The Arra Mountains or Arra Hills (Irish: ''Sliabh an Ara'') are situated in

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, between the towns of

Nenagh Nenagh ( ; , or simply 'the Fair') is the county town of County Tipperary in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the East Munster Ormond Fair. Nenagh was the county town of the former county of Nort ...

and Ballina, south east of

Lough Derg (Shannon) Lough Derg, historically Lough Dergart (), is a freshwater lake in the Shannon River Basin, Ireland. It is the third-biggest on the island of Ireland (after Lough Neagh and Lough Corrib) and the second largest lake in the Republic of Ireland ...

and north of the M7 Motorway. The highest summit is Tountinna (''Irish: Tonn Toinne'') at 457m high. On Loughtea Hill, south-west of

Portroe Portroe () is a village in County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The village is located on the R494 road (Ireland), R494 regional road, 2km from the eastern shore of Lough Derg (Shannon), Lough Derg and 11km west of the town of Nenagh. ...

, a stainless steel cross was erected in 2002 to mark the

millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

and to replace an original cross placed there following the

Eucharistic Congress of Dublin (1932) The 31st International Eucharistic Congress, held in Dublin 22–26 June 1932, was one of the largest eucharistic congresses of the 20th century. Ireland was then home to over three million Catholics, and it was selected to host the congress as ...

Fintan's Grave Fintan's Grave is a mythological cave on the Irish mountain (now hill) Tul Tuinde (Hill of the Wave) in the Arra Mountains near Lough Derg. Supposedly, Fintan mac Bóchra waited out the Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of n ...

a cave on Tountinna where in mythology

Fintan mac Bóchra In Irish mythology Fintan mac Bóchra (modern spelling: Fionntán), known as "the Wise", was a seer who accompanied Noah's granddaughter Cessair to Ireland before the deluge. Bóchra may be his mother, or may be a poetic reference to the sea. ...

is said to have waited out the

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

here.

Description

Tountinna, the highest peak, does not qualify as a mountain using the usual convention whereby a mountain is defined (in Ireland and the UK) as any summit at least high,''A Mountain is a Mountain - isn't it?''
at www.go4awalk.com. Accessed on 3 Feb 2013. whilst the official UK government's definition of a mountain is a summit of 600 metres or higher. In addition, some definitions also include a

topographical prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

requirement, typically . In practice, mountains in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

are frequently referred to as "hills" no matter what their height, as reflected in names such as the ''

Cuillin The Cuillin () is a range of mostly jagged rocky mountains on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The main Cuillin ridge is also called the Black Cuillin to distinguish it from the Red Cuillin ('), which lie to the east of Glen Sligachan.R. Anderson & ...

Hills'' and the ''

Torridon Hills The Torridon Hills surround Torridon village in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The name is usually applied to the mountains to the north of Glen Torridon. They are among the most dramatic and spectacular peaks in the British Isles and ma ...

''. In Wales, the distinction is more a term of land use and appearance and has nothing to do with height. For a while, the US defined a mountain as being or more tall. Any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill. However, today, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) concludes that these terms do not have technical definitions in the US. However both the Placenames Database of Ireland and the Ordnance Survey of Ireland refer to the Arra range as mountains, not hills. There are a few loop walks on and around Tountinna going through Killary Glen and past Black Lough. The Lough Derg Way passes through Laghtea Hill and Tountinna. There is a small valley called Killary Glen southwest of Tountinna

List of Hills

* Tountinna, ''Tonn Toinne'' 457m * Loughtea, ''Cnoc Leacht Aodha'' 320m * Corbally Hill, ''Cnoc an Chorrbhaile'' 339m * Coum Hill, ''Cnoc an Choim'' 330m Tountinna by Nicesunnyday19

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/7623904.stm , title = Survey turns hill into a mountain , publisher = BBC News , date = 19 September 2008 , access-date = 2013-02-03 {{cite book , last=Nuttall , first=John & Anne , title=The Mountains of England & Wales - Volume 2: England , edition=3rd , year=2008 , publisher=Cicerone , location=Milnthorpe, Cumbria , isbn=978-1-85284-037-2 Mountains and hills of County Tipperary