Posts tagged Irish County Tops
The Irish County Tops

The Irish County Tops are the highest points in each of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. This includes both the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland and the 6 counties in Northern Ireland. I completed the Northern Ireland counties back in 2016 as a part of my UK County Top collection. That trip got me my first Republic of Ireland county by default as Cuilcagh is the high point of both County Fermanagh (NI) and County Cavan (ROI).

In the next few years I focused on completing England and Wales and made a good start at Scotland. It was only in 2022 that I joined a few friends to properly start my Republic of Ireland County Top collection.

My Republic of Ireland County Tops completed so far

The Irish County Tops in height order by province/region

More County Tops

Richard gowerTrek, UK County Tops, Irish County Tops, Country High Points, Mountain, Trig Pillar, Republic of Ireland, Northern IrelandComment
Northern Ireland County Tops

The Historic County Tops of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Historic County Top Road Trip

The idea for our Grand Tour of Northern Ireland came from how to solve the challenge of doing all 6 N.I. County Tops whilst making the trip "wife-friendly". Timi (the wife) loves travel as much as I do, enjoys trekking (to a point) but is not fond of mud and cold. We've learnt that the best combination is to do the adventure thing in the day but stay at nice places at night. A much as I could sleep in a tree, that's never a good option for Timi.

The plan was to start in Belfast, do some sight-seeing then take an anti-clockwise tour of the six counties, ticking off the County Tops. The anti-clockwise option works well as Trostan is a relatively straightforward warm-up and the others build up to the highest peak, Slieve Donard, at the end. In order to get the right balance of adventure and rest, we did no more than 1 walk per day and built in a day off between Trostan and Sawel Mountain to see the Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-rede.

Driving Distances:

  • Belfast to Trostan: 46 miles

  • Trostan to Sawel Mountain: 50 miles

  • Sawel Mountain to Cuilcagh: 70 miles

  • Cuilcagh to Slieve Gullion: 80 miles

  • Slieve Gullion to Slieve Donard: 36 miles

  • Slieve Donard to Belfast: 40 miles

  • Total Trip: 322 miles

Driving distances above show direct routes between main stops. The map below shows a longer road-trip including a visit to Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-rede and an overnight stay in Donegal between Cuilcagh and Slieve Gullion.

Present-Day Northern Ireland Super-Councils High Points

In 2015, Northern Ireland underwent a significant restructuring of its local government system, reducing the number of councils from 26 to 11. These newly formed larger councils, often dubbed "super councils," were established with the aim of enhancing efficiency, innovation, and cost-effectiveness in local governance. The reform also transferred additional responsibilities to the councils, including planning, local economic development, off-street car parking, and community investment, which were previously handled by the central government. This decentralization of power was intended to empower local councils to play a more prominent role in shaping their communities and responding to local needs.

Here are the highest points of the Northern Ireland Super Councils. The source of this list is Peakbagger.com. Note that other sources, including Wikipedia, show different high points. Please contact me if you have any information relavant to updating this list and I will donate £1 per correction to one of my Causes.

  • Slieve Donard. Newry City, Mourne and Down District. 850 metres.

  • Sawel Mountain. Derry City and Strabane District. 678 metres.

  • Cuilcagh. Fermanagh and Omagh District. 666 metres.

  • Mullaghaneany. Causeway Coast and Glens District. 627 metres.

  • Oughtmore. Mid-Ulster District. 569 metres.

  • Slievenanee. Mid and East Antrim District. 543 metres.

  • Divis. Belfast City. 478 metres.

  • Divis - West Slope. Antrim and Newtownabbey District. 455 metres.

  • Carrigatuke. Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon District. 365 metres.

  • Collin. Lisburn City and Castlereagh District. 328 metres.

  • Cairngaver. North Down and Ards District. 214 metres.

The highest 3 mountains in the super-council list (Slieve Donard, Sawel Mountain and Cuilcagh) are also Historic County Tops. Trostan is the Historic County Top of County Antrim but is now in the Causeway Coast and Glens District of which Mullaghaneany is the highest point. Slieve Gullion is the Historic County Top of County Armagh but is now in the Newry City, Mourne and Down District of which Slieve Donard is the highest point.

More High Points

Richard gowerTrek, UK County Tops, Mountain, Trig Pillar, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Co Armagh, Co Fermanagh, Co Down, Co Antrim, Co Londonderry, Co Tyrone, Irish County TopsComment