Tory Hill

At 372 ft. high, Tory Hill dominates the landscape of Manister close to the town of Croom. This isolated, limestone hill is of particular geological interest due to the end-moraine left by glaciers at the end of the last Ice-Age as well as the ice marks visible on exposed areas of rock. These glacial deposits are amongst the largest in Europe.

There are large areas of woodland and scrub, where blackthorn, heath, hazel and other scrubland varieties flourish. There is also a limestone heath-scrub area on Tory Hill that is similar to the Burren. This limestone base supports calcium-loving plants, for example Yellow-oat Grass and Shining Crane’s Bill. A further habitat area is the orchid-rich calcareous grassland, where Bee Orchid, Pyramidal Orchid, Early-purple Orchid, and Common Spotted-Orchid can all be seen.  

In general, Tory Hill provides plenty of cover in its dense overgrowth to support a large wildlife community.  

Lough Nagirra, which is situated to north-east of Tory Hill, supports a number of bird species such as swans, herons, ducks and geese.