Turlough Hill (Irish: Cnoc an Turlaigh, meaning 'Hill of the Turlach'),[2] also known as Tomaneena (Irish: Tuaim an Aonaigh, meaning 'mound of the assembly/fair'),[1] is a 681-metre-high (2,234 ft) mountain in County Wicklow in Ireland and site of Ireland's only pumped-storage hydroelectricity plant. The power station is owned and operated by the ESB and can generate up to 292 megawatts (392,000 hp) of electricity at times of peak demand.
| Turlough Hill (Cnoc an Turlaigh) | |
|---|---|
| Tomaneena (Tuaim an Aonaigh) | |
 The upper reservoir on Turlough Hill, viewed from Tonelagee | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 681 m (2,234 ft)[1] |
| Prominence | 54 m (177 ft)[1] |
| Coordinates | 53°01′27″N 6°24′59″W / 53.02417°N 6.41639°W[1] |
| Geography | |
  Turlough Hill (Cnoc an Turlaigh) Location in Ireland | |
| Location | County Wicklow, Ireland |
| Parent range | Wicklow Mountains |
| OSI/OSNI grid | T063982 |
| Topo map | OSI Discovery No. 56 |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Access road to north of summit |
The mountain
editThe historian Liam Price recorded that the mountain was known locally as Tomaneena;[3] Turlough Hill is the name given to it by the ESB when they surveyed the site for the pumped-storage scheme.[4] It is 681 metres (2,234 ft) high and is the 136th highest summit in Ireland.[1] The summit is located to the south-west of the upper reservoir and is easily reached via the tarmac access road that begins at the top of the Wicklow Gap.[5] It is also possible to reach the summit from Glendalough or from the summits of neighbouring Camaderry and Conavalla mountains.[6]
The underlying geology of the mountain is granite, covered with blanket bog, which is a habitat for heather, purple moor grass and sphagnum moss.[7] A number of alpine plants grow near the summit: dwarf willow, cowberry, crowberry, fir clubmoss and common bilberry.[8] To the north-east of the summit, at the head of Glendasan valley, is Lough Nahanagan (Irish: Loch na hOnchon, meaning 'Lake of the Water Monster'),[9] a corrie lake carved by a glacier at the end of the last ice age.[10]
The pumped-storage scheme
editThe Turlough Hill Power Station is owned and operated by the Electricity Supply Board (ESB).[11] Construction commenced in 1968, and the station became fully operational in 1974.
Name
editWhilst the original name is Tomaneena, renaming it ‘Turlough Hill’ has a certain validity. The pumped storage station draws water from the mountain top lake, which thus becomes a ‘dry lake’. There is a geological feature known as a Turlough; it is defined as "(in Ireland) a low-lying area on limestone which becomes flooded in wet weather through the welling up of groundwater from the rock. Origin late 17th cent.: from Irish turloch, from tur ‘dry’ + loch ‘lake’."[12]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Tomaneena". Mountain Views. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
- ^ "Turlough Hill". Placenames Database of Ireland. Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- ^ Corlett & Weaver 2002, p. 310.
- ^ Munro, Hugh (4 November 1968). "The development of electricity in Ireland". The Irish Times. Dublin. p. 18.
- ^ Dillon 1993, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Dillon 1993, p. 39.
- ^ Kelly, Tony (15 February 1969). "£12m ESB scheme begun in Wicklow". The Irish Times. Dublin. p. 9.
- ^ Winder, Frank (2001). "Viewing Points for Alpine Plants in Wicklow". The Irish Naturalists' Journal. 26 (12): 478–479.
- ^ "Lough Nahanagan". Placenames Database of Ireland. Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- ^ Colhoun, E. A.; Synge, F. M. (1980). "The Cirque Moraines at Lough Nahanagan, County Wicklow, Ireland". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 80B: 25–45.
- ^ "Power Stations: Turlough Hill". ESB Group. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- ^ quoted directly from Apple Computer’s Oxford Dictionary of English 3rd edition, 2010. See also Whittow, John (1984) The Penguin Dictionary of Physical Geography, p.556.
Bibliography
edit- Corlett, Christiaan; Weaver, Mairéad, eds. (2002). The Liam Price Notebooks: The Placenames, Antiquities and Topography of Co. Wicklow. Vol. 1. Dublin: Dúchas. ISBN 0-7557-1284-6.
- Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (2010). "National Renewable Energy Action Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
- Dillon, Paddy (1993). The Mountains of Ireland. Milnthorpe: Cicerone Press. ISBN 978-1-85284-110-2.