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Belfast Hills Area , N: Belfast Hills North Subarea
Feature count in area: 9, by county: Down: 5, Antrim: 4, OSI/LPS Maps: 15, 20, 21
Highest Place: Divis 478m

Starting Places (2) in area Belfast Hills:
Ballyherly Lough West, Castlemahon Mountain South East

Summits & other features in area Belfast Hills:
E: Belfast Hills East: Cairngaver 217m, Ouley Hill 186m, Scrabo Hill 161m
N: Belfast Hills North: Carnmoney Hill 231.1m, Cave Hill 368m, Divis 478m, Slievetrue 312m
SE: Strangford & Portaferry: Ballywhite Hill 101m, Castlemahon Mountain 128m

Note: this list of places may include island features such as summits, but not islands as such.
Rating graphic.
Divis, 478m Hill Dubhais A name in Irish,
Place Rating ..
(Ir. Dubhais [DUPN], 'black ridge/peak'), Antrim County in Ulster province, in Carn Lists, Divis is the highest hill in the Belfast Hills area and the 636th highest in Ireland. Divis is the most westerly summit in the Belfast Hills area.
Grid Reference J28077 75480, OS 1:50k mapsheet 15
Place visited by: 170 members, recently by: benjimann9, bowler, jjbireland700s, moggy40, childminder05, trostanite, Colin Murphy, cmcv10, Tricia-Mulligan, miriam, ptully362, Florence, Paddym99, Oscar-mckinney, Sperrinwalker
I visited this place: NO (You need to be a logged-in member for this.)
Longitude: -6.018467, Latitude: 54.611279, Easting: 328077, Northing: 375480, Prominence: 380m,  Isolation: 6km, Has trig pillar
ITM: 727998 875474
Bedrock type: Olivine basalt lava, (Lower Basalt Formation)
Notes on name: For a long time dominated by a Ministry of Defence military zone, Divis was acquired by the National Trust in 2004 with assistance from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Department of the Environment NI. About 1 km W of the summit on Armstrongs Hill is the site of a cairn, which is named Carn Sheaain Bhuidhe (Yellow Johns Cairn) on the 1:25,000 OS map of Belfast City LGD. F. J. Bigger suggests that the Seán Buí in question was one of the O'Neill dynasty (Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, ser. 2, vol. iv (1893-94, 105). There were several chiefs of the name Shane O'Neill. Although Divis and Black Mountain are nowadays perceived as names for two separate peaks, both are ultimately derived from the Ir. Dubhais [DUPN], 'black ridge/peak', Divis being an anglicisation and Black Mountain being a (loose) translation. The name Black Mountain is now applied to the lower peak which immediately overlooks West Belfast. This has given rise to another Irish form, An Sliabh Dubh, but it is important to realise that this a recent back-translation or re-Gaelicisation from the English form. It is also possible that Dubhais is itself a re-interpretation of an earlier name, especially as other colours do not appear to combine with ais in hill -names. Something akin to Welsh diffwys meaning ‘steep slope’ or ‘desolate area’ would seem apt both for Divis in the Belfast Hills and to Dooish in Glenveagh.
  Short or GPS IDs, 6 char: Divis, 10 char: Divis

Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/520/
Gallery for Divis (Dubhais) and surrounds
Summary for Divis (Dubhais): Well kept hill near Belfast City
Summary created by wicklore 05 Jul, 2010
            MountainViews.ie picture about Divis (Dubhais)
Picture: Looking across the slopes of Divis to the distant Mournes
Divis can be easily reached from A (J265 742) which is the start of the access road to the summit. The access road is approximately 3 kms long with a climb of 100 metres ascent over the last few hundred metres distance. There are great views down into Belfast City and further afield in all directions to the Mournes, Lough Neagh, the Sperrins and the Antrim Hills. The summit consists of two masts surrounded by a double security fence sitting atop a much larger area of concrete. There is also a neat modern stone cairn overlooking the city and Belfast Lough. Cattle graze in the fields along the access road so keep dogs on a lead. Divis is remarkably well kept considering its close proximity to the city.
Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/520/comment/5279/
Member Comments for Divis (Dubhais)

