Facts about Physical Landscape
Relief of Ireland
Topography of Ireland
A map of Ireland, roughly showing where the main mountaineous areas are located on the island. The shade of brown shows the relevant area is above 300 metres. The lighter green represents areas between 150 and 300 metres, while the dark green covering the vast majority of Ireland represents areas that are below 150 metres.
Topography of Ireland
A map of Ireland, roughly showing where the main mountaineous areas are located on the island. The shade of brown shows the relevant area is above 300 metres. The lighter green represents areas between 150 and 300 metres, while the dark green covering the vast majority of Ireland represents areas that are below 150 metres.
With many - but certainly not all - of the highlands and uplands close to the coast, it is easy to see how Ireland can be compared - in a very generalised way - to a saucer or, perhaps more accurately, to a pie crust that is high at the edges but sunk, rather irregularly, near the middle. This analogy is all the more striking when it is appreciated, as the geographers Gordon Herries Davies and Nicholas Stephens have shown, that not one of the 45 peaks which exceed 750 metres lies more than 56km (35 miles) from salt water.
The highest point above mean sea level is Carrauntoohil in the Macgillycuddy Reeks of County Kerry (1038 metres). Each of the other provinces has its own mountain zone. Lugnaquilla, Co. Wicklow, is the highest in Leinster (924 metres); Slieve Donard
Slieve Donard Mountain
Slieve Donard is the highest mountain in the Mourne Mountains area.
Courtesy of Simon Stewart
Mweelrea, Co. Mayo
Mweelrea, Co. Mayo, is the highest mountain in Connacht.
Courtesy of Simon Stewart.
Croagh Patrick
Croagh Patrick is situated five miles from the town of Westport, Co. Mayo. This mountain is 763m high, permitting views of Clew Bay and the surrounding Mayo countryside. Croagh Patrick is renowned for its Partician Pilgrimage in honor of Saint Patrick.
Copyright Irish Imagery Ltd.Croagh Patrick
Croagh Patrick is situated five miles from the town of Westport, Co. Mayo. This mountain is 763m high, permitting views of Clew Bay and the surrounding Mayo countryside. Croagh Patrick is renowned for its Partician Pilgrimage in honor of Saint Patrick.
Copyright Irish Imagery Ltd.Slievenamon, Co. Tipperary
Slievenamon, is a mountain in Co. Tipperary. It is located in the south of the county, near a town called Clonmel.
Courtesy of Simon Stewart
Croagh Patrick
Croagh Patrick is situated five miles from the town of Westport, Co. Mayo. This mountain is 763m high, permitting views of Clew Bay and the surrounding Mayo countryside. Croagh Patrick is renowned for its Partician Pilgrimage in honor of Saint Patrick.
Copyright Irish Imagery Ltd.
More extensive mountain groups are confined to a few districts. In the west, these include the highlands of Donegal, the Ox mountains of Sligo, the Twelve Bens of Connemara
The Twelve Bens of Connemara
The Twelve Bens or 'The Twelve Pins' of Connemara, refers to a mountain range on the West Coast of Ireland.
Courtesy of Simon Stewart
Iveragh Mountain
Stumpa Duloigh is the highest mountain in the Iveragh area and the 55th highest in Ireland.
Courtesy of Simon Stewart
Brandon Mountain, Dingle
Brandon Mountain, Kerry Peninsula.
Courtesy of Simon Stewart.
Knockmealdown Mountain
Knockmealdown is the highest mountain in the Knockmealdown Mountains area. The Knockmealdown Mountains are situated at the border of Tipperary and Waterford.
Courtesy of Simon Stewart.
Slieve Foye Mountain, Carlingford
Slieve Foye mountain lies to the west of Carlingford village, a medieval coastal village in northern County Louth.
Courtesy of Colm Rice
The Twelve Bens
This illustration shows the name and location of each of the Twelve Bens.
Courtesy of Simon StewartThe Twelve Bens - Courtesy of Simon Stewart
Knockmealdown Mountain
Knockmealdown is the highest mountain in the Knockmealdown Mountains area. The Knockmealdown Mountains are situated at the border of Tipperary and Waterford.
Courtesy of Simon Stewart.Knockmealdown Mountain - Courtesy of Simon Stewart.
Slieve Foye Mountain, Carlingford
Slieve Foye mountain lies to the west of Carlingford village, a medieval coastal village in northern County Louth.
Courtesy of Colm RiceSlieve Foye Mountain, Carlingford - Courtesy of Colm Rice
Wicklow Mountains
This large mountain group on the east coast of Ireland, extends from the Wicklow/Dublin border south-westwards to the Blackstairs Mountains in Wexford.
Courtesy of Dr. Arnold HornerWicklow Mountains - Courtesy of Dr. Arnold Horner
Mountainous and uncultivated parts of Dublin and Wicklow
Richard Griffith's map of the mountainous and uncultivated parts of Co. Dublin and Co. Wicklow, 1812.
Copyright managed by the Library CouncilMountainous and uncultivated parts of Dublin and Wicklow - Copyright managed by the Library Council
Giant's Causeway and the sea
This photograph shows the Giant's Causeway which is located on the coast of County Antrim.
Courtesy of Nicola SmithGiant's Causeway and the sea
This photograph shows the Giant's Causeway which is located on the coast of County Antrim.
Courtesy of Nicola SmithDrumlins, County Monaghan
This is a photograph of the drumlins of County Monaghan.
Drumlins, County Monaghan
This is a photograph of the drumlins of County Monaghan.
Slemish Mountain and the old iron ore factory
This photograph captures Slemish Mountain and the Old Iron Ore Factory. Slemish Mountain is an ancient volcanic plug on the Antrim Plateau.
Image Copyright Philip Blair.
Giant's Causeway and the sea
This photograph shows the Giant's Causeway which is located on the coast of County Antrim.
Courtesy of Nicola Smith
Elsewhere, plateaus are associated with areas where grit and shale rocks from the much older 'Upper Carboniferous' geological period overlie the more widespread limestones. Such plateaus occur in parts of the south-east (Castlecomer,
Castlecomer Plateau
The Castlecomer ‘plateau’ is a 30 km long (NS), 22 km wide (EW), basin-shaped, upland, wedged between the valleys of the Nore and Barrow rivers. Located mainly in north Kilkenny and south Laois, the plateau is called after the town and district of Castlecomer near its centre, and rises steeply from the adjacent lowlands and is mostly at a height of 200-300 metres. Composed of sandstones, grits and ‘coal measures’ from the Upper Carboniferous, this area has been worked for coal from the seventeenth century and perhaps earlier. Mines, most of them shallow and small- scale operations, were once quite widespread, but commercial operations are now long ceased. The steep escarpment of the plateau is especially striking when viewed from the Barrow valley. A smaller plateau, the Slievardagh hills, lies to the south-west, beyond the Nore valley. Like Castlecomer, the Slieveardagh plateau was in the past a focus for small-scale mining activity.
Copyright Alan Vaughan.
Benbulbin Mountain, County Sligo
This photograph shows Benbulbin Mountain in County Sligo. This photograph was taken from ground level and it shows how striking the mountain appears against the relatively flat foreground.
Courtesy of Sam Moore, Archaeologist.
However, most of the landmass, particularly towards the centre, is low-lying. Less than 5 % of the island lies above 500 metres, and well over 80% is below 200 metres. In many parts of the country, therefore, relief is quite subdued. It can nonetheless be quite varied - for example there is a major contrast between the hummocky low hills that make up the drumlin country of south Ulster and the near-level, plain-like conditions that prevail in some parts of the midlands such as mid-Tipperary, west of Dublin, and in east Galway.
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