Cookies.
This website uses cookies, which are small text files that the website puts on your device to facilitate operation. Cookies help us provide a better service to you. They are used to track general user traffic information and to help the website function properly.
Features
Nearby features appear when you click the map.
Declutter tracks on map.
Place Search
Video
X
Pub: by
Donegal East Area , N: Raphoe Subarea
Feature count in area: 12, all in Donegal, OSI/LPS Maps: 11, 12, 6, 7
Highest Place: Culliagh SE Top 369m

Starting Places (9) in area Donegal East:
Ardnabreena, Ballystrang School Ruin, Corlacky Burn, Edenacarnan East, Edenacarnan South, Garrangalta Rocks, Knockbrin, Labbadoo Wood, Sruthaunagallagh Stream

Summits & other features in area Donegal East:
N: Raphoe: Binnion Hill 190m, Dooish Mountain 266m, High Bank 171m, Mongorry Hill 284m
NW: Letterkenny Hills: Ballystrang 292m, Cark Mountain 364m, Culliagh SE Top 369m, Gregory Hill 336m, Knockbrin 259m
S: Castlefinn Hills: Croaghan Hill 217m, Fearns Hill 231m, Meenavally 219m

Note: this list of places may include island features such as summits, but not islands as such.
Rating graphic.
Mongorry Hill, 284m Hill Cnoc Mhóin Ghofraidh A name in Irish,
Place Rating ..
(poss. Ir. ‡Cnoc Mhóin Ghofraidh [PDT], 'hill of Móin Ghofraidh'), Donegal County in Ulster province, in Binnion Lists, Mongorry Hill is the 1198th highest place in Ireland.
Grid Reference C24291 05065, OS 1:50k mapsheet 6
Place visited by: 27 members, recently by: trostanite, conormcbandon, Wilderness, dregish, Fergalh, 40Shades, Aidy, scapania, sandman, eamonoc, chalky, Docrallying, Lucky1, cody1, FilHil
I visited this place: NO (You need to be a logged-in member for this.)
Longitude: -7.622229, Latitude: 54.892663, Easting: 224291, Northing: 405065, Prominence: 179m,  Isolation: 7.4km, Has trig pillar
ITM: 624235 905052
Bedrock type: Banded semi-pelitic & psammitic schist, (Termon Formation)
Notes on name: Mongorry is a townland in Raphoe parish. The Irish form of this name is Móin Ghofraidh [logainm.ie], meaning ‘Gofraidh's bog’.
  Short or GPS IDs, 6 char: MngrHl, 10 char: MngryHil

Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/969/
Gallery for Mongorry Hill (Cnoc Mhóin Ghofraidh) and surrounds
Summary for Mongorry Hill (Cnoc Mhóin Ghofraidh): An elusive little top
Summary created by Harry Goodman 07 Jul, 2011
            MountainViews.ie picture about Mongorry Hill (Cnoc Mhóin Ghofraidh)
Picture: Mongorry Hill Top
Park off road A (C23547 08411) taking care not to block access. Walk down the road SE to B (C23658 04722) and then go left on to a good track. Route 1. Continue along past a locked iron barrier gate to C (C23848 05083). Go right (E) into the undergrowth of gorse and small pine trees. At first it looks a bit forbidding but progress is easier than at first impression. The open hillside is reached at D (C24049 05010) with clear access to the small prominent, tree crowned top. Return by outward route. Route 2. At E (C23773 04843) along the track look for an old metal gate on the right, climb over and go left (NE) along the fence line to F (C23903 05009). Turn right and follow the fence line going up, more or less E, along the forest edge. Apart from a scramble through some prickly whin bushes and over a couple of fences this fence line can be followed up to G (C24301 04987), by which time it has become a clear track bounded by two fences running E to W across the hillside, in line with the track shown on the OSI Sheet 6 for Mongorry Hill. The top of the hill, a small tree topped mound, lies 70 metres N at H (C24291 05065). One advantage of Route2 is that it is, in the main, along open ground, whereas Route 1 requires route finding through undergrowth that will become more difficult as the trees get higher. Public notices have also been placed along Route 1, near the locked metal barrier gate suggesting that the land is reserved for "Raphoe Gun Club Members Only" ! Using both routes as a loop of some 2.3k.
Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/969/comment/5728/
Member Comments for Mongorry Hill (Cnoc Mhóin Ghofraidh)

Mongorry Hill
by three5four0 18 Apr 2010
After climbing 4 other single MV listed hills today, we thought we could squeeze Mongorry Hill in on our way home through Raphoe. We parked off the minor road between Raphoe and Glenmaquin by the masts at I (C235 049). There is enough space for a couple of cars here, without blocking access to the Masts and your car would not be noticed from the busy road.

