Devil's Bit
Devil's Bit | |
---|---|
Bearnán Éile | |
Marilyn | |
Naming | |
Language of name | Irish |
Geography | |
Location | County Tipperary, Ireland |
OSI/OSNI grid | S058744 |
Topo map | OSi Discovery 59 |
The Devil's Bit or Devil's Bit Mountain (Irish: Bearnán Éile, meaning 'little gapped hill of Éile', historically anglicized as 'Barnane Ely')[2] is a large hill in County Tipperary, Ireland, which rises to 480 metres (1,570 ft). It lies north-west of the town of Templemore. The mountain is usually climbed through the townland of Barnane. There is a car park at the base.
History
The mountain was historically called Sliabh Aildiúin[1] and Bearnán Éile, after the territory of Éile. According to local legend, the mountain got its current name because the devil took a bite out of it. There is a small gap in the mountain between one outcrop of rock (known as the Rock) and another small plateau. The legend says that the devil broke his teeth taking this bite and spat the Rock of Cashel from his mouth to where it now stands.
Historically, Devil's Bit was one of the hills around Ireland that were climbed as part of the
The Book of Dimma was supposedly discovered in a cave on the mountain in 1789. It is an illuminated manuscript copy of the four Gospels and was written in the monastery of St. Cronan in Roscrea some time during the 8th century. According to legend, Cronan ordered his scribe Dimma to produce the manuscript before sunset on that day. He then used miraculous powers to ensure that the sun did not set for forty days, and Dimma spent all of this period completing the manuscript without feeling the need to eat or sleep.[3][4] The manuscript disappeared following the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. There is some debate about whether or not the manuscript was actually found on the Devil's Bit amid claims that it could not have survived without damage in an outdoor environment for over two centuries.[5] The Book of Dimma is currently housed in the library of Trinity College Dublin.[6]
The mountain was the scene of a mass anti-tithe meeting on 25 July 1832. The meeting was part of a wider campaign of resistance to the payment of tithes (one-tenth of the value of arable produce) to the Church of Ireland by the majority Catholic population.[7] According to press reports of the time, over 50,000 people attended, many coming from as far away as County Galway, although the attendance would have been larger had there not been confusion about whether or not the meeting was cancelled.[8] Although local folklore states that Daniel O' Connell attended the meeting, it is almost certain that he was not present as he was attending parliamentary debates in Westminster at the time. A semi-fictional account of the meeting was given by Samuel Lover in Legends and Stories of Ireland (1834), where he refers to a mock 'burial' of the tithes by local peasantry.[9]
The tower on the approach to the summit is known as Carden's Folly. The Cardens were an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family who arrived in Ireland during the seventeenth century. They purchased estates in Templemore and Barnane and became the principal landlords in the area in subsequent centuries. The most notable Carden was undoubtedly John Rutter Carden (1811–1866), better known as 'Woodcock', so-called by irate tenants because he was as difficult to shoot as the bird of that name. As well as constructing the folly, he built a magnificent family home on the lower slopes of the mountain. Although the house was demolished in the early 20th century, the ruins of the walled garden can still be seen. In 1854, 'Woodcock' made a notorious attempt to kidnap a lady, Eleanor Arbuthnot, with whom he had become obsessed. A detailed history of the Carden family has been published by a descendant, Arthur Eustace Carden.[10]
A cross was erected on the Rock in 1953–1954 in celebration of the 'Marian Year dedicated by the Roman Catholic Church. A committee was formed and planning of the work began in early 1953 and construction began in September of that year, it was constructed by the Duggan Brothers. The project manager was Stephen (Steedie) Grey of Templemore. Work was completed at a cost of approximately IR£2,000.
A 1980 article in the journal Nature described the finding on the mountain of the earliest record of a fossil flora containing Cooksonia-type sporangia.[12]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Devilsbit.jpg/320px-Devilsbit.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Devil%27s_Bit_Statue_of_Virgin_Mary.jpg/320px-Devil%27s_Bit_Statue_of_Virgin_Mary.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Devil%27s_Bit_Carden%27s_Folly.jpg/320px-Devil%27s_Bit_Carden%27s_Folly.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Devil%27s_Bit_Cross.jpg/200px-Devil%27s_Bit_Cross.jpg)
Topography
The southwestern extremity of the
The Devil's Bit offers expansive views of the surrounding countryside. When the cross was erected, it was said that nine counties can be viewed from the summit – Tipperary itself,
The triangulation station which marks the highest point of the mountain is on the 'Long Rock' which lies to the east of the Gap. The Long Rock can be climbed if one passes through the Gap and follows the pathway to the right.
There is a military firing range on the western slopes of the mountain.
References
- ^ a b c d "Devilsbit Mountain". MountainViews. Ordnance Survey Ireland. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
- ^ "Devilsbit Mountain/Bearnán Éile". Placenames Database of Ireland.
- ^ Halpin, J. (1890), The Book of Dhimma, vol. 11, Irish Ecclesiastical Record, pp. 325–334
- ^ "Under the Oak: The Book of Dimma". Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
- ^ Betham, W. (1826) Irish Antiquarian Researches, Vol. 1, pp. 39–109 available online at Google Books
- )
- ^ Higgins, N. (2002) Tipperary's Tithe War 1830–1838: Parish accounts of resistance against a Church tax, St. Helen's Press, Tipperary
- ^ The Tipperary Free Press, 25 July 1832
- ^ Lover, S. (1834) "The Burial of the Tithe" in Legends and Stories of Ireland, Baldwin & Cradock, London, pp. 67–106
- ^ Carden, A. E. (2004) Carden of Barnane: History of the Barnane Estate in County Tipperary
- ^ The Tipperary Star, 28 August 1954, p.5
- S2CID 7958927.
- ^ "Tipperary". Libraryireland.com. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ The Tipperary Star, 28 August 1954, p. 1
- ^ Joyce, Patrick Weston (1883). The geography of the counties of Ireland p. 173. Oxford University
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