Mourne Wall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

This section of the Mourne Wall wall runs from the north-west-corner of the ward eastwards over Slieve Donard, south to just north of Rocky Mountain and along the ridge to Long Seefin where it turns west, crossing the Annalong Valley to the slopes of Slieve Bignian. Including the sections in Binnian (HB16/02/066), Lisnacree (HB16/05) and Tollymore Wards (HB18/13), it is about 35km long overall; the section within this ward is 8.1km long (uncorrected for height).

Along its high mountain course, the wall is of carefully placed roughly-squared granite rubble slabs laid randomly without mortar. These have been hewn from the bedrock and boulders scattered in the vicinity. The wall is coped with squared lengths of stone laid transversely and stands approx 1.5m high and 80-90cm thick. Breaches in the wall have been repaired from time to time using matching material.

Lower down, in the vicinity of the Annalong Valley, the greater availability of rounded fieldstones is reflected in their prevalence in the body of the wall. Here it is generally lower, some 1.2m high. West of the Carrick Little footpath (grid 344 228), a large section of wall has been rebuilt with large rounded boulders extracted from drainage channels and laid by machine.

Historical information

This wall delineates the catchment of the Belfast & District Water Commissioners’ Silent Valley Reservoir and was built using only manual labour between 1904 and 1922.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

This is unique in being the longest upstanding man-made structure in Ireland and is the most impressive example of a traditional Mournes drystone wall and testimony to this dying craft. Because of its size and mass, it has definite structural character. Historically, it is of interest because of its association with the Mournes Scheme, whereby water was brought to Belfast. It is also a well known landmark in the Mournes, a ‘handrail’ to countless walkers lost in the mist.