Benaughlin Mountain, or simply Benaughlin (), is a large hill in the

Cuilcagh Cuilcagh () is a mountain on the border between County Fermanagh (in Northern Ireland) and County Cavan (in the Republic of Ireland). With a height of it is the highest point in both counties. It is also the 170th highest peak on the island of ...

Mountain range in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. It rises to above sea level and is mainly composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

. A section of the

Ulster Way The Ulster Way is a series of walking routes which encircles Northern Ireland. It was founded in the 1970s by Wilfrid Merydith Capper, who was inspired by Tom Stephenson's Pennine Way. The route was relaunched in 2009 by the Department of th ...

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. The hill was originally called , which is thought to mean "peak of the speaking horse". Locals would climb the hill on the last Sunday of July for the festival of Lughnasa, and folklore tells of a large white horse () which would appear on the hill each year and speak to them. Benaughlin is also associated with Donn na Binne ("

Donn In Irish mythology, Donn ("the dark one", from ) is an ancestor of the Gaels and is believed to have been a god of the dead. Donn is said to dwell in Tech Duinn (the "house of Donn" or "house of the dark one"), where the souls of the dead gathe ...

of the peak"), the legendary ancestor of the Mag Uidhir (

Maguire The Maguire ( ) family is an Irish clans, Irish clan based in County Fermanagh. The name derives from the Goidelic languages, Gaelic , which is "son of Odhar" meaning 'Wikt:sallow, sallow' or 'pale-faced'. According to legend, this relates to the ...

) chiefs of

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh (), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of alleged Laigin or ...

and a king of the Sí. He is said to dwell in the mountain, and it was believed that whenever any of his real descendants die, a shard falls off its rocky face. Benaughlin is also known as Bin Mountain to local residents. The

blanket bog Blanket bog or blanket mire, also known as featherbed bog, is an area of peatland, forming where there is a climate of high rainfall and a low level of evapotranspiration, allowing peat to develop not only in wet hollows but over large expanses ...

which covers Benaughlin was used as a source of fuel for the wealthy landowners in the area who lived in the nearby stately home of

Florence Court Florence Court is a large 18th-century house and estate located 8 miles south-west of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is set in the foothills of Cuilcagh Mountain. The nearby village is distinguished by the one-word name Flo ...

. A path known as the Donkey Trail meanders up the side of the mountain; this was the route used for bringing the

turf Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

down off the mountain side. File:Benaughlin Mountain from Florence Court.jpg, Benaughlin viewed from the

estate in mid-summer File:Benaughlin Mountain - geograph.org.uk - 1453652.jpg, Benaughlin cliff face File:Benaughlin Mountain - geograph.org.uk - 1453570.jpg, Benaughlin summit

References

External links

BBC Northern Ireland - ''Off the Beaten Track''
hike route with map Mountains and hills of County Fermanagh Marilyns of Northern Ireland {{Fermanagh-geo-stub

See also

References

External links