Have you seen the Devils bits?

Above Leenane on the Galway/Mayo border sits the Devilsmother ridge. This ridge is home to both the main Devilsmother summit and the Devilsmother North Top which sits at the northern end of the ridge overlooking the Leenane – Westport road. Devilsmother North Top has also been known as Magairlí an Deamhain, or ‘The Demons Testicles’. There is a theory that this actually refers to a couple of knobbly bumps on the ridge as opposed to the northern summit itself. What is clear is that ‘Magairlí an Deamhain’ definitely refers to something here, as evidenced by early 19th century maps.

So how did ‘The Demons Testicles’ end up being translated as ‘Devilsmother’? While I haven’t been able to confirm the origin of this mistranslation, I can offer an anecdotal story about it. In the 19th century British surveyors came to this area.

“What is that mountain there called?’ they asked the locals.

“Magairlí an Deamhain”, they replied.

“What does that mean?” asked the surveyors, keen to get English names for their maps.

“The Demons Testicles”, replied the locals.

“What!” spluttered the offended surveyors. “What kind of unholy name is that? We can’t call it that! We shall have to change it to ‘Devilsmother’ instead. That will be a more acceptable name to have on a map”.

(It is unknown if the locals were being honest about the name, or whether they were just sticking it to the British surveyors!)

Devilsmother North Top can be accessed by parking at a lay by beside a bridge at A (L935 655). This gives access to the Glenacally valley, which is bounded by the Devilsmother ridge, Maumtrasna and Knocklaur. I was told by a local farmer that access to the valley is permitted. Cross the river and follow a fence into the valley for several hundred metres before heading directly up the steep slopes to gain the Devilsmother ridge. Concentration is needed not to slip on the sodden grass. After climbing 400 metres a level area is reached, with a further 130 metres steep climb to the summit. There are amazing views in all directions of all the main Connemara and Mayo mountains. After such a hard won summit (having had to climb most of its 600 metres), it is a relatively easy walk along the wide ridge to the main Devilsmother summit about 2kms distant. This is well worth the walk as you can then definitely claim to have walked on ‘Magairlí an Deamhain’, as you cross the knobbly bumps along the way! Also the spectacular views of Killary Fjord and points beyond open up as you travel along the ridge. For those with several more hours to spare, the ridge connecting Devilsmother to Knocklaur and Maumtrasna is at about D (L920 630).

One final word of caution: All the slopes facing into the Gennacally valley, whether from the Devilsmother ridge, Knocklaur or Maumtrasna are very steep, or even cliffs in places. When planning a walk here, ensure you plan the return journey with great care, as it’s easier to climb a wet slope than descend one. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/271/comment/6172/

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Descent route from Devil's Mother North Top

This photograph shows the descent route that we took from the Devil's Mother North Top as viewed looking north across the Glennacally valley. Navigation is trickly and very steep with dangerous cliffs nearby. For description see route 2060 Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/271/comment/14907/

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Why you need to research your way up this one.

The extreme roughness of Devilsmother North Top can be seen in this picture taken from the north. There are bands of cliff so it is not surprising that, so far, the two main routes described in MV start from the NE or NW. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/271/comment/14708/

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Dan on Devilsmother Far North Top

Did this on a beautiful September day this year (2004). I borrowed a map from a friend and don't have it anymore, so i can't give grid references. Started from the Westport Leenane road. To the north east of the mountain there is a track that starts at the road ( I think its marked on the OS maps). The track is quite obvious from the road, theres two gates at the start of it. Followed the track south as far as a very straight new barbed wire fence and then turned just north of west and followed a wide gully up a few hundred metres. Theres a lot of cliffs on the north face (The North Face, eh!!!), so this gully looked like the best way to avoid them. When I got to the top of the gully, I headed toward the peak, which was to the south west. The view from on top of this, like the view from the Devils Mother is amazing on a good day...particularly the views of the Twelve Bens and The Mweelrea Mountains. The ridge across to the Devils Mother is a nice easy walk. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/271/comment/1249/

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