The Mourne Mountains

The Mourne Mountain range forms a majestic backdrop to the sweeping sandy beaches and historic towns and cities of Northern Ireland’s County Down. Explore the imposing peaks that have inspired poets, artist and storytellers, with Dream Escape...

In a letter to his brother, the Belfast-born author CS Lewis wrote: ‘I have seen landscapes which, under a particular light, made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge.’ This landscape was the snow-covered Mourne Mountain range, which provided inspiration for his most famous book, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

The beautiful 18th-century town of Rostrevor, on the shores of sparkling Carlingford Lough, was a favourite spot of the writer, and in capacious Kilbroney Park, you will find a Narnia Trail, entered via a large wooden wardrobe door, complete with a lamp post and the four thrones of Cair Paravel.

At the edge of the park is another magical spot: the Fairy Glen, a shady wood said to be home to the diminutive humans. And all of this is overshadowed by the imposing mountain range, which rises steeply above the southeast coast of Northern Ireland. The Mourne Mountains are the highest in Northern Ireland. They form an area of outstanding natural beauty – a brooding, mist-swirling, peat-bog-and tussocky-grass-covered, jagged granite type of beauty. Looking up at them, it’s easy to see why Lewis imagined giants breaking free from their distinctive forms, shaped and sculpted by a series of ice ages since their formation around 50 million years ago.

The ice age is also responsible for the Cloughmore stone (from the Irish An Chloch Mhór – the big stone) perched high on the mountainside above Rostrevor. The 50-tonne granite boulder is thought to have been transported from Scotland by ice flow, although legend has it the stone was thrown from the Cooley Mountains on the other side of the lough by the giant Fionn Mac Cumhaill.

The Mourne Mountains

IMAGES © Northern Ireland Tourist Board / tourism ireland / Tony Pleavin

On the other side of the Mournes lies the elegant resort of Newcastle, known for its broad golden strand of beach and Slieve Donard Hotel set in its own expansive grounds beside the Royal County Down golf course. Built in the 1890s by the Belfast and County Down Railway as an 'end of the line' luxury holiday destination, the hotel was one of the best places to stay at the time, and remains so today.

In the hotel's heyday, the movie star Charlie Chaplin stayed here in 1921 after the breakdown of his marriage. He was searching for Hetty Kelly, his first love, who hailed from County Down but had died three years before in the flu epidemic of 1918. The Chaplin Bar named after the actor is the perfect place to relax with a pre-dinner drink. While in the Oak Restaurant you can enjoy Northern Ireland’s finest cuisine, looking up to the mountain that gave the hotel its name, the magnificent Slieve Donard.

This is the highest mountain in Northern Ireland and is named after St Donard, a disciple of Ireland’s patron saint Patrick, who established a hermitage on its flanks. Two of the world’s oldest burial cairns, dating as far back as 3,000 BC, are found on its peak. According to Celtic folklore, an entrance to the underworld is housed under the mountain. It used to be a site of religious pilgrimage but these days it is walkers, drawn by the challenge of the highest peak, who make their way to the summit.

From here, on a clear day, there’s a magnificent view of the range and beyond: the leafy flush of the Tollymore Forest, the setting for Game of Thrones. In keeping with the drama, you can explore its many trails on horseback. Further north lies Castlewellan Park, home to the 3.5km Peace Maze (planted to mark the signing of the Good Friday Agreement) and to the east the golden dune-backed Murlough Beach and nature reserve and Dundrum Bay, where Brunel’s great ship SS Great Britain was grounded in 1846. An award-winning restaurant on the front in Newcastle bears his name. Further south lies Rostrevor, the birthplace of British Major General Robert Ross, who burned down the White House during the war between Britain and the USA in 1914, as well a favourite haunt of Lewis.

When locals refer to ‘the Mournes’ they are referring not just to the mountains but the surrounding area too. County Down is arguably one of the prettiest areas of Northern Ireland, yet many visitors skip it in favour of the north coast, Belfast and the Giant’s Causeway.

The Fairy Glen

IMAGES © Northern Ireland Tourist Board / tourism ireland / Tony Pleavin

The Mournes has more than enough to compete. As well as the mountains and beaches, it's home to picturesque fishing ports Annalong and Kilkeel, the pastel-housed town of Warren Point and two historic cities: Newry, an important centre for Irish linen production; and Downpatrick where St Patrick was buried in Down Cathedral.

One of the notable features of the mountains is the Mourne Wall, a five-foot-high, 22-mile circular granite construction that snakes its way around the range, ascending and descending 15 peaks, including Slieve Donard, as it does so. The wall, completed in 1922, is now a listed 'building' with a curious history. As the wall is close to the border with the Irish Republic and was completed the year the border was drawn, many imagine it had something to do with separating Catholics from Protestants. In fact, it was built by the Belfast Water Company to keep livestock from contaminating its reservoirs in the Silent Valley.

Men walked miles from the surrounding towns and villages, during the 18 years it took to complete the wall, sleeping on exposed ground in hessian sacks filled with heather and bringing with them potatoes and slices of cold, hardened porridge for sustenance. Inadvertently, these hardy souls also opened up the area for walkers, providing a useful navigational aid in the misty mountains, which led to the wall being dubbed ‘the handrail’ of the Mournes. Hardy hikers can challenge themselves to walk the entire route of the wall but it’s a series of steep ups and downs and not for the faint-hearted.

Dream Escape travel designers will advise on many shorter walks that take in some of the peaks and short sections of the wall. Written into the rocks is the tale of the wall’s construction. Keep your eyes peeled and you will spot symmetrical grooves carved into great granite boulders. This is where the rocks had been split using plug and feather tools to provide stones for building.

The occasional ‘smithy’s hut’ along the route housed anvils that were used to make tools, which were cooled and solidified in stone troughs. The surrounding landscape is also abundant with stories: the Devil’s Coach Road is where Satan is said to drive his carriage at Halloween looking for lost souls.

Fairy Bridge, which crosses the Shimna River, allows the mythical creatures access to the mountains, and the trail worn by the hooves of horses carrying illegal tobacco and alcohol to Hilltown from the coast at Newcastle is known as The Brandy Pad.

It’s easy to see why the Mournes have won the hearts of tourists as well as capturing the imagination of writers, artists and poets. In his ballad The Mountains of Mourne, the Irish songwriter Percy French depicted a homesick Irish exile working in London who dreams of returning to ‘dark Mournes’ that ‘sweep down to the sea.’

After spending a few days exploring the mountains and the surrounding areas, I too dream of returning. ⬥

Horseriding on Newcastle Beach with the Mourne Mountains in the background

IMAGES © Northern Ireland Tourist Board / tourism ireland / Tony Pleavin

Find out more

Holly Mackie, Owner and Director “The Mourne mountains will always be a special place for me. Growing up in County Down, we would explore Tollymore Forest, run on the beaches and find a perfect spot for ice cream. National-Trust-owned Mount Stewart and Castle Ward are also well worth a visit when in this area; stately homes steeped in much history with spectacular gardens to enjoy all year round, these wonderful properties will not disappoint.” ⬥ holly@dreamescape.co.uk

WORDS | LIZZIE ENFIELD