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Cloughmore or Cloghmore (), known locally as "The Big Stone", is a huge granite boulder perched on a mountainside almost above the village of
Cloughmore or Cloghmore (), known locally as "The Big Stone", is a huge granite boulder perched on a mountainside almost above the village of Rostrevor
Rostrevor () is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the foot of Slieve Martin on the coast of Carlingford Lough, near Warrenpoint. The Kilbroney River flows through the village and Rostrevor Forest is nearby. ...
, County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...
. It sits on the slopes of Slieve Martin in Kilbroney Park, overlooking Rostrevor Forest, Carlingford Lough
Carlingford Lough (, Ulster Scots Ulster Scots, may refer to:
* Ulster Scots people
* Ulster Scots dialect
Ulster Scots or Ulster-Scots (', ga, Albainis Uladh), also known as Ulster Scotch and Ullans, is the dialect of Scots language, Sco ...
and the Cooley Peninsula
The Cooley Peninsula (, older ''Cúalṅge'') is a hilly peninsula in the north of County Louth on the east coast of Ireland; the peninsula includes the small town of Carlingford, the port of Greenore and the village of Omeath.
Geography
T ...
. It is popular destination for visitors, and is part of a National Nature Reserve and Area of Special Scientific Interest.
The granite boulder, which has a calculated mass of 50 tonnes, is a glacial erratic
A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundr ...
, thought to have been transported from Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
(from an island in Strathclyde
Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government ...
bay) and deposited about 10,000 years ago by retreating ice during the last Ice Age. It sits on a relatively flat area of Silurian metasedimentary rock.
Local legend has it that the stone was thrown from the Cooley Mountains
The Cooley Mountains () are on the Cooley Peninsula in northeast County Louth in Ireland. They consist of two ridges running northwest to southeast, separated by the valley of Glenmore with the Big River running through it.
Slieve Foy, at , ...
, on the other side of Carlingford Lough, by the giant Fionn mac Cumhaill
Fionn mac Cumhaill ( ; Old and mga, Find or ''mac Cumail'' or ''mac Umaill''), often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is leader of the '' Fianna'' bands o ...
.
References
Geography of County Down Archaeological sites in County Down Glacial erratics Individual rocks {{NorthernIreland-archaeology-stub