Birreencorragh South Top [Birreencorragh Beg]

About Birreencorragh South Top [Birreencorragh Beg]

Situated in the rugged Nephin Beg range of County Mayo, this subsidiary peak offers a quieter, wilder experience than its loftier neighbours. The terrain is characteristic of the region—steep, heathery, and frequently boggy—rewarding the effort with expansive vistas over the vast peatlands and the distant waters of Clew Bay.

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Did You Know?

• •The name derives from the Irish Birrín Corrach, meaning 'rough little peak' or 'pointed hill of the marsh'. The 'Beg' suffix denotes it as the smaller companion to the primary 691-metre Birreencorragh summit situated immediately to the north.
• •Positioned on the southern edge of the Nephin Beg range, the summit provides an excellent vantage point for viewing the 'Nephin Beg Wall' of peaks to the west and the massive quartzite cone of Nephin itself across the Glenisland valley.
• •Most walkers reach this top as part of a horseshoe ridge walk from the south, starting near Lough Feeagh; this approach is favoured as it avoids the notoriously trackless and saturated 'Wild Nephin' interior further west.
• •In an area famously described by naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger as the 'loneliest place in Ireland,' the South Top offers enough isolation that any encounter with another walker should be treated as a major social event.