The Glenshane Pass (from Irish Gleann Seáin 'Shane's valley') is a major mountain pass cutting through the Sperrin Mountains in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is in the townland of Glenshane Pass on the main Derry to Belfast route, the A6.

A large wildfire broke out in Glenshane Pass in late June 2018, burning more than 600 acres of dry gorse in the pass by 27 June.

Features

It is a Special Area of Conservation. Carn/Glenshane Pass is a large area of intact blanket bog, characterised by undulating topography and including a large, well-developed hummock and pool system within a thick mantle of blanket peat.^[1] It is also classed as an Area of Special Scientific Interest.^[2] The Ponderosa is the second highest public house on the island of Ireland, situated 288 metres (945 feet) above sea level.^[3]

History

The Glenshane Pass derives its name from the townland of Glenshane. It is erroneously claimed as being named after Shane Crossagh O'Mullan a notorious rapparee, or highwayman, who roamed the highways of County Londonderry and County Tyrone in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century.^[4] However earlier forms of the name exist as far back as the 14th-century long before O'Mullan or rapparrees existed.

The Troubles

• On 24 June 1972, three British Army soldiers were killed by a landmine explosion on the Glenshane Pass.^[5] Their Land Rover was destroyed by two IEDs consisting of 120 lbs of explosive packed in milk churns.^[6]
• On 17 March 1978, a British Army soldier was shot dead in a gun battle with IRA gunmen near the Glenshane Pass. Some reports said he was involved in a covert observation post when he spotted two suspected gunmen. He stood up to challenge the men and was fatally wounded, but he shot back wounding one man.^[6]