Brandon Hill

This article is about the mountain in County Kilkenny, Ireland. For the hill and park in Bristol, England, see Brandon Hill, Bristol. For the American football player, see Brandon Hill (American football). For the Modernist house in Cambridge, see Salix, Conduit Head Road.

Not to be confused with Mount Brandon.

Brandon Hill (Irish: Cnoc Bhréanail) is the highest mountain in County Kilkenny, Ireland, with an elevation of 515 m (1,690 ft) and prominence at 448 m (1,470 ft).^[1] The South Leinster Way, a long-distance trail, meandering through the Barrow Valley and traverses Brandon Hill. The village of Graiguenamanagh and River Barrow are at the base of the hill. It is classified as a county high point, an Arderin, a Myrddyn Dewey, and a Marilyn.

Brandon Hill
Brandon Hill from the northwest
Highest point
Elevation	515 m (1,690 ft)[1]
Prominence	450 m (1,480 ft)[1]
Listing	County top (Kilkenny), Marilyn, Arderin
Coordinates	52.509704°N 6.974251°W / 52.509704; -6.974251
Naming
Native name	Cnoc Bhréanail
Geography
Brandon Hill Location in Ireland
Location	County Kilkenny, Ireland
OSI/OSNI grid	S697402
Topo map	OSi Discovery 68

Classification

Brandon Hill has various classifications (§ DoBIH codes). Brandon Hill (Gribbon No. 071) is known as the county high point but are also sometimes referred to as county top and county peak.^[2][3][4] It is listed as one of the 200 Myrddyn Deweys, which are the Irish equivalent of Deweys. It is listed as one of the 407 Arderins, which are the Irish equivalent of the Hewitt.

Brandon Hill has a regional height rank of 151 of 454 Marilyns in Ireland (389 in the Republic of Ireland and 66 in Northern Ireland), and a regional prominence of 53. With a height rank of 1098 and prominence rank of 269 of the total for the British Isles of 2,011.^[5]

Geography

Brandon Hill from the River Barrow in Graiguenamanagh

Brandon is 4-kilometres South-South West of Graiguenamanagh, 7-kilometres east of Inistioge and 11-kilometres east of Thomastown, in the south of County Kilkenny.^[6] Brandon Hill is in the barony of Gowran and in the province of Leinster.^[7] The village of Graiguenamanagh is at the base of the hill.

Geology

It is the termination of the chain of granitic mountains that raise from the shores of Dublin bay.^[8] The base of Brandon Hill on the side of the River Barrow and the hill running to Graigue is composed of schist rock.^[9] This blackish siliceous schistus, sometimes containing grains of quartz and when it is broken it has a shivery texture and is hard enough to scratch glass.^[10] There are a few beds of marble and limestone gravel near the foot of the mountain.^[11]

Archaeology

Evidence regarding the early settlement of the Brandon Hill uplands came to light as a result of ground and aerial surveys directed by Michael Gibbons, an archaeologist with the Board of Works, in 1989. The survey indicated that the slopes of Brandon were settled in excess of four thousand years ago and that the cairns, house sites, field systems and a large ritual enclosure identified on its slopes are part of the prehistoric remains there. Two Norman moated sites, with long rectangular buildings attached - probably granges or farms attached to Duiske Abbey and thought to be about 600 years old - were also identified on the lower slopes in the Ballyogan townland area during the survey.

See also

• Lists of mountains in Ireland
• List of Irish counties by highest point
• List of mountains of the British Isles by height
• List of Marilyns in the British Isles

References

1. "Brandon Hill ( Cnoc Bhréanail)". MountainViews. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
2. Kieron Gribbon (2015). "Ireland's County High Points". High Point Ireland.
3. Kieron Gribbon (2015). "Brandon Hill (High Point No.071)". High Point Ireland.
4. Kieron Gribbon (3 October 2012). Ireland's County High Points: A Walking Guide. The Collins Press. ISBN 978-1848891401.
5. "Database of British and Irish Hills".
6. (Gazetteer 1822, p. 591)
7. (Seward 1795, p. 105)
8. (Wright 1834, p. 129)
9. (Wakefield 1812, p. 122)
10. (Lewis 1837, p. 105)
11. (encyclopaedia 1830, p. 453)

Further reading

• Gazetteer (1822), The Edinburgh Gazetteer, or Geographical Dictionary: Containing the Various Countries, Kingdoms, States, Cities, Towns, Mountains, &c. Of the World., vol. I., Edinburgh: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and brown, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co. London.
• Wakefield, Edward (1812), An account of Ireland, statistical and political, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, ISBN 978-1-116-11699-1
• Lewis, Samuel (1837), A topographical dictionary of Ireland : comprising the several counties; cities; boroughs; corporate, market and post towns; parishes; and villages, with historical and statistical descriptions embellished with engravings of the arms of the cities, bishopricks, corporate towns, and boroughs; and of the seals of the several municipal corporations, London: Nabu Press, ISBN 978-1-247-35489-7.
• encyclopaedia, Edinburgh (1830), The Edinburgh encyclopaedia, conducted by D. Brewster, vol. VII., Edinburgh.
• Wright, George Newenham (1834), A new and comprehensive gazetteer, vol. II., Edinburgh.
• Seward, William Wenman (1795), Topographia Hibernica: Or the Topography of Ireland, Dublin, ISBN 1-4373-5407-6