Purple Mountain (Kerry)

Purple Mountain is composed of sandstone particles of various sizes which are collectively known as Old Red Sandstone. The colour gave its name to the mountain group. The composition of Old Red Sandstone is variable and contains quartz stones, mudstones, siltstones, and sandstone particles (boulders of conglomerate rock containing quartz pebbles are visible). == Geography ==

The Purple Mountain Group is described as a "heather–strewn" massif with five classified peaks at its centre: Purple Mountain , Purple Mountain NE Top and Shehy Mountain , Tomies Mountain (also called An Chathair) , and Tomies North Top (also called Tomies Rock, or Tomies Chimneys after its gullies that lead to its summit) . Purple Mountain's individual prominence qualifies it as a Marilyn, and its prominence is within 10 metres of the P600 prominence threshold of , which classes Purple Mountain as a "Sub–major" mountain. Purple Mountain meets the Arderin, Simm and Hewitt classifications. == Name==

Irish academic Paul Tempan wrote in his 2010 Irish Hill and Mountain Names, that Purple Mountain is "almost certainly a name coined in English". As Purple Mountain gained currency in the 19th century, the older name was relegated in status, and now refers to a lower peak of the group, Tomies Mountain . ==Hill walking==

are back left. The classic walk of Purple Mountain is the 14–kilometre 5–6 hour Gap of Dunloe Loop starting at ''Kate Kearney's Cottage and walking up the Gap of Dunloe road (circa 1 hour) past Black Lough to the Head of the Gap; the route then follows the path east into the Purple Mountain massif, and then northeast up to Glas Lough, and then to Purple Mountain itself. From there, the route follows the ridge to Purple Mountain NE Top, Tomies Mountain (or An Chathair), and Tomies North Top (also called Tomies Rock), and then returning to Kate Kearney's Cottage'' (care is needed to descend Tommies Chimneys and find the right paths back to Kate Kearney's). A faster alternative to the classic loop–route is the 7–kilometre 3–4 hour route from the Head of the Gap up to Purple Mountain (and potentially Purple Mountain NE Top), and then retracing the path back down to the Head of the Gap. A third route is the 9–kilometre 4–5 hour route that starts from ''Kate Kearney's Cottage and directly ascends to Tomies North Top (also called Tomies Rock), via the gullies of Tomies Chimneys, with care needed to find the right paths through the heather to Tomies Chimneys. From there, Tomies Mountain and Purple Mountain are climbed, and the route is retraced to get back to the starting point of Kate Kearney's Cottage''. ==List of peaks==

The following is a download from the MountainViews Online Database, who list 5 Purple Mountain Group peaks over 100 metres. ==Bibliography==