The Mourne Mountains (/mɔːrn/ MORN; Irish: Beanna Boirche), also called the Mournes or Mountains of Mourne, are a granite mountain range in County Down in the south-east of Northern Ireland.^[1] They include the highest mountains in Northern Ireland, the highest of which is Slieve Donard at 850 m (2,790 ft).^[2] The Mournes are designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty^[3] and it has been proposed to make the area Northern Ireland's first national park.^[4] The area is partly owned by the National Trust and sees many visitors every year.^[5] The Mourne Wall crosses fifteen of the summits and was built to enclose the catchment basin of the Silent Valley and Ben Crom reservoirs.

Quick Facts Highest point, Peak ...

Mourne Mountains
Beanna Boirche
View of the Mournes from Murlough Nature Reserve
Highest point
Peak	Slieve Donard
Elevation	850 m (2,790 ft)
Geography
Mourne Mountains Show map of Northern Ireland Mourne Mountains Show map of island of Ireland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	Northern Ireland
Counties	County Down
Range coordinates	54°10′N 6°05′W
Geology
Type of rock	Granite

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The name 'Mourne' is derived from the name of a Gaelic clan or sept called the Múghdhorna.^[6][7] The older name of this mountainous territory was Bairrche, which is likely a collective noun derived from the Irish barr, meaning 'top, peak'.^[8] This survives in the Irish name for the mountains, na Beanna Boirche, literally "the peaks of the peak district".^[9][10] It was historically anglicized as 'Bennyborfy'.^[11] The name Bairche or Boirche was also personified as the mythical shepherd of the mountains.^[8]

Many of the mountains have names beginning "Slieve", from the Irish sliabh, meaning "mountain".^[12]

On clear days, the Mourne Mountains can be seen from the Isle of Man^[13] and Dublin.^[14]

The below sub-headings detail other features and visitor attractions found in the Mourne Mountains.

Aside from grasses, the most common plants found in the Mournes are heathers and gorse. Of the former, three species are found: cross-leaved heath, bell heather, and common heather. Of the latter, two species are found: common gorse and western gorse. Other plants which grow in the area are: common cottongrass, roseroot, harebell, marsh St John's-wort, wild thyme, wood sorrel and heath spotted orchid.

Sheep graze high into the mountains, and the range is also home to birds, including the raven, peregrine falcon, wren, buzzard, meadow pipit, grey wagtail, stonechat and snipe. The golden eagle, a former inhabitant, has not been seen in the Mournes since 1836.

"Discover Northern Ireland", a website operated by Tourism NI, promotes the Mourne Mountains as a popular destination for hiking and taking in views of the surrounding landscape, including local forests and the coastline.^[36] The Mournes offer a range of activities for visitors, including hiking, forest and beach walks, cycling and rock climbing, with nearly three-quarters of visitors choosing the Mournes as a place to go walking and hiking.^[37]

The Mournes are a popular destination for Duke of Edinburgh's Award expeditions.^[38] However, there are also a number of walking challenges which take place in the Mournes. The Mourne Wall challenge, which is also referred to as the 7-peak challenge because it takes into account 7 of the 10 highest Mourne mountains, is advertised by WalkNI.^[39] The Mourne six peak challenge is advertised by DiscoverNI and takes hikers up Slieve Donard, Commedagh, Bearnagh, Slieve Binnian, Slieve Meelmore and Slieve Meelbeg across three days of hiking.^[40]

Information and statistics on tourism to the Mournes were gathered by TourismNI in 2014.^[41] In a survey of leisure visitors, 79% were found to come from Northern Ireland, 15% from elsewhere in the British Isles or Republic of Ireland, and 5–6% were international visitors.^[42] Two-thirds of all visitors made a single-day trip rather staying overnight, and party sizes averaged between 3 and 4 people.^[43]

There are many granite cliffs, in the form of outcrops and tors, scattered throughout the range, making the Mournes one of Northern Ireland's major rock-climbing areas since the first recorded ascents in the 1930s. The rockforms are generally quite rounded, thus often requiring cams for protection, but with good friction. The 1998 guidebook lists 26 separate crags, with a total of about 900 routes of all grades.^[44][45]

