Tonelagee

Irish academic Paul Tempan, notes Tonelagee is sometimes spelled Tonelegee and its Irish name of {{lang|ga|Tóin le Gaoith}} appears in several Irish placenames, such as Tandragee in County Antrim, however, it was not clear what they had in common regarding the wind. In addition, Tempan found no particular evidence of any other Irish language names behind Stoney Top except to note that there was a cross-inscribed standing stone between Stoney Top and the summit of Tonelagee.

Tonelagee is the third highest peak in the Wicklow Mountains, and is situated in southern-end of the central section of the range. Tonelagee sits on the main "central spine" of the whole Wicklow Mountains range that runs from Kippure in the north, to Lugnaquillia in the south, and in particular, Tonelagee is the southern terminus of the continuous "central boggy ridge" that runs from the Sally Gap in the north, via Mullaghcleevaun, to Tonelagee.{{cite book | last1 = Fairbairn | first1 = Helen | title = Ireland's Best Walks: A Walking Guide | publisher = Collins Press | isbn = 978-1848892118 | year = 2014 | quote=Route 61: Tonelagee}}

Tonelagee's prominence of {{convert|202|m|ft}}, qualifies it as a Marilyn, and also ranks it as the 15th-highest mountain in Ireland on the MountainViews Online Database, 100 Highest Irish Mountains, where the minimum prominence threshold is 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}} Tonelagee's main "boggy massif" includes the northern subsidiary summit of Stoney Top {{convert|714|m|ft}}, which has a prominence of {{convert|19|m|ft}} that qualifies it as Vandeleur-Lynam; while its second major eastern subsidiary summit of Tonelagee NE Top {{convert|668|m|ft}}, has a prominence of {{convert|23|m|ft}} also qualifying it as Vandeleur-Lynam.

Tonelagee's massif includes a long south-easterly spur with the summits of (in order of proximity): Tonlagee South-East Top {{convert|546|m|ft}}, Brockagh Mountain North-West Top {{convert|548|m|ft}}, Brockagh Mountain {{convert|557|m|ft}}, and Brockagh Mountain SE Top {{convert|470|m|ft}}.

One of Tonelagee's most distinctive features is its deep north-eastern corrie, which contains the "heart-shaped" natural lake of Lough Ouler at {{convert|596|m|ft}} (not as high as Wicklow's highest natural lake of Cleevaun Lough at {{convert|686|m|ft}}, on Mullaghcleevaun).

A common route to the summit of Tonelagee is from the east via an 8-kilometre 3–4 hour "loop walk" which starts from a large car-park just above Glenmacnass Waterfall just off the R115 road (also called the Old Military Road). The route crosses the Glenmacnass River to reach Tonelagee's north-east corrie and Lough Ouler, from where it then summits via the northern edge of the corrie rim to the summit of Tonelagee (passing the mica-shist "standing stone" along the way); the descent is via Tonelagee NE Top and then directly down to the shoulder to the Glenmacnass Waterfall car park.{{cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/wicklow-mountain-high-1.1216431|title=Wicklow mountain high|date=31 May 2008|accessdate=17 July 2019|first=Seán|last=MacConnell|newspaper=Irish Times}}

A shorter even more direct route is from the Wicklow Gap on the R756 road to the west, climbing the 6-kilometre 2–3 hour route directly up the shoulder of Tonelagee and then retracing back to the car; this route is rarely offered in guidebooks as it leaves out Lough Ouler and Tonelagee's subsidiary summits.

• {{cite book | last1 = Fairbairn | first1 = Helen | title = Dublin & Wicklow: A Walking Guide | publisher = Collins Press | isbn = 978-1848892019 | year = 2014}}
• {{cite book | last1 = Fairbairn | first1 = Helen | title = Ireland's Best Walks: A Walking Guide | publisher = Collins Press | isbn = 978-1848892118 | year = 2014}}
• {{cite book| author=MountainViews Online Database (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 }}

File:Tonelagee_summit_pillar.png|Summit pillar

File:Lough Ouler from Tonelagee.jpg|Heart-shaped Lough Ouler

File:Deer, Tonelagee.jpg|Deer on Tonelagee

File:Tonelagee and Lough Ouler.jpg|North-east corrie and Lough Ouler

File:Wicklow Gap from Tonelagee slopes.png|Wicklow Gap on slopes of Tonelagee

{{commons category|Tonelagee}}

• Wicklow Way
• Wicklow Round
• Wicklow Mountains
• 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

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{{Reflist}}

• [https://mountainviews.ie/summit/33/ MountainViews: The Irish Mountain Website], Tonelagee
• [https://mountainviews.ie/mv/irl150setup.htm MountainViews: Irish Online Mountain Database]
• [http://www.hills-database.co.uk/downloads.html The Database of British and Irish Hills ], the largest database of British Isles mountains ("DoBIH")
• [http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/ Hill Bagging UK & Ireland], the searchable interface for the DoBIH
• [https://talesfromthelens.com/hiking-lough-ouler-the-heart-shaped-lake-ireland/ Hiking Lough Ouler], guide and itinerary.

{{Mountains of Great Britain and Ireland|}}

{{Mountains and hills of Leinster}}

{{IrishTrails}}

Category:Marilyns of Ireland

Category:Mountains and hills of County Wicklow

Category:Hewitts of Ireland

Category:Mountains under 1000 metres