Devilsbit Mountain

Also known as:
Bearan Eile and Gap of Ely
Nearest town:
Templemore (6km E)
OS reference:
S057745
OS sheet:
59
Latitude:
52° 49' 17.44 N
Longitude:
7° 54' 55.58 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Devilsbit Mountain (Christianised Site) by bawn79

Coming up the slope from the west side, if you look very closely in the centre of the picture there is a marian shrine

Image credit: Bawn79
bawn79
bawn79 Mar 20, 2006

Articles

Devilsbit Mountain

bawn79
bawn79 Mar 20, 2006

This site im sure is a bit of a controversial site. It has no link at the moment to the megalithic but I think from the amount of christainisation of the site (Cross on top and two marian statues) that this may have been a powerful pagan site at one stage.
Also if Gilles MacBain is correct (see link) about the sunrising and setting through the Bit, I wonder if there are any monuments in the area aligned to both the Bit and the sun-rise/sunsets.
I also know that the present name is only a recent addition and that the former name Gap of Ely is a norman name so I would be very interested to know what the original gaelic name for the Bit was. It may give us an idea to its former use/dedication. Also see the folklore.

Folklore

Devilsbit Mountain
Christianised Site
bawn79
bawn79 Mar 20, 2006

Well the story goes that the Devil was flying over Ireland trying to steal the souls of the people and tempt them. However good old St. Patrick had done such a good job that the Devil couldn’t tempt anyone so in a fit of rage he bit into the mountain here in Tipperary and spat it out all of the way down to Cashel in South Tipp. So this hunk of rock is said to be what makes up the Rock of Cashel.
Possibly this is a christained story of the usual giant story throwing rocks around.

Topics

I got my first disputed site 3
bawn79
bawn79
Mar 2006

Sites within 20km of Devilsbit Mountain

Like all websites everywhere, we use cookies.