1,854 89 71117BarnanageehyBearna na GaoitheGap of the wind 561 56 1,841 184 71128BeenduffAn Bhinn Dubh The Black Peak 515 40 1,690 131 711313Cnoc na Stuaice Cnoc na StuaiceHill of the Peak 483 28 1,585 92 71149Lack MountainSliabh na LiceMountain of the Flagstone 465 40 1,526 131 711510KnockbrackAn Cnoc BreacThe Speckled Hill 459 36 1,506 118 71165CorrinCarraig TomáisínLittle Thomas's Rock 332 97 1,089 318 71173KnockafeehaneBinn an PhréacháinPeak of the Crows 301 130 988 427 71

Slieve Mish Mountains

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