Slieve Croob
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Slieve Croob from Irish Sliabh Crúib 'mountain of the hoof'[1] is the largest of a small group of peaks in the centre of County Down, north of the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. Slieve Croob is near Dromara, Ballynahinch and Castlewellan. Slieve Croob has been given the conservation designation Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The mountain is the source of the River Lagan which starts as a spring and runs from here, through Dromara, Lisburn and Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea.
Slieve Croob's height and unobstructed views of a wide area have made it a strategic point both in the past and present, a government communications relay station is located on the summit. These include a Vodafone base station, Police & Emergency services relay, BT Microwave relay and the other is owned by the Home Office.
Folklore
Folklore tells that 12 kings are buried at the top of the mountain and each year it is traditional to climb the mountain on the last Sunday in August (known as Cairn Sunday or blaeburry Sunday) and carry with you a stone to help bury the kings. In recent times there is traditional Irish music played at the top of the mountain on this date.
Places of interest
- Legannany Dolmen is situated nine miles southeast of Banbridge and three miles north of Castlewellan, on the slopes of Slieve Croob near the village of Leitrim,[2]
References
- ^ Mills, A. D. (2003). A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
- ^ "Banbridge". Travel Now. Retrieved 2007-12-11.