War Hill

According to Irish academic Paul Tempan, the proposed Irish name for War Hill, whilst possible, is not backed up by any Irish attestations. In particular, Bhairr (or Barr) is the Irish term for "top" and usually features as the first word in many Irish language names of mountains – E.g. Baurtregaum (from Irish: Barr Trí gCom; meaning "top of the three hollows"). However Wall Hill is not a "top", but is overshadowed by its taller neighbour, Djouce {{convert|725|m|ft}}.

Tempan tentatively suggests that a possible alternative is that there never was an Irish language name and that the source name is the English name, War Hill. Tempan quotes a letter from 1838 by Irish antiquarian Eugene O'Curry, recording that: "In the Townland of Lackandarragh, in the Powerscourt Parish they shew a place called the Churchyard, but it does not retain the least vestige of either a church or churchyard. Some say that it was the place of sepulture of persons killed in a battle fought between the English troops and the O’Tooles some three hundred years ago. This battle was fought on War Hill, immediately overhanging this Churchyard, on the opposite side of the river".

War Hill sits on the northern shoulder of its taller neighbour Djouce. Wall Hill looks down into the Glensoulan Valley, through which the River Dargle flows eastwards into Powerscourt Waterfall, the highest waterfall in Ireland;{{cite book | last1 = Fairbairn | first1 = Helen | title = Dublin & Wicklow: A Walking Guide | publisher = Collins Press | isbn = 978-1848892019 | year = 2014}} northwards across the valley of the River Dargle lies Tonduff and Maulin.

Irish hill-walking author, J.B. Malone once described War Hill as lying in a "bog desert".

Because of its remote setting, War Hill is usually only climbed as part of a "loop route" taking in other neighboring mountains.{{cite book | last1 = Dillion | first1 = Paddy | title = The Mountains of Ireland: A Guide to Walking the Summits | publisher = Cicerone | isbn = 978-1852841102 | year = 1993 |quote=Walk 1:White Hill, Djouce Mountain, War Hill}}

A popular route is a 15-kilometre circuit that starts at the Ballinastoe Wood car-park to climb the boarded mountain path to White Hill and then to the base of the summit of Djouce {{convert|725|m|ft}}. However, instead of summiting Djouce, the boardwalk path is followed eastwards to the cliffs above the Powerscourt Waterfalls. Finally, the loop is closed by walking back up to War Hill via the southern side of the Glensoulan Valley and then onto the summit of Djouce itself. The route then follows back to Ballinastoe Wood via the boardwalk and White Hill.{{cite book | last1 = Fairbairn | first1 = Helen | title = Ireland's Best Walks: A Walking Guide | publisher = Collins Press | isbn = 978-1848892118 | year = 2014 | quote=Route 60: Djouce and War Hill}}

Another popular variation of this "loop route" is to start in the Crone Woods car-park, and complete a 16-kilometre loop of Maulin {{convert|570|m|ft}}, Tonduff {{convert|642|m|ft}}, War Hill, and Djouce, and then returning to Crone Woods car-park; this circuit is sometimes called the Circuit of Glensoulan.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/a-walk-for-the-weekend-circuit-of-glensoulan-co-wicklow-1.2425332|title=A walk for the weekend: Circuit of Glensoulan, Co Wicklow|author=Michael Guilfoyle|date=11 November 2015|access-date=10 July 2019|newspaper=Irish Times}}

File:Coffin Stone Wicklow Ireland.jpg

In the saddle between War Hill and Djouce lies a cluster of boulders known as the Coffin Stone at {{gbm4ibx|O178104}}. Records from Irish Mountaineering Club note that according to J.B. Malone, these stones were the only natural rock-feature recorded on the old "O.S. Sheet 16, half-inch-to-the-mile map" of Dublin and Wicklow mountains.{{cite web|url=https://www.irishmountaineeringclub.org/blog/2011/08/23/the-coffin-stone/|title=The Coffin Stone|publisher=Irish Mountaineering Club|author=Gerry Moss|date=23 August 2011|access-date=11 July 2019|quote=According to the late J.B. Malone, it bears the distinction of being the only natural rock feature marked and named on the old O.S. Sheet 16, half-inch-to-the-mile map of Dublin and Wicklow (back in the old days Sheet 16 was the preferred choice of the impecunious Dublin hill walker as it covered almost twice the territory of the one-inch Wicklow District map).}} The large 5-metre collapsed boulder is speculated as being an ancient Irish megalithic portal tomb, or possibly, a glacial erratic.{{cite web|url=http://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/wicklow.htm|title=SELECTED MONUMENTS IN COUNTY WICKLOW: Coffin Tomb|publisher=GAZETTEER of IRISH PREHISTORIC MONUMENTS|access-date=11 July 2019|quote=Just under 11 km SE, on the N side of Djouce Mountain (O 173 105) is "The Coffin Stone", a five-metre long capstone of a collapsed dolmen. This monument is worth visiting only in very good weather.}}

• {{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}}

{{commons category|War Hill}}

• Wicklow Way
• Wicklow Mountains
• Lists of mountains in Ireland
• List of mountains of the British Isles by height
• List of Hewitt mountains in England, Wales and Ireland

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{{Mountains of Great Britain and Ireland|}}

{{Mountains and hills of Leinster}}

{{IrishTrails}}

• [https://mountainviews.ie/summit/129/ MountainViews: The Irish Mountain Website], War Hill
• [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

Category:Mountains and hills of County Wicklow

Category:Hewitts of Ireland