Knocknadobar

Knocknadobar means "hill of the wells". The mountain is in south-west corner of Ireland standing against the prevailing south-west winds carrying rain from the North Atlantic; thus Knocknadobar absorbs significant water, and in places, freshwater literally springs out of the ground like a Well. There are holy wells at the base of the Mountain, most notably St. Fursey's Holy Well, which has been a site of pilgrimage since medieval times, dedicated to Saint Fursey (c 597–650 AD).{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/go-walk-cnoc-na-dtobar-knocknadobar-co-kerry-1.1970014|title=Go Walk: Cnoc na dTobar (Knocknadobar), Co Kerry|author=Tony Dotherty|newspaper=The Irish Times |date=25 October 2014|access-date=3 June 2019|quote=Dr Tomás Ó Carragáin, in his chapters on “Iveragh’s sacred mountains” in The Iveragh Peninsula: A Cultural Atlas of the Ring of Kerry (Cork University Press), identifies Cnoc na dTobar as a site of devotion to St Fursey (c 597-650AD).}} Paul Tempan notes that St. Fursey's Holy Well was noted as a cure for eye complaints.

File:Knocknadobar (Summit Cross).jpg

Knocknadobar is northeast of Cahersiveen, and north of the N70 road, on the coast of Dingle Bay. Knocknadobar is an almost "stand-alone" mountain, and thus its {{convert|690|m|0|abbr=on}} in height, translates into {{convert|565|m|0|abbr=on}} of prominence, qualifying it to meet the British Isles Marilyn classification. Knocknadobar also meets the Arderin, Simm and Hewitt classifications.{{cite web|url=http://www.hills-database.co.uk/downloads.html|title=The Database of British and Irish Hills|date=2018|author1=Chris Cocker|author2=Graham Jackson|publisher=Database of British and Irish Hills}} Knocknadobar ranks as the 32nd-highest mountain in Ireland on the MountainViews Online Database, 100 Highest Irish Mountains, where the prominence threshold is over 100 metres.{{cite web|url=https://mountainviews.ie/lists/highest/|title=Irish Highest 100: The highest 100 Irish mountains with a prominence of +100m|publisher=MountainViews Online Database|date=September 2018}}

{{see also|Pilgrim Paths of Ireland}}

File:Knocknadobar (Station).jpg

Cnoc na dTobar is noted as an ancient pilgrim mountain.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/a-walk-for-the-weekend-mountain-magic-underfoot-1.2703943|title=Cnoc na dTobar Pilgrim Path: A walk for the weekend: Mountain magic underfoot|author=John G. O'Dwyer|date=29 June 2016|access-date=3 June 2019|newspaper=Irish Times}} Even before Christian times, in the 5th-century, the Knocknadobar was a place of celebrations for Celtic Lúghnasa Festivals in August. Lúgh (pronounced Loo) was the god of the Harvest, and festivals or dancing and merriment were held on high ground to make offerings for a good harvest, and Knocknatobar's wide flat summit provided a suitable venue. The word for August in the Irish language is "Lúhgnasa" (pronounced in English as "Luanasa"). In 1884–85, Christian crosses were placed along on the ancient pilgrim trail to represent the 14 Stations of the Cross, and an altar and a large Celtic cross was placed at the top where mass is said yearly; these works were undertaken by Canon Brosnan of Cahersiveen.

The full Cnock na dTobar Pilgrimage Path takes circa 3.5 hours to complete the 9-kilometre route, and is part of the National Pilgrim Passport scheme run by Pilgrim Paths of Ireland.{{cite web |url=https://www.pilgrimpath.ie/pilgrim-passport/cnoc-na-dtobar-pilgrim-passport/ |title=Cnoc na dTobar |publisher=Pilgrim Paths of Ireland| access-date= 3 June 2019}} The flat summit offers views of other major pilgrimage sites: Mount Brandon, and Skellig Michael.

• {{cite book| author=MountainViews (Simon Stewart)|year=2013 | title=A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits: The Vandeleur-Lynams & the Arderins |publisher=Collins Books | isbn=978-1-84889-164-7}}
• {{cite book | last1 = Dillion | first1 = Paddy | title = The Mountains of Ireland: A Guide to Walking the Summits | publisher = Cicerone | isbn = 978-1852841102 | year = 1993}}

{{commons category|Knocknadobar}}

• Drung Hill
• Lists of mountains in Ireland
• List of mountains of the British Isles by height
• List of Marilyns in the British Isles
• List of Hewitt mountains in England, Wales and Ireland
• Lists of long-distance trails in the Republic of Ireland

{{reflist}}

• [http://mountainviews.ie/summit/123/ Knocknadobar at MountainViews]
• [https://www.collinspress.ie/images/Pilgrim%20Paths%202016.pdf Passport for Ireland's Medieval Pilgrim Paths 2016], Collins Press (2016)

{{Mountains of Great Britain and Ireland}}

{{Mountains and hills of Munster}}

{{IrishTrails}}

Category:Mountains and hills of County Kerry

Category:Mountains under 1000 metres

Category:Marilyns of Ireland

Category:Hewitts of Ireland

Category:Pilgrimage routes

Category:Roman Catholic pilgrimage sites in Ireland

Knocknadobar