Can I see Croagh Patrick today? Summit cloud and the view from the top

The next three days

Grey is cloud; the dashed line is the summit. When the cloud floor sits above the line, the top is out.

Right now Yes cloud base ~2,100 m, wind on top 25 km/h from the SE.
All three models agree.

Best clear spells this week

Today 14:00–18:004 h · sure
Wednesday 11:00–17:006 h · fairly sure
Friday 08:20–11:003 h · sure

Daylight only. Each hour is a vote between three weather models; "sure" means all three agree. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0).

Going up?

Wind on top

25 km/h SE

at summit height, before gusts

On top it's about

7° feels 4°

freezing level ~2,500 m

Rain, next 6 hours

dry

nothing much forecast

Daylight left

3 h 38 min

sunset 18:32. Most people take 3 to 4 hours up and down¹⁶

A breeze on top. You will want a layer at the chapel.

How we work this outIt's an estimate. Here's the arithmetic.

Nobody measures cloud on the summit, so this is worked out from forecasts. Every visit, the page asks Open-Meteo for three weather models (UK Met Office, DWD ICON, ECMWF): temperature and humidity at fixed pressure levels from about 100 m up to 3 km over the Reek, plus rain and wind.

Cloud base. Air rising cools until it condenses. A long-standing rule of thumb puts that height at about 125 m for every °C between the temperature and the dew point (Lawrence 2005). We work it out for air at summit height and for air up to 250 m below it, because wind shoves air up the mountain: the stronger the wind, the deeper the layer it lifts (we allow 6 m of lift per km/h of wind, up to 250 m; that number is our guess, not a law). We also take the lowest level where the model's own air is 95% humid or more. The lower of the two is our cloud base.
Verdict. Base more than 40 m below the top: no. Within about 120 m above it, where a cap of cloud comes and goes: partly. Higher: yes. If the low layer is patchy (the model has under 40% low cloud) it only counts as partly. Rain of 1.5 mm an hour or more counts as no, 0.4 mm as partly, and fog at the foot (visibility under 1 km at Murrisk) as no.
Vote. Each model gets a say for each hour (no = 0, partly = 1, yes = 2); the average decides, and the page says when they disagree. The clear spells only count daylight hours.

Why it can be wrong. Weather models see the world in boxes 2 to 25 km wide. In those boxes the Reek is a gentle bump, not a 764 m cone that makes its own cloud. Wet Atlantic air, a wind off the bay and a mountain standing alone in it is about the best recipe there is for a cap cloud that the models never see. So treat "partly" as "go and look".

This hour		Base, m	Humidity on top	Wind
Met Office	Yes	2,110	42%	25
ICON	Yes	1,780	42%	27
ECMWF	Yes	2,360	26%	24
Vote	Yes	2,110	42%	25

Wind in km/h at summit height, rain in mm an hour. Base is where air lifted over the top would condense, or the lowest near-saturated layer if that is lower. Visibility at Murrisk: 52 km.

The picture at the top is the real skyline from Westport Quay, worked out from the same elevation data as the panorama below, with heights stretched 1.5×. The grey is drawn at the estimated cloud base.

The view from the top

What you would see from the summit on a clear day, worked out from elevation data rather than drawn by hand. Drag to look round. Tap a name.

Looking north-northwest · 330°

Show what's just out of sight

Today, from the top, the sun sets at 18:40 into the sea just left of Inishturk, about 7 minutes later than at Westport Quay. It rises over the hills at 08:07.

Heights stretched 3× so distant hills read. Standard refraction (k = 0.13) and the curve of the Earth are included; from 764 m the sea horizon is about 106 km out and 0.83° below level. Faint names far off are "on paper": the line of sight clears, but you'd need the clearest air of the year.

Everything in the view from the top: 44 names, near and far

What the panorama labels, worked out from elevation data: distance and bearing from the summit of Croagh Patrick, whether it is in sight, and the story behind the name where there is one.

