The word Torc comes from the Irish translation of a "wild boar", and the area is associated with legends involving wild boars – Irish academic Paul Tempan notes that: "Wild boar is significant in Celtic mythology, being depicted on Celtic artefacts found in continental Europe, Ireland and Britain; it represents physical strength and heroic fighting skills".[2] One legend is of a man who was cursed by the Devil to spend each night transformed into a wild boar, but when his secret was revealed by a local farmer, he burst into flames and disappeared into the nearby Devil's Punchbowl on Mangerton Mountain from which the Owengarriff River emerged to hide the entrance to his cave beneath the Torc Waterfall.[4][5] There is also the story of how the legendary Irish warrior, Fionn MacCumhaill, killed a magical boar on Torc mountain with his golden spear.[6]
Geography
Torc Mountain is part of the Mangerton Mountain Group which is a massif to the south of Killarney that includes 26 other named peaks with a height above 100 metres (330 ft).[7] Torc sits in the north-west corner of the massif and immediately west of Torc Mountain is the subsidiary summit of Torc Mountain West Top 470 metres (1,540 ft).[8][9] Torc's height and prominence, qualifies it on the British Isles Marilyn classification,[10] as well as the Arderin classification.[7]
View westwards into the Black Valley, with the wooden railway "sleeper" boardwalk visible at left.
Torc is popular for hill walkers as it can be accessed from a marked stone-step path its base at Torc Waterfall, which then becomes a small road (the Old Kenmare Road) from the top of Torc Waterfall to the mountain itself, and then finishes with a track of wooden railway "sleepers" over the underlying bogland to its summit at 535 metres (1,755 ft).[9] The route can thus be completed without full hiking boots, and requires no special navigational skills.[9][11]
Hill walkers can avoid the circa 100 steps of Torc Waterfall and start instead from the upper Torc Waterfall car-park (at 55 metres, V967842), to complete the shorter 7.5–kilometre hour 2.5–hour route to the summit of Torc Mountain, via the Old Kenmare Road, and back to the upper car-park.[3][8]
The northerly views from the summit of Torc Mountain can be achieved by climbing the steep stone steps up the lower Cardiac Hill, which is half-way up the north facing slopes of Torc Mountain, and which can be accessed from the N71 Road, half a kilometre from the Torc Waterfall car-park.[12][13]
Bibliography
Dillion, Paddy (1993). The Mountains of Ireland: A Guide to Walking the Summits. Cicerone. ISBN978-1852841102.
Fairbairn, Helen (2014). Ireland's Best Walks: A Walking Guide. Collins Press. ISBN978-1848892118.
MountainViews (Simon Stewart) (2013). A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits: Vandeleur-Lynams & Arderins. Collins Books. ISBN978-1-84889-164-7.
Ryan, Jim (2006). Carrauntoohil and MacGillycuddy's Reeks: A Walking Guide to Ireland's Highest Mountains. Collins Press. ISBN978-1905172337.
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Torc Mountain.
^ abcdFairbairn, Helen (2014). Ireland's Best Walks: A Walking Guide. Collins Press. ISBN978-1848892118. Route 46: Torc Mountain. [..] From the main Torc Waterfall car-park, follow the signs for A wide footpath leads through the woods to a viewpoint beneath the main falls where the Owengarrif River plunges over a series of rocky walls on its way to Muckross Lake. The cascade is acclaimed as one of the finest waterfalls in Ireland and is popular with tourists during the summer months.
^"Torc Waterfall Walk". Gems Publishing Limited. Retrieved 17 December 2017. History to know: Torc waterfall derives its name from the Gaelic word 'torc' meaning a wild boar. According to legend, the waterfall was created by a man who had been cursed by the Devil to spend each night transformed into a wild boar. He lived in a cavern beneath the cliffs of the mountain. His secret was discovered one night by a local farmer out looking for missing animals. The boar offered him great riches not to reveal his secret but became furious when his plight was revealed. In his anger, he is said to have burst into a ball of flame and disappeared into the Devils Punchbowl lake on nearby Mangerton Mountain. The lakewater burst forth and created the waterfall to hide forever the Boars cavern beneath the waterfall.
^ abMountainviews, (September 2013), "A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits: The Vandeleur-Lynams & the Arderins", Collins Books, Cork, ISBN978-1-84889-164-7
^ abDillon, Paddy (10 March 2005). The Irish Coast to Coast Walk: Dublin to Bray Head. p. 156. ISBN978-1852844332. Day 21: Muckross to Black Valley
^ abcRyan, Jim (1 October 2012). Scenic Walks in Killarney. Collins Press. ISBN978-1848891463. Walk 11: Torc Waterfall Circuit
^Harding, Grace (21 January 2017). "Torc Mountain". The Idyll. The combination of rocky path and sleepers will take you all the way up the summit. So unlike other mountains in Kerry, you won't need any navigation skills.
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