Slieve Gullion

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Slieve Gullion
Slieve Gullion from Aughanduff
Elevation	573 m (1,880 ft)
Location	Armagh, Northern Ireland
Range	Cooley Mountains
OSI/OSNI grid reference	J024201
Listing	Marilyn

Slieve Gullion (Irish: Sliabh Cuilinn) is a part of the Ring of Gullion. It is in the south of County Armagh in Northern Ireland, and the highest point in the county at 573 metres.

The mountain features in the epic poem Táin Bó Cuailnge. It is also suggested that this is the area where Cuchullain lived as a child. There are many local legends about Slieve Gullion involving the Cailleach Beara (a witch who transforms into a hare).There are two cairns, including a passage grave just below the peak.

Geographical features: Slieve Gullion is an extinct volcano with a crater lake, and the mountain is the centre of a ring dyke. Slieve Gullion has been shaped by glaciation and is a 'crag and tail' glacial feature. The 'tail', composed of glacial deposits, points south, ending at Drumintee.

An amount of 612 hectares of dry heath on the mountain have been designated a Special Area of Conservation,^[1] an Environmentally Sensitive Area,^[2] and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In July 2006, some areas of gorse was destroyed by a wildfire which may have been started deliberately.^[3]

Slieve Gullion gives its name to the surrounding countryside, and is the name an electoral area within Newry and Mourne district council.