Beinn Mhor

About Beinn Mhor

Rising above the dramatic sea cliffs of the Oa peninsula on southern Islay, this rugged Marilyn offers an expansive sense of isolation despite its modest height. The terrain is often boggy and pathless, rewarding the effort with sweeping views across the Atlantic and toward the distant coast of Northern Ireland.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is standard Scottish Gaelic for 'Big Hill', a common title across the Highlands that feels particularly fitting here as it marks the highest point of Islay’s southern peninsula.
• •The hill sits within the RSPB Oa reserve, a vital habitat for the rare red-billed chough and a regular hunting ground for golden eagles that nest on the nearby sea cliffs.
• •To the south of the summit stands the American Monument, a striking stone tower built to commemorate the soldiers who lost their lives in the 1918 shipwrecks of the HMS Otranto and the SS Tuscania.
• •The panoramic view from the summit takes in the North Channel, with the distinctive outline of Rathlin Island and the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland clearly visible on the horizon to the south.
• •Given the relentlessly exposed nature of the Oa, the summit trig pillar often serves a secondary, more urgent purpose as a very necessary windbreak.