Mountains

Tievummera Taobh Iomaire

12 km · bearing 201° (south-southwest) · 762 m · Sheeffry Hills

In view. The top 702 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors · Irish form: OpenStreetMap

Barrclashcame

12 km · bearing 206° (south-southwest) · 772 m · Sheeffry Hills

In view. The top 701 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

One of the Sheeffry Hills (Cnoic Shíofra), the wall that hides most of the Twelve Bens from the Reek.

Sources: logainm.ie, entry 114405

Ben Gorm An Bhinn Ghorm

16 km · bearing 195° (south-southwest) · 700 m

Only just. About the top 22 m clears what's in front, over Tievnabinnia.

It stands over Doolough, where in March 1849 starving people sent from Louisburgh to Delphi Lodge were refused relief, and many died on the road back. Estimates of the dead run from 20 to 400.

Sources: Connacht Telegraph · OpenStreetMap contributors · Irish form: OpenStreetMap

Ben Bury Ucht an Chreagáin

16 km · bearing 219° (southwest) · 795 m

In view. The top 746 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors · Irish form: OpenStreetMap

Maumtrasna Mám Trasna

17 km · bearing 160° (south-southeast) · 682 m · Partry Mountains

In view. All of it stands clear of anything in front.

Myles Joyce (Maolra Seoighe) was hanged in 1882 for the Maamtrasna murders after a trial held in English, which he did not speak. The President pardoned him on 4 April 2018.

Sources: Department of Justice press release · logainm.ie, entry 1166467 · Irish form: logainm

Mweelrea Cnoc Maol Réidh

18 km · bearing 219° (southwest) · 814 m

In view. The top 561 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

The highest mountain in Connacht.

Sources: Wikipedia, Mweelrea · logainm.ie, entry 1165838 · Irish form: logainm

Corraun Hill Cnoc an Chorráin

22 km · bearing 315° (northwest) · 524 m

In view. The top 382 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

The Corraun peninsula (An Corrán) is the stepping stone to Achill. The first swing bridge over Achill Sound, named for Michael Davitt, opened in 1887.

Sources: askaboutireland · logainm.ie, entry 114119 · OpenStreetMap contributors · Irish form: OpenStreetMap

Corranabinnia

23 km · bearing 358° (north) · 716 m · Nephin Beg range

In view. The top 475 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

In the Nephin Beg range, north across Clew Bay.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Croaghmoyle An Chruach Mhaol

26 km · bearing 45° (northeast) · 430 m

In view. The top 329 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

Sources: logainm.ie, entry 1373990 · Irish form: logainm

Binn idir an Dá Log

27 km · bearing 182° (south) · 702 m · Maumturks

In view. The top 313 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

Highest of the Maumturks (Sléibhte Mhám Toirc). In the pass at Máméan there is a holy well and a 'St Patrick's Bed'; that pilgrimage faded in the 19th century and came back in the 1980s.

Sources: Archdiocese of Tuam · logainm.ie, entry 1397497 · logainm.ie, entry 1166703 · Irish form: logainm

Birreencorragh An Birín Corrach

28 km · bearing 24° (north-northeast) · 698 m

In view. The top 477 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

Sources: logainm.ie, entry 114044 · Irish form: logainm

Benbaun An Bhinn Bhán

29 km · bearing 203° (south-southwest) · 729 m · Twelve Bens

Only just. About the top 8 m clears what's in front, over Tievummera.

Highest of the Twelve Bens (Beanna Beola) and of County Galway. From here only its very top can clear the Sheeffry Hills, and barely.

Sources: Wikipedia, Benbaun · logainm.ie, entry 1165527 · logainm.ie, entry 1165510 · Irish form: logainm

Bencorr

30 km · bearing 197° (south-southwest) · 711 m · Twelve Bens

In view. The top 64 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

One of the few Twelve Bens tops that look over the Sheeffry Hills from here.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Minaun

33 km · bearing 311° (northwest) · 466 m · Achill

In view. The top 178 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Nephin Néifinn

34 km · bearing 34° (northeast) · 806 m

In view. The top 722 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

Connacht's second-highest peak, and the highest mountain in Ireland that stands on its own. Errigal, 174 km beyond, hides almost exactly behind it.

