Lochnagar
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox mountain
Lochnagar or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is a mountain in the Mounth, in the Grampians of Scotland. It is about Template:Convert south of the River Dee near Balmoral. It is a popular hill with hillwalkers, and is a noted venue for summer and winter climbing. At the foot of the mountain is a lochan, Lochan na Gaire, from which the mountain's name derives.
NamesEdit
The English name refers to a mountain loch in the northeast corrie, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, the 'little loch of the noisy sound'. {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'mountain of breasts' or 'breast-shaped mountain', is probably the original Gaelic name for the mountain.<ref name="ainmean">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The summit itself is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}},<ref name="Townsend">Template:Cite book</ref> meaning 'small cairn of faeces' in Gaelic, or less euphemistically, 'little pile of shit'.<ref name="Townsend"/> Peter Drummond, former chairman of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland, has also suggested that {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is a corruption of Template:Wikt-lang ('slope'), which would lend a translation of 'little cairn of the slope'.<ref name="Townsend"/>
GeographyEdit
Lochnagar is located on the Royal Estate of Balmoral.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Its principal feature is a north-facing corrie, around which most of the subsidiary tops, as well as the main peak, sit. The corrie is the location of many classic summer and winter climbing routes.<ref name=tbw>Template:Cite book</ref> The mountain is a Munro and is popular with hillwalkers at all times of the year, with the most common ascent route being from Glen Muick.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Care should be taken on the summit in poor visibility: the plateau has few obvious features and has steep cliffs on its northern edge.
ClimateEdit
Lochnagar's summit experiences an Alpine Tundra Climate, with freezing, snowy winters and cool summers. The nearest UK Met Office weather station is at Braemar Template:Convert northwest. The yearly temperature range is usually between Template:Convert. January has the highest average frosts, despite February nights being colder; January has an average of 26.9 frost days, compared with 24.3 in February. There is the risk of a frost at any time of the year, even in July and August, when each month averages one air frost every 10 years.<ref name=metoffice/><ref name=onthesnow/>
Nature and conservationEdit
Lochanagar lies within the Cairngorms National Park, and also gives its name to Deeside and Lochnagar National Scenic Area, one of 40 such areas in Scotland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The designated national scenic area is Template:Convert in size, and covers the mountains surrounding Lochnagar as far south as the head of Glen Doll, as well Deeside to the north.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The mountain forms part of two designated Special Protection Areas,<ref name=sitelink>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> due to its importance for breeding dotterel (Charadrius morinellus)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Cultural referencesEdit
Due to its location on the Balmoral estate the mountain has many royal links, and Queen Victoria climbed to the summit in 1848.<ref name=tbw/> In the film Mrs. Brown, John Brown and Benjamin Disraeli hike up Lochnagar to discuss the need for the Queen to return to active involvement with government. It is also the setting for a children's story, The Old Man of Lochnagar, originally told by Prince Charles. In 2023, a recessional tune entitled The Call of Lochnagar was composed for the service at which Charles III was presented the Honours of Scotland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The poet Lord Byron spent time in the area in his youth,<ref>Black's Guide to Scotland, 33rd Edition (1903). p. 232.</ref> and wrote the poem, Lachin y Gair (also known as Dark Lochnagar), which also forms the basis of a song which would eventually be composed by Beethoven.
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England! thy beauties are tame and domestic,
To one who has rov'd on the mountains afar:
Oh! for the crags that are wild and majestic,
The steep, frowning glories of dark Loch na Garr{{#if:|{{#if:|}}— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
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A malt-whisky distillery located near the Balmoral estate on the south side of the River Dee produces the Royal Lochnagar Single Malt whisky.
The hill gives its name to one of the houses at Aboyne Academy.
See alsoEdit
- Ben Nevis
- Breast-shaped hill
- List of Munro mountains
- Lochnagar crater: The site of the largest single mine of World War I, exploded at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme. Dug from a communication trench named "Lochnagar Street".
- Mountains and hills of Scotland
ReferencesEdit
Template:Marr, Aberdeenshire places Template:NSAs in Scotland Template:Scottish Munros section 7 Template:British hills Template:Authority control