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Slieve Aughty
Mountains ~
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The Slieve Aughty Mountains are a mountain
range spread over both County Galway and County Clare. The highest peak in the
Slieve Aughty Mountains is Maghera in Clare which rises to 400m (1,314ft).
The mountain range consists of two ridges
divided by the Owendallaigh river which flows west into
Lough Cutra. |
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Here and there are scattered ruins of whole
villages and isolated houses and the abandoned schools remind us of the many
families who worked their small holding and cut their turf on the many bogs in
the villages between the mountains.
The Sliabh Aughty hills contain vast tracks of
some of the most desolate landscapes in Ireland. The mountains are often
referred to by their Gaelic name, Sliabh Echtge. The Lady Echtge, granddaughter
to Finde, one of the Tuatha de Danann gave her name to the hills. She married
Fergus Mac Ruiri who held these hills and mountains by his right of cupbearer to
the king of Connaught.
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He bestowed the mountain valleys to Echtge to
feed the cows, which she brought with her as her dowry.
Two of these cows, which had been previously
remarkable for their fruitfulness and great flow of milk were placed on each
side of a river, which has been called "Abhainn Da Loilgheach" – river of the
two milch cows. |
The largest in-land farm in Ireland is located on Slieve Aughty in rural
south-east County Galway. The farm comprises 71 Vestas V52 wind turbines
collectively generating an average of 60MW. The site is an impressive show case of wind
turbine technology. Each Vestas V52 turbine blade measures over
20m in length (approximately the length of a 747 jet's wing). The tips travel at over 180km/h and take 3
seconds to make a full revolution.
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