cullens on Divis
by cullens 4 Jan 2008
Coming from Belfast I have climbed Divis on several occasions. It is quite rewarding to reach the summit as you are presented with bird's eye views of the area in which you live. For those who love challanges I would not recommend Divis as a concrete path from the car park to the summit lines the gradual ascent and spoils the areas beauty. At the summit you are rewarded with bird's eye views of the city, Belfast lough and Scotland, on a good day, to the east. To the North you can see the beautiful scenery of the Antrim Plateu. To the South stands the summits of Donard and Commedagh above the summit of the nearby Black Mountain. The best time in my opinion to climb Divis is two hours at least before sunset in order to see the sun just above the Mournes on the horizon. Looking West you are rewrded with panoramic views of Lough Neagh in all its glory with the Sperrin Mountains dominating the far shore Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/520/comment/2934/
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            MountainViews.ie picture about Divis (Dubhais)
Picture: The Mournes from Black Mountain
Stunning view of the Mournes
by kierongribbon 25 Jan 2011
Took a walk up Divis and Black Mountain on Sunday 23 January 2011. The views on the day were the best I've seen from the Belfast Hills (see photo - a labelled version is also available on Flickr). The Lagan valley, south Belfast and Lisburn were hidden under a layer of mist stretching all the way to Slieve Croob and the Mourne Mountains. Still no sign of the reinstated trig pillar at the summit of Divis - maybe it will appear some time during 2011... Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/520/comment/6216/
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Triangulation Pillar
by RossMc 6 Apr 2011
I enter this information as some other comments have mentioned it: The trig/triangulation pillar that was on Divis was removed in the early 1970s to facilitate the building of communications masts on the summit (OSNI were not very pleased that the pillar was removed). However, the pillar was not destroyed and was relocated outside OSNI HQ on the Stranmillis Road in Belfast. As mentioned in other comments, the National Trust plan to relocate the pillar to the smmit of Divis. See http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/B (J196 539)1 for a picture of the pillar. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/520/comment/6296/
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            MountainViews.ie picture about Divis (Dubhais)
Picture: Looking over the city to Belfast Lough, reflecting the clouds above
Hitting the Road
by Aidy 6 Feb 2014
This is probably the most accessible mountain I've walked so far, with an access road for the masts, leading all the way to the summit. It would be a good peak for introducing children to mountain walking, and would probably be possible for some wheelchair users. I started from the National Trust property, which had plenty of car parking and was well used. From there, it was simply a matter of following the access road until I come close to two towering masts. I then turned left and took the road to the summit and more masts. There is a trig pillar and a cairn in the area behind the masts.

Here, there were panoramic views east over Black Mountain and Belfast, west over Lough Neagh, and southwards towards the Mournes. After drinking in the views, I took the same route down until, again reaching the large masts, I took the raised boardwalk over the bog to the summit of Black Mountain. There were even more extensive views over Belfast from here. There are variations that can be taken to the route with some circular walks to other places in the area. Even so, it is not very challenging, and some won't like the busy nature of the mountain, or the modern intrusions. Despite these reservations, the views are the saving grace, and I found the walk enjoyable, even if I didn't feel I had "earned" the pleasure. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/520/comment/15827/
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            MountainViews.ie picture about Divis (Dubhais)
Picture: Plaque marking Divis's place in OS history
The primary triangulation point for the OS survey of Ireland 1825
by Harry Goodman 27 May 2013
A little piece of history was recalled on Divis on 15 May 2013 with the placing of a ground level plaque to mark the point from which the primary triangulation point for the Ordinance Survey of Ireland was taken in 1825. At the same time the trig pillar, removed when the top of the hill was leveled out to accommodate the building of a military installation over 40 years ago has also been restored and is sited some 75metres NW of the plaque. While the pillar does not stand on the highest point of the relatively flat summit area it's present location may well mark where the highest point was before the summit was flattened out. In addition someone has built a small cairn of stones to mark what could well be the current high point on the summit area. This said the area is such that less than a metre would separate the respective heights of these points. It should also be noted that the large well built stone cairn which stood at the top of the vehicle access road to Divis and which is mentioned in a number of mv posts, is no longer there. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/520/comment/14999/
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