Followed simon3 's description past the locked gates and along the side of the mature forest, the route is full of tree stumps, hidden drainage channels, dead brambles and young trees, but is not unduly difficult. The reason for this is, i think, that the under growth, trees, bushes & brambles etc, have not started growing yet, as spring has arrived late this year. Puts me in mind to visit that hill by Forkill which suffers the same problems of access as Mongorry Hill, before the new plant growth starts.

The summit cairn is hidden by a small group of trees, the trig point could be in there, particularly if its a Colby one, or indeed it could be a chambered grave as the area round it looks, well round. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/969/comment/4632/
Read Less
Read More

            MountainViews.ie picture about Mongorry Hill (Cnoc Mhóin Ghofraidh)
Picture: E to W track on the south slope of the hill
Found! the lost track across the hill
by Harry Goodman 7 Jul 2011
On 6 July 2011 on my way home from Donegal I parked off road at J (C23547 04811) and walked SE along the road to to a good track on the left B (C23658 04722) which I followed along to a locked metal barrier gate into the forest. At this point I saw public notices indicating the land appeared to be reserved for "Raphoe Gun Club Members Only". Some way further along K (C23848 05383)I took Simon 3's advice and headed due E into trackless undergrowth of gorse and small pine trees, with the more mature forest on my left. After about 250 metres of wending my way through and around this jumbled vegitation I emerged out on the open hillside D (C24049 05010). The top of the hill lay some 250 metres further along on a prominent little knoll crowned by a couple of small bushy trees H (C24291 05065). Views W and N to the Bluestacks and Derryveagh Mts were excellent. On top there is clear evidence of an old cairn of stones in and around the tree roots. Relaxing in the sunshine I noticed an E to W fence running across the hillside some 75 metres to the S of the top. On closer inspection it proved to be one side of a double fence bounding an old path/track G (C24301 04987) which corresponded to the "lost" and "forgotten track" shown on the OSI Sheet 6. It is still there! Walking the short distance back E to the crest confirmed it could be traced some way along down into the forest but I did not have time to explore its limits any further in that direction. Rather I decided to follow the track W. Where it became too boggy or was blocked by assorted shrubbery I followed it down along open ground to the left. Apart from a couple of cross fences and a scramble through a small patch of prickly whin bushes its line was clear to follow down to a small field. Once there a path could be followed along the right side of the field to F (C23903 05009) where the boundry fence of the old track was finally lost into the forest, some 150 metres short of the original access track! At this point I turned left and made easy progress SW to E (C23773 04843) where an old metal farm gate gave me access to the original track. From here it was a short walk back to the car. This short unexpected loop walk of only 2.3k took an hour and a half due to my wandering about at the top and other stops but could easily be done in an hour or less. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/969/comment/6400/
Read Less
Read More

            MountainViews.ie picture about Mongorry Hill (Cnoc Mhóin Ghofraidh)
Picture: Looking west from the top of Mongorry Hill.
simon3 on Mongorry Hill
by simon3 29 Sep 2008
En-route from Strabane to Stranorlar for some walking in the Bluestacks we thought we would visit Mongorry Hill, a "small prominent" hill reached by way of a detour via Raphoe.

That prominence would ensure good views of a feast of ranges including the Derryveaghs, Sperrins and the Bluestacks as well as Lough Swilly. There is a road marked on the OS as running over Mongorry Hill right past the trig pillar. What could go wrong?

Well from the west side the road does indeed leave the main road however it stops after about 300m at a steel gate on the good forest track NW of summit which is correctly marked on the map. The marked road to the summit DOESN'T EXIST. Your best bet for reaching the top from the west is to walk along the forest track around 130m from the steel gate and then head more or less due east towards the summit. It's around 460m of often extremely rough terrain with stumps, briars, boggy bits and deep drains.

Is it worth it? Well, the evening we were there the weather was misty-murky. We could just about see Lough Swilly and some other vague summits lost in the blue scatter. However judging by the view from nearby Dooish Mountain (another small prominent top) the view should be huge on a good day - but not attractive on a dull one. The promised trig pillar? Couldn't find it. The top is a little steep sided knoll with some probably significant stones concealed by a few trees.