Sources: Wikipedia, Nephin · logainm.ie, entry 114341 · Irish form: logainm

Slieve Carr An Corrshliabh

34 km · bearing 0° (north) · 721 m · Nephin Beg range

In view. The top 119 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

Sources: logainm.ie, entry 114124 · Irish form: logainm

Slievemore An Sliabh Mór

38 km · bearing 317° (northwest) · 671 m · Achill

In view. The top 389 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

At its southern foot lies the Deserted Village: almost 100 stone houses, used into the 20th century for booleying, the summer move of cattle to hill pasture.

Sources: Mayo County Council · logainm.ie, entry 1166741 · Irish form: logainm

Croaghaun Cruachán

43 km · bearing 306° (northwest) · 688 m · Achill

In view. The top 626 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

Achill's highest point. Its north face drops almost sheer into the Atlantic, and is often claimed as Ireland's highest sea cliff, though nobody official has ruled on that.

Sources: Wikipedia, Croaghaun · logainm.ie, entry 114132 · Irish form: logainm

Islands

Dorinish Deoirinis Mhór

5.9 km · bearing 353° (north) · 8 m

Only just. About the top 8 m clears what's in front, over Inishgort.

John Lennon bought it in 1967. In 1970 he let Sid Rawle's 'Diggers' commune live on it; Westport objected, and the commune broke up in 1972.

Sources: RTÉ Archives · logainm.ie, entry 37269 · Irish form: logainm

Inishgort Inis Goirt

7.7 km · bearing 357° (north) · 29 m

Only just. About the top 29 m clears what's in front, over Inishgort.

Its lighthouse (1806) marks the channel into Westport. It went solar in July 2000.

Sources: Commissioners of Irish Lights · logainm.ie, entry 37281 · Irish form: logainm

Collanmore

8.2 km · bearing 13° (north-northeast) · 37 m

Only just. The line of sight clears by a whisker, over Inishgort.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Achillbeg

23 km · bearing 302° (west-northwest) · 110 m

In view. All of it stands clear of anything in front.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Clare Island Cliara

24 km · bearing 283° (west-northwest) · 462 m

In view. The top 311 m of it stands clear of anything in front.

Robert Lloyd Praeger's Clare Island Survey (1909–11) put about 100 naturalists on one island. The Royal Irish Academy calls it the first major biological survey of a specific area anywhere; it was done again in 1992–2009.

Sources: Royal Irish Academy, New Survey of Clare Island · logainm.ie, entry 36982 · Irish form: logainm

Caher Island Oileán na Cathrach

25 km · bearing 260° (west) · 40 m

In view. All of it stands clear of anything in front.

An early medieval pilgrim island: stone altars topped with carved cross-slabs, and in 2013–14 Michael Gibbons found a second, outer circuit of them.

Sources: Archaeology magazine · logainm.ie, entry 36980 · Irish form: logainm

Inishturk Inis Toirc

30 km · bearing 258° (west-southwest) · 189 m

In view. All of it stands clear of anything in front.

A ruined signal tower of 1805 stands on its heights, one of the chain built round the coast during the Napoleonic wars against a French landing.

Sources: Mayo County Council · Wikipedia, Inishturk · logainm.ie, entry 1375327 · Irish form: logainm

Inishbofin Inis Bó Finne

40 km · bearing 248° (west-southwest) · 70 m

Only just. The line of sight clears by a whisker.

After the Synod of Whitby (664) went against him, Bishop Colmán of Lindisfarne founded a monastery here around 668, as Bede tells it.

Sources: Catholic Encyclopedia, "School of Mayo" · logainm.ie, entry 18238 · Irish form: logainm

The bay

Clew Bay Cuan Mó

12 km · bearing 323° (northwest)

In view, 3.7° below level.

The islands are drumlins, hills moulded under the ice sheet and half-drowned when the sea rose after the Ice Age: a 'basket of eggs'. That there are 365 of them, one for every day of the year, is the folklore.

