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Montpelier Hill
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Montpelier Hill
Montpelier Hill or Mountpelier, also known as Slieve Gorra, is a hill in County Dublin, Ireland, with a height of 383 metres (1,257 ft). It is at the northern edge of the Wicklow Mountains and overlooks Dublin city. On its summit is an infamous ruined sporting lodge known as the Hell Fire Club.
There are two flattened prehistoric passage tombs on the summit. Around 1725, stones from these tombs were used to build a sporting lodge for Anglo-Irish politician William Conolly. The lodge was used by the Dublin Hellfire Club, a private club for upper class young men who reportedly engaged in debauchery, occult activities, and ritual murder. The building has since become associated with the paranormal and is reputedly haunted.
Montpelier Hill is popular for hillwalking. On the slopes is a forestry plantation, known as Hell Fire Wood, which consists of Sitka spruce, larch and beech. The hill and much of the surrounding lands are owned by the state forestry company Coillte and are open to the public. At the eastern foot of the hill are the ruins of Killakee Estate, the former country estate of the Massy family, and the Stewards House. To the west, the hill overlooks the Glenasmole valley.
The hill is also known as Slieve Gorra, which derives from Irish. The modern English name Mountpelier or Montpelier Hill comes from Mount Pelier House, a now-ruined Anglo-Irish country house on the northern slope of the hill.
The historian and archaeologist Patrick Healy has suggested that the hill is the place known as Suide Uí Ceallaigh or Suidi Celi in the Crede Mihi, the twelfth-century diocesan register book of the Archbishops of Dublin.
The remains of the prehistoric monument that originally stood at the summit can be seen to the rear of the Hell Fire Club building. Austin Cooper, on his visit in 1779, described it thus: "behind the house are still the remains of the cairn, the limits of which were composed of large stones set edgeways which made a sort of wall or boundary about 18 inches (46 centimetres) high and withinside these were the small stones heaped up. It is 34 yards (31 metres) diameter or 102 yards (93 metres) in circumference. In the very centre is a large stone 9 feet (2.7 metres) long and 6 feet (1.8 metres) broad and about 3 feet (0.91 metres) thick not raised upon large stones but lying low with the stones cleared away from about it. There are several other large stones lying upon the heap." It appears from this description that the central chamber of the monument – which was a passage grave – survived intact even after Mount Pelier was constructed. The historian Peter J. O'Keefe has suggested that many of the stones were taken away and used in the construction of the Military Road at the start of the nineteenth century. Today, all that remains is a circular mound 15 metres (49 feet) in diameter and up to 2 metres (6.6 feet) high with a dip at the centre where the chamber was located. The four large stones at the edge are all that survive of the kerbstones that formed the boundary of the monument. In close proximity is a second mound, 1 metre (3.3 feet) high, on which an Ordnance Survey trig pillar stands. Close to the monument is a fallen standing stone, a pointed rock 1 metre (3.3 feet) high.
However, in October 2016 a further excavation discovered a huge passage grave similar to that at Newgrange, probably dating back 5,000 years, under the ruins.
The building now known as the Hell Fire Club (Irish: Club Thine Ifreann) was built around 1725 as a hunting lodge by William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. Over the years it came to be known as "The Shooting Lodge", "The Kennel", "Conolly's Folly", 'The Brass Castle' and "The Haunted House". The building and hill were also nicknamed 'Bevan's Hill'.
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Montpelier Hill
Montpelier Hill or Mountpelier, also known as Slieve Gorra, is a hill in County Dublin, Ireland, with a height of 383 metres (1,257 ft). It is at the northern edge of the Wicklow Mountains and overlooks Dublin city. On its summit is an infamous ruined sporting lodge known as the Hell Fire Club.
There are two flattened prehistoric passage tombs on the summit. Around 1725, stones from these tombs were used to build a sporting lodge for Anglo-Irish politician William Conolly. The lodge was used by the Dublin Hellfire Club, a private club for upper class young men who reportedly engaged in debauchery, occult activities, and ritual murder. The building has since become associated with the paranormal and is reputedly haunted.
Montpelier Hill is popular for hillwalking. On the slopes is a forestry plantation, known as Hell Fire Wood, which consists of Sitka spruce, larch and beech. The hill and much of the surrounding lands are owned by the state forestry company Coillte and are open to the public. At the eastern foot of the hill are the ruins of Killakee Estate, the former country estate of the Massy family, and the Stewards House. To the west, the hill overlooks the Glenasmole valley.
The hill is also known as Slieve Gorra, which derives from Irish. The modern English name Mountpelier or Montpelier Hill comes from Mount Pelier House, a now-ruined Anglo-Irish country house on the northern slope of the hill.
The historian and archaeologist Patrick Healy has suggested that the hill is the place known as Suide Uí Ceallaigh or Suidi Celi in the Crede Mihi, the twelfth-century diocesan register book of the Archbishops of Dublin.
The remains of the prehistoric monument that originally stood at the summit can be seen to the rear of the Hell Fire Club building. Austin Cooper, on his visit in 1779, described it thus: "behind the house are still the remains of the cairn, the limits of which were composed of large stones set edgeways which made a sort of wall or boundary about 18 inches (46 centimetres) high and withinside these were the small stones heaped up. It is 34 yards (31 metres) diameter or 102 yards (93 metres) in circumference. In the very centre is a large stone 9 feet (2.7 metres) long and 6 feet (1.8 metres) broad and about 3 feet (0.91 metres) thick not raised upon large stones but lying low with the stones cleared away from about it. There are several other large stones lying upon the heap." It appears from this description that the central chamber of the monument – which was a passage grave – survived intact even after Mount Pelier was constructed. The historian Peter J. O'Keefe has suggested that many of the stones were taken away and used in the construction of the Military Road at the start of the nineteenth century. Today, all that remains is a circular mound 15 metres (49 feet) in diameter and up to 2 metres (6.6 feet) high with a dip at the centre where the chamber was located. The four large stones at the edge are all that survive of the kerbstones that formed the boundary of the monument. In close proximity is a second mound, 1 metre (3.3 feet) high, on which an Ordnance Survey trig pillar stands. Close to the monument is a fallen standing stone, a pointed rock 1 metre (3.3 feet) high.
However, in October 2016 a further excavation discovered a huge passage grave similar to that at Newgrange, probably dating back 5,000 years, under the ruins.
The building now known as the Hell Fire Club (Irish: Club Thine Ifreann) was built around 1725 as a hunting lodge by William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. Over the years it came to be known as "The Shooting Lodge", "The Kennel", "Conolly's Folly", 'The Brass Castle' and "The Haunted House". The building and hill were also nicknamed 'Bevan's Hill'.
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