As with so many of the small prominent summits there is a small communications tower on the east side (as well as a large set to the west). Presumably there IS a road up to this which might therefore mean that a better way to reach to top of Mongorry is from the east.

So all in all probably not a great place for a quick pleasant stroll and views from nearby Dooish very similar.

The picture shows the not very steep side of Mongorry towards the west. There are communications towers on this side also.

Since writing the above I came across this reference in a book, published 1860, courtesy Google Books about one Wray, which may explain the woefully incorrect map.
"A second road he constructed over Mongorry Mountain between Letterkenny and Raphoe with incredible trouble and cost. No hard Whinstone rock no shaking bog no hill side torrent ever could turn our rectilinear road maker one foot from his straightforward course He would blast the first pave the second and bridge the third and on the map of the recent Ordnance Survey the engineer's rule could never draw a straighter line than the delineation of this long road presents It is now quite forsaken only cattle drivers make use of ould Willie W ray's road the present generation having discovered that it is wiser if not shorter to skirt the base of a hill than to scale the summit a process endangering the breaking of your horse's wind in the going up and the breaking of his knees or your own neck in the coming down Mr Wray was a great loyalist and zealous for king and constitution and on one occasion [A second series of Vicissitudes of families By John Bernard Burke]

More recent news includes that someone attempted to blow up the RTE mast on Mongorry Hill in 1970 and just this year (2008) the BBC reported:

Bomb-making items found in wood

The bomb-making equipment was found in a wooded area. Police investigating dissident republican activity in County Donegal have discovered bomb-making equipment in a wooded area.

It was found at Mongorry Wood, an isolated area near Raphoe on Thursday. Searches in the area are continuing.

No, I wouldn't touch anything suspicious around Mongorry. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/969/comment/3338/
Read Less
Read More

dino on Mongorry Hill
by dino 9 Nov 2008
It's taken 4 attempts to get to the top of this small hill but I eventually made it today. Like Simon I spotted the road on the OS map and my last 3 attempts have involved trying to find where the road was in relation to the more recent forest tracks. On my last attempt I finally came to the conclusion that the road either didn't exist or had been completely destroyed by Coillte during their planting out of the area. Having read Simon's log this morning I decided to try one more time from the East along what I knew was a very good approach track. However, the closest this would bring me was 750m. Eventually I decided that I was going to have to try and work my way through the forestry to the open slope and hopefully remove the need for a 5th attempt. I found a fire-break heading in the direction of the summit and once into it I found a fairly well defined (but boggy) sheep track that brought me eventually to the forest boundary fence. Once I crossed that I made my way up the easy enough slope which was lightly covered by heather and moss but boggy in sections requiring careful walking. A second fence and a steep bank and I was soon at the top of the hill with it's crowning cairn practically obscured by a number of small conifers. The mapped trigpoint was the point of my repeated attempts to get to the top of this hill but despite a good search of the area I, like Simon, was unable to find any traces. I have a feeling that the summit cairn (which to my untrained eyes seems very old, almost ancient) has somehow been confused at some stage of the mapping process with the result that it's now marked as a trigpoint. Simon's information on the original road is fascinating but I couldn't find any traces of it on the hill at all and apart from the sections at either end that are now forest access roads it seems to have entirely disappeared. I'd love to see some of the old original forestry maps of the area to see if it was ever there and see what they did to it. If anyone else is attempting this "challenging" little hill I'd recommend approaching from the West or from another Eastern approach as my route wasn't particularly good or easy walking (5km in almost 2 hours!). There may be another forest track approach along the road but I parked and started from L (C254 057). I'd recommend another starting point. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/969/comment/3434/
Read Less
Read More
EDIT Point of Interest
text
Videos
(none available)
Recent Contributions
x
Conditions and Info
Use of MountainViews is governed by conditions and a privacy policy.
Read general information about the site.
Opinions in material here are not necessarily endorsed by MountainViews.
Hillwalking is a risk sport. Information in comments, walks, shared GPS tracks or about starting places may not be accurate for example as regards safety or access permission. You are responsible for your safety and your permission to walk.
See the credits and list definitions.

Open Street Map
(Various variations used.)
British summit data courtesy:
Database of British & Irish Hills
Height layer: © MapTiler
MapTiler Logo
MountainViews.ie is a Hill-walking Website for the island of Ireland. 2500 Summiteers, 1480 Contributors, maintainer of lists such as: Arderins, Vandeleur-Lynams, Highest Hundred, County Highpoints.