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Hills and mountains of the Isle of Man facts for kids

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Isle of Man Terrain - Snaefell Mountain View - kingsley - 24-JUN-09
Some of the Isle of Man's mountainous terrain as viewed from the top of Snaefell.

The Isle of Man is mostly hilly, but has only one summit, Snaefell, classified as a mountain (over 2,000 feet).

Overview

The south of the island has a small coastal plain around Castletown and Ballasalla but is otherwise hilly. In the south west these hills rise to more prominent peaks, notably South Barrule (483 m), and Cronk ny Arrey Laa (437 m) which drops almost vertically into the sea.

A central valley separates the southern hills from the central range which contains the highest peaks. This central range contains 11 out of 12 of the Island's highest peaks. It has open moorland and rough terrain. It is very sparsely populated and has just one major road crossing it except along the coast.

This then drops quite suddenly to a large flat northern glacial till plain which has only small rolling hills (max. 96 m) known as the Bride hills.

Marilyns

The Isle of Man contains five Marilyns:

Peak Height (m) Prom. (m) Key col (m) Grid ref. Parent
Snaefell 621 621 Sea SC397881 none, highest peak in the Isle of Man
South Barrule 483 436 47 SC257759 Snaefell
Bradda Hill 230 193 37 SC193711 South Barrule
Slieau Freoaghane 488 153 335 SC340883 Snaefell
Mull Hill 169 151 18 SC189676 Bradda Hill

List of peaks over 1,500 feet (457 m)

The Isle of Man contains 11 peaks which stand at over 1,500 ft. All of these, except for the South Barrule (in the south) are found in the central range which spans the region between the central valley and the flat fertile northern plain. Although none of these peaks are especially high, they appear quite prominent and impressive due to their proximity to the sea. Whilst many of these peaks are rugged, they are not steep enough to provide many opportunities for technical climbing (which can be found in abundance around the coast). There are opportunities for scrambling in some areas, including the northern slopes of the North Barrule, around the Sloc, and the southern slopes of Greeba Mountain. These can provide a training ground for the higher steeper mountains in places such as Snowdonia and the Highlands of Scotland; they are also far less crowded than some of Britain's more popular hill destinations. All of these peaks can be reached by a rough hill walk.

Hill Height (ft) Height (m) Grid ref. Area
Snaefell 2,037 621 397881 Central
North Barrule 1,854 565 443909 North East
Clagh Ouyr 1,808 551 415890 North East
Beinn-y-Phott 1,785 544 381861 Central
Slieau Freoaghane 1,601 488 341883 Michael Hills
Colden 1,598 487 343843 Central
South Barrule 1,585 483 258759 South West
Slieau Ruy 1,572 479 329824 Central
Sartfell 1,490 454 335872 Michael Hills
Carraghyn 1,640 500 370850 Central
Slieau Lhean 1,539 469 426877 East

Additional heights above 1500 feet include Mullagh Ouyr (gr 398861) and two unnamed points on the ridge between Clagh Ouyr and the North Barrule (gr 425900 & 432904).

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