J3422 : Mourne Wall near Annalong Wood

taken 15 years ago, 4 km NW of Annalong, Co Down, Northern Ireland

Mourne Wall near Annalong Wood
Mourne Wall near Annalong Wood
The Mourne Wall running from near Carrick Little towards Annalong Wood with Long Seefin in the background.

I have been contacted regarding my pictures in this area as they do not resemble the official Mourne Wall as seen in J3228 : The Mourne Wall, suggesting that they are, in fact, merely field boundaries. However, I am reliant on the OS data which describes this part of the wall in squares J3422 and J3323 as 'The Mourne Wall' so am describing them myself as such.

Despite research I have failed to come up with a definitive history of the Mourne Wall in its entirety. The wall does appear to have been built in different sections, with some areas of a much higher standard of construction than others. The author Paddy Dillon has written an excellent book on walking in the Mournes ('The Mournes: Walks' by Paddy Dillon published by O'Brien Press, ISBN: 086278896X) and his map of the Mourne Wall walk would seem to concur that this section leading from Carrick Little carpark to Slieve Binnian is indeed rightly attributed as the 'Mourne Wall'. On the 'Mourne Wall Walk', Dillon writes the following in relation to the rise from Carrick Little to Binnian:

"An obvious gravel track flanked by gorse bushes rises beside the car park. The gentle ascent leads past a couple of buildings and the boundary field walls alongside become quite substantial. Cross a stone step stile beside an iron gate. The Mourne Wall rises to the left, offering a direct line to the summit of Slieve Binnian."

This is a continuation of the wall to the right of the stone stile. The wall here carries on ahead where it borders the south-eastern edge of Annalong wood (and is bisected by the Annalong River) before heading upwards to the summit of Long Seefin.

Dillon also offers the following brief notes on the wall itself:

"The course of the Mourne Wall on either side of the Silent Valley is disappointing, and in places it seems to be a haphazard construction. The truly 'classic' proportions of the wall are found northwards of Carn Mountain and Long Seefin, and there are some particularly stout sections on Slieve Corragh and the Bog of Donard."
The Mourne Wall

The Mourne Wall is a 22 mile long wall in the Mourne Mountains. It was built between 1904 and 1922 by the Belfast Water Commissioners to enclose their catchment areas in the Mournes and protect the area from the effects of cattle and sheep on the water course LinkExternal link . The wall is predominately constructed from local granite using traditional dry stone walling techniques; on average the wall is about 1.5 metres high and 0.8 to 0.9 metres thick. It is not uniform in construction along the entire length - the 'classic' granite wall is only to be found north of Carn mountain and Long Seefin with particularly impressive sections on Slieve Commedagh and Slieve Donard; elsewhere it largely resembles the traditional dry stone walls found elsewhere in the Mournes and south County Down. In places, such as Slieve Muck, the wall is not constructed of granite at all.

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Rossographer and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
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J3422, 83 images   (more nearby search)
Photographer
Date Taken
Saturday, 24 January, 2009   (more nearby)
Submitted
Wednesday, 28 January, 2009
Category
Dry stone wall   (more nearby)
Subject Location
Irish: geotagged! J 345 228 [100m precision]
WGS84: 54:8.2275N 5:56.5433W
Camera Location
Irish: geotagged! J 344 227
View Direction
East-northeast (about 67 degrees)
Clickable map
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