Hills and mountains of the Isle of Man

The Isle of Man is mostly hilly, but has only one summit, Snaefell, classified as a mountain (over 2,000 feet).

Some of the Isle of Man's mountainous terrain as viewed from the top of Snaefell.

Overview

The south of the island has a small coastal plain around Castletown and Ballasalla but is otherwise hilly. In the south west these hills rise to more prominent peaks, notably South Barrule (483 m), and Cronk ny Arrey Laa (437 m) which drops almost vertically into the sea.[1]

A central valley separates the southern hills from the central range which contains the highest peaks. This central range contains 11 out of 12 of the Island's highest peaks. It has open moorland and rough terrain. It is very sparsely populated and has just one major road crossing it except along the coast.[1]

This then drops quite suddenly to a large flat northern glacial till plain which has only small rolling hills (max. 96 m) known as the Bride hills.[1]

Marilyns

The Isle of Man contains five Marilyns:

Peak Height (m) Prom. (m) Key col (m) Grid ref. Parent
Snaefell 621 621 Sea SC397881 none, highest peak in the Isle of Man
South Barrule 483 436 47 SC257759 Snaefell
Bradda Hill 230 193 37 SC193711 South Barrule
Slieau Freoaghane 488 153 335 SC340883 Snaefell
Mull Hill 169 151 18 SC189676 Bradda Hill

List of peaks over 1,500 feet (457 m)

The Isle of Man contains 11 peaks which stand at over 1,500 ft.[2] All of these, except for the South Barrule (in the south) are found in the central range which spans the region between the central valley and the flat fertile northern plain. Although none of these peaks are especially high, they appear quite prominent and impressive due to their proximity to the sea. Whilst many of these peaks are rugged, they are not steep enough to provide many opportunities for technical climbing (which can be found in abundance around the coast). There are opportunities for scrambling in some areas, including the northern slopes of the North Barrule, around the Sloc, and the southern slopes of Greeba Mountain. These can provide a training ground for the higher steeper mountains in places such as Snowdonia and the Highlands of Scotland; they are also far less crowded than some of Britain's more popular hill destinations. All of these peaks can be reached by a rough hill walk.

Hill Height (ft) Height (m) Grid ref. Area
Snaefell2,037621397881Central
North Barrule1,854565443909North East
Clagh Ouyr1,808551415890North East
Beinn-y-Phott1,785544381861Central
Slieau Freoaghane1,601488341883Michael Hills
Colden1,598487343843Central
South Barrule1,585483258759South West
Slieau Ruy1,572479329824Central
Sartfell1,490454335872Michael Hills
Carraghyn1,640500370850Central
Slieau Lhean1,539469426877East

Additional heights above 1500 feet include Mullagh Ouyr (gr 398861) and two unnamed points on the ridge between Clagh Ouyr and the North Barrule (gr 425900 & 432904).

  • North Barrule
  • Bradda hill in the south
  • The railway to the summit of Snaefell

References
  1. http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-09-28. Retrieved 2009-08-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.