Mangerton Mountain, Mountain summit in County Kerry, Ireland
Mangerton Mountain rises to 838 metres in County Kerry, the highest of the Mangerton Group, with a flat boggy summit plateau and a horseshoe-shaped massif. On its north-western face lies the Devil's Punchbowl, a deep oval corrie at 670 metres holding a loch that drains into the Owengarriff River and feeds Torc Waterfall.
The far northern slope of Mangerton, at a site known as Tooreencormick, was the scene of a battle in 1262 between the Mac Cárthaigh of the Kingdom of Desmond and the FitzGeralds, following the rout at the Battle of Callann Glen near Kilgarvan the previous year.
The Irish name An Mhangarta is usually translated as 'the long-haired (mountain)'. Paul Tempan notes that An Mhangartach could instead derive from mangart, 'movement' or 'shaking', perhaps referring to the moving bog on the southern slopes.
The most direct ascent is the Devil's Punchbowl Route, a 10 km walk of 4–5 hours starting from the concrete slab bridge at grid reference V984847. The worn track climbs south to the Punchbowl at 670 m, then gains the summit plateau by its west ridge. The featureless plateau is hard to navigate in mist; a longer 13.5 km variant of 5–6 hours adds Stoompa.
The Devil's Punchbowl, a corrie lake at 670 metres on the north-west face, drains into the Owengarriff River, which forms Torc Waterfall before reaching the Lakes of Killarney. Its Irish name is Poll Ifrinn.
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