Sources: Geological Society · logainm.ie, entry 114101 · Irish form: logainm

Towns

Louisburgh Cluain Cearbán

9.7 km · bearing 273° (west)

In view, 4.4° below level.

Laid out in 1795 by the Earl of Altamont. The name recalls the British capture of the French fortress of Louisbourg, on Cape Breton, in 1758.

Sources: Louisburgh–Killeen heritage · logainm.ie, entry 37371 · Irish form: logainm

Westport Cathair na Mart

10 km · bearing 64° (east-northeast)

In view, 4.2° below level.

In 2012 it beat 563 other entries to be named the Irish Times' Best Place to Live in Ireland. From the Octagon itself you can't see the Reek: the ground rises in the way. Walk to the Quay.

Sources: Irish Times · logainm.ie, entry 132920 · Irish form: logainm

Newport Baile Uí Fhiacháin

16 km · bearing 28° (north-northeast)

In view, 2.8° below level.

St Patrick's Church has Harry Clarke's last great window (1930); Clarke is said to have put himself in it, upside down among the damned.

Sources: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · logainm.ie, entry 1413172 · Irish form: logainm

Mulranny An Mhala Raithní

18 km · bearing 336° (north-northwest)

In view, 2.4° below level.

Known for its Mediterranean heath (Erica erigena), which the botanists now think was brought in, probably in the 15th century, by pilgrims or traders.

Sources: BSBI · logainm.ie, entry 1417305 · Irish form: logainm

Castlebar Caisleán an Bharraigh

26 km · bearing 65° (east-northeast)

In view, 1.7° below level.

On 27 August 1798 Humbert's French and Irish force routed a British army nearly twice its size: the 'Races of Castlebar'.

Sources: Mayo County Council · logainm.ie, entry 1167113 · Irish form: logainm

Far off

Knockalongy Cnoc na Loinge

76 km · bearing 50° (northeast) · 544 m · Ox Mountains

Only just. The line of sight clears by a whisker, over Knockalongy South-West Top.

Sources: logainm.ie, entry 1166732 · logainm.ie, entry 112058 · Irish form: logainm

Knocknarea Cnoc na Riabh

90 km · bearing 52° (northeast) · 327 m

Out of sight. Hidden behind Annatoran, 72 km from the summit; it would need to be about 189 m taller to show.

Its summit cairn, Miosgán Méabha, about 55 m across, is one of the largest unopened tombs in Ireland; folklore makes it Queen Medb's grave.

Sources: OPW Heritage Ireland · logainm.ie, entry 1165847 · Irish form: logainm

Benbulbin Binn Ghulbain

103 km · bearing 49° (northeast) · 526 m

On paper, yes. The line of sight clears, with roughly the top 79 m standing over the horizon. You'd need the clearest air of the year.

Yeats is buried under it at Drumcliff: 'Cast a cold eye / On life, on death. / Horseman, pass by!'

Sources: askaboutireland · logainm.ie, entry 112008 · Irish form: logainm

Truskmore

108 km · bearing 50° (northeast) · 647 m

Out of sight. Hidden behind Knockalongy, 76 km from the summit; it would need to be about 42 m taller to show.

Hidden by a whisker, about 40 m, behind the Ox Mountains.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Slieve League Sliabh Liag

117 km · bearing 32° (north-northeast) · 596 m

On paper, yes. The line of sight clears, with roughly the top 588 m standing over the horizon. You'd need the clearest air of the year.

The cleanest of the far views, 117 km off in Donegal: the top 200 m or so stand clear over the curve of the Earth.

Sources: logainm.ie, entry 111439 · Irish form: logainm

Cuilcagh

131 km · bearing 67° (east-northeast) · 666 m

On paper, yes. The line of sight clears, with roughly the top 123 m standing over the horizon. You'd need the clearest air of the year.

On the Cavan–Fermanagh border, 130 km away. On paper its top just clears.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Croaghgorm

151 km · bearing 42° (northeast) · 674 m · Blue Stack Mountains

On paper, yes. The line of sight clears, with roughly the top 331 m standing over the horizon. You'd need the clearest air of the year.