Following a fundraising drive in 1993, the National Trust purchased nearly 5.3 km² (1,300 acres) of land in the Mournes, which included a part of Slieve Donard (at 850 m (2,790 ft)) and nearby Slieve Commedagh (at 767 m (2,516 ft)), the second-highest mountain in the area.^[46]

It has been proposed that the Mourne Mountains be made Northern Ireland's first national park.^[47][48] The plan has been subject to controversy because of the area's status as private property, with over 1,000 farmers based in the proposed park,^[48] and also because of fears over the impact on local communities, bureaucracy and house prices.^[49]

Historically, gorse had many uses in the rural economy^[50] and hill farmers often cleared gorse by hand.^[51] There is also a tradition in the Mournes of controlled gorse burning to improve grazing for sheep. Today, however, many of the fires are unmanaged and some become out-of-control wildfires.^[52] In the 1950s, Emyr Estyn Evans had written that some shepherds in the Mournes tended to burn gorse and heather recklessly. He said that such over-burning "results in widespread destruction" and, along with other mismanagement, had "greatly impoverished the mountain environment".^[53] In the 21st century there have been hundreds of heather and gorse wildfires in the Mournes each year, the vast majority started deliberately, with "farmers and vandals" often blamed.^[54] It is claimed many of the wildfires are caused by hill farmers and landowners carrying out unapproved burning to clear gorse/heather and thus maximize the subsidy payments they receive for the amount of grazing-land they have.^[50][52][55] Some are also caused by careless visitors.^[55] In April 2021, more than a hundred firefighters tackled a major gorse wildfire in the eastern Mournes, which blazed for three days and devastated habitat in the area.^[56][57] The over-clearing of gorse, heather and trees also heightens the risk of landslides.^[51]

In 2015, German-owned company ABO Wind applied to build a wind farm at Gruggandoo in the western Mourne Mountains. Its first two applications were turned down, and its revised application is to build eight turbines standing 142 metres (466 ft) high, along with a network of access tracks, substations and a control building. The turbines would be among the tallest structures in Ireland. The company claims they could power 37% of homes in the district. There is opposition, as the wind farm would be in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and would impact wildlife and habitats. Local protest group, Mourne AONB Against Windfarms, warn it would open the door for further wind farms to be built in the Mournes and other protected areas.^[58] Planning officers for Newry, Mourne and Down District Council deem the wind farm "unacceptable" and recommended the council reject it. In 2020, councillors instead voted to ask for a public inquiry.^[59]

The mountains are immortalised in a song written by Percy French in 1896, "The Mountains of Mourne". The song has been recorded by many artists, including Don McLean, and was quoted in Irish group Thin Lizzy's 1979 song "Roisin Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend". Frank Baker's famous Ulster-based comic novel Miss Hargreaves refers to it: "I'm not going to tell you much about the holiday except to say it was a grand month and we enjoyed every bit of it even though it rained much of the time. We went miles in the car, swam in the river, messed about in an old tub of a boat belonging to a farmer; and we spent a good many evenings in the hotel at Dungannon, drinking Irish whiskey and flirting with a cheeky girl Henry rather fell for. We climbed the Mourne Mountains and sang the right song on the top, though we couldn't remember the words".

"The Mountains of Mourne" are also mentioned in John Lennon's song "The Luck of the Irish" on the album Some Time in New York City.^[60]

The scenery of the Mourne Mountains have also provided the backdrop for a number of productions, most famously HBO's Game of Thrones.^[61]

Many local painters have depicted the mountains, including the same Percy French, who immortalized them in song.^[62][63]

The Mourne Mountains also influenced C. S. Lewis to create the mythical world featured in his The Chronicles of Narnia series.^[64][65]

On 23 October 2010 an AgustaWestland AW109 (tail number: N2NR) was operating a VFR flight from Enniskillen Airport to Caernarfon Airport, Wales. While en route the helicopter crashed into the western side of Shanlieve, killing all three passengers and crew on board. The cause of the accident was determined to be pilot error in heavy fog.^[66]

• List of mountains in Ireland
• List of tourist attractions in Ireland