Editing Slieve Croob

{{Short description|Mountain in Northern Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = Slieve Croob
| other_name = ''Sliabh Crúibe''
| photo = File:The north face of Slieve Croob - geograph.org.uk - 4736214.jpg
| photo_caption = Slieve Croob from the north
| elevation_m = 534
| elevation_ref = 
| prominence_m = 439
| prominence_ref = 
| map = UK Northern Ireland
| map_size = 300
| label_position = none
| map_caption = Slieve Croob shown within Northern Ireland
| listing = [[Marilyn (geography)|Marilyn]]
| translation = mountain of the hoof
| language = [[Irish language|Irish]]
| location = [[County Down]], [[Northern Ireland]]
| range = Dromara Hills
| coordinates = {{coord|54.340088|N|5.973671|W|type:mountain_region:IE_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| range_coordinates = 
| coordinates_ref = 
| grid_ref_Ireland = J318453
| topo = 
| type = 
| age = 
| easiest_route = 
}}
__NOTOC__
'''Slieve Croob''' ({{etymology|ga|Sliabh Crúibe|mountain of the hoof}})<ref name="Name">{{cite book|last=Mills|first=A. D.|title=A Dictionary of British Place-Names|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2003|isbn=978-0-19-960908-6|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t40.e12032|access-date=2009-01-20}}</ref> is a mountain with a height of {{convert|534|m|ft}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://mountainviews.ie/summit/388/ |title=Slieve Croob at MountainViews.ie |access-date=2021-09-26 |archive-date=2021-08-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812155749/https://mountainviews.ie/summit/388/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in the middle of [[County Down]], [[Northern Ireland]]. It is the heart of a mountainous area,  the [[Dromara]] Hills, north of the [[Mourne Mountains]]. It is designated an [[Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty]] and is the source of the [[River Lagan, Northern Ireland|River Lagan]]. There is a small road to the  summit, where there is an ancient burial [[cairn]] and several [[transmitter station]]s with [[Radio masts and towers|radio masts]]. It has wide views over all of County Down and further afield. The Dromara Hills also includes Slievenisky, Cratlieve, Slievegarran and Slievenaboley.

Slieve Croob may have been the mountain named ''Brí Erigi'' or ''Brí Airige'' in medieval writings.<ref name=PNI>[http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=11694 Slieve Croob at Place Names NI] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930050727/http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=11694 |date=2020-09-30 }}.</ref> The cairn on its summit is believed to be the remains of an ancient [[Tumulus|burial mound]], possibly of a [[passage tomb]] like the one on [[Slieve Gullion]].<ref name=Moore39>{{cite book |author=Moore, Sam |url=https://www.academia.edu/1601622 |title=The Archaeology of Slieve Donard: a Cultural Biography of Ulster's Highest Mountain |publisher=[[Down County Museum]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-9567278-6-2 |page=39 |access-date=2021-09-26 |archive-date=2021-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810022711/https://www.academia.edu/1601622 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the 19th century it was recorded to be {{convert|77|yd|m}} around and {{convert|18|yd|m}} in "conical height", with forty-two "pillar stones" or kerbstones around the edge.<ref>[[Philip Dixon Hardy]]. ''The Northern Tourist; Or, Stranger's Guide to the North and North West of Ireland''. Curry, 1830. p.70</ref> The cairn would have had a well-defined shape when it was built. Still, over time it has slipped and been damaged by visitors. Irish folklore holds that it is bad luck to damage such cairns.<ref>Sarah Champion & Gabriel Cooney. "Chapter 13: Naming the Places, Naming the Stones". ''Archaeology and Folklore''. Routledge, 2005. p.193</ref><ref>Doherty, Gillian. ''The Irish Ordnance Survey: History, Culture and Memory''. Four Courts Press, 2004. p.89</ref> Some of its stones have been piled into smaller cairns on top of it,<ref name=Moore39/> which led to the summit being nicknamed 'The Twelve Cairns'.<ref name=PNI/> Traditionally, people would gather on the summit at [[Lughnasadh]] where they would add a stone to one of the cairns. They would collect and eat [[bilberries]] and there would be folk music, dancing and games.<ref>{{cite book |author=Moore, Sam |url=https://www.academia.edu/1601622 |title=The Archaeology of Slieve Donard: a Cultural Biography of Ulster's Highest Mountain |publisher=[[Down County Museum]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-9567278-6-2 |page=64 |access-date=2021-09-26 |archive-date=2021-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810022711/https://www.academia.edu/1601622 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Local people still climb the mountain on the first Sunday in August (referred to as Cairn Sunday or Blaeberry Sunday), and carry a stone up the mountain to help bury the twelve Kings, who are said to be buried at the top.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.strava.com/clubs/55274/group_events/523657|title = Twelve Kings Challenge SUNDAY 16th JUNE 2019 starting at 09:30}}</ref>

[[Legannany Dolmen]] sits on the southern slopes of Slieve Croob near the village of [[Leitrim, County Down|Leitrim]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Banbridge | work=Travel Now | url=http://dg.ian.com/index.jsp?cid=1&action=viewLocation&locationId=30977 | access-date=2007-12-11 | archive-date=2007-09-28 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928094345/http://dg.ian.com/index.jsp?cid=1&action=viewLocation&locationId=30977 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:The col between Slievenisky and Slieve Croob - geograph.org.uk - 3435671.jpg|Slieve Croob from Slievenisky
File:Slieve Croob near Dromara (3) - geograph.org.uk - 1739100.jpg|Slieve Croob from the west, covered with patches of snow
File:The top of Slieve Croob - geograph.org.uk - 1406296.jpg|The summit, looking towards the Mournes
File:Slieve Croob emergency service towers - geograph.org.uk - 223417.jpg|Communications towers on Slieve Croob
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Mountains and hills of County Down}}
{{County Down}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Marilyns of Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Mountains and hills of County Down]]