Mourne Wall
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The Mourne Wall is a wall which was constructed to enclose a resevoir's catchment area in the Mourne Mountains, Northern Ireland. It was built between 1904 and 1922 by the Belfast Water Commissioners to enclose the water catchment in the Mournes.
The wall was crafted from natural granite stone using traditional dry stone walling techniques. On average the wall is about 2.5 metres high and 1 metre thick. It is 22 miles (35 km) long and passes over fifteen mountains (listed clockwise from the Kilkeel River):
- Slievenaglogh (445 m)
- Slieve Muck (674 m)
- Carn Mountain (587 m)
- Slieve Loughshannagh (619 m)
- Slieve Meelbeg (708 m)
- Slieve Meelmore (704 m)
- Slieve Bearnagh (727 m)
- Slievenaglogh (586 m)
- Slieve Corragh (691 m)
- Slieve Commedagh (765 m)
- Slieve Donard (850 m)
- Rocky Mountain (525 m) *
- Slieve Binnian (747 m)
- Wee Binnian (460 m)
- Moolieve (332 m)
* Of those listed, Rocky Mountain is the only mountain where the Wall only skirts the lower slopes, rather than passing over or close by the summit.
The wall took eighteen years to complete. The Silent Valley Reservoir was created to hold the water in the catchment area, and supply Belfast with water. Some people argue that the wall was quite useless as it fences off about 9,000 acres (36 km²) of barren and desolate mountains. However, it brought a lot of very welcome employment at the time, and the main purpose of enclosing the area was to isolate the catchment area from the effects of cattle and sheep on the water course. It is currently owned and maintained by the DRD Water Service.