In the Blue Stack Mountains, 151 km away. On paper, about the top 70 m clear the horizon.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Baurtregaum

173 km · bearing 184° (south) · 851 m · Slieve Mish

On paper, yes. The line of sight clears, with roughly the top 219 m standing over the horizon. You'd need the clearest air of the year.

Highest of the Slieve Mish mountains on the Dingle peninsula, 173 km due south. On paper it clears; in practice you'd need the clearest air of the year.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Errigal

174 km · bearing 35° (northeast) · 751 m

Out of sight. Hidden behind Nephin, 34 km from the summit; it would need to be about 1,555 m taller to show.

Donegal's highest mountain. From here it would sit almost exactly behind Nephin, 174 km away, and Nephin wins.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Mount Brandon Cnoc Bréanainn

174 km · bearing 193° (south-southwest) · 952 m

Out of sight. Hidden behind Tievnabinnia, 9.8 km from the summit; it would need to be about 1,346 m taller to show.

Sources: logainm.ie, entry 101054 · Irish form: logainm

Galtymore

184 km · bearing 147° (south-southeast) · 918 m

On paper, yes. The line of sight clears, with roughly the top 108 m standing over the horizon. You'd need the clearest air of the year.

In the Galtees, 184 km away: the farthest point in this panorama. On paper its top clears the horizon by about 100 m. We know of no report of anyone actually seeing it from here.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Carrauntoohil

196 km · bearing 182° (south) · 1,039 m

Out of sight. Hidden behind Binn idir an dá Log SE Top, 28 km from the summit; it would need to be about 781 m taller to show.

Ireland's highest mountain, 196 km away. Hidden behind the Maumturks.

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors

Can you see it from where you are?

The gold wash is everywhere the summit is in direct line of sight for someone standing up. Tap the map, use your location, or pick a place.

or tap the map

The map needs WebGL. The list of places below still works.

Pick a place

Around Clew Bay

Achill & the islands

Mayo

Galway & further

Summits

The mountain, deeper

For the locals and the nerds: what's known, what's told, and where they argue. Small numbers link to the sources.

The name, and the height

Cruach is first a rick or stack, of corn or hay; stretched to hills it means one with a round, stacked, piled-up look, and in place names it usually comes out as Croagh or Crogh.¹² So Cruach Phádraig is Patrick's stack, and the local name, the Reek, is the same word in Hiberno-English: a rick.¹³ Before Patrick took it over it was Cruachán Aighle.¹¹ Tírechán, writing about 700, sends Patrick ad montem Egli, to the mountain of Aigle, and has Murrisk as Muiriscc Aigli, which he explains as the plain between the sea and Aigle (campum inter mare et Aigleum): Aigle seems to have been the name of the district.³⁴ The medieval lore of places tells it as legend: the hill was once Cruachán Garbrois and was renamed for Aigle son of Derg, killed there.³⁹ For all its fame, logainm.ie still lists the Irish name as "non-validated".¹¹

Height: 764 m to the Geological Survey and Mayo County Council.^14,15 You will also meet 765 m, including in a 2013 footpath report for Mountaineering Ireland.¹⁷ The rock is mostly Silurian quartzite, which is why the cone is a slope of pale, loose scree.¹⁴

Reek Sunday and the three stations

The pilgrimage day has been the last Sunday in July "from time immemorial", as the Catholic Encyclopedia put it in 1908; a papal indulgence of 1432 already names the Sunday before the feast of St Peter's Chains (1 August), which always lands on the last Sunday of July.²² In Irish it is Domhnach na Cruaiche.²⁸ Plenty of locals go on the Friday before, Garland Friday, and until the 1970s pilgrims climbed through the night.²³ The next one falls on Sunday 25 July 2027, with Garland Friday two days before.

Nobody counts. Estimates: 60,000 in 1965, about 25,000 in 1999, 15,000 to 20,000 in 2014.^30,31,32 Over a whole year it's put at about 100,000 to 120,000 climbers.^28,20 In 2015 the day was called off after overnight storms left zero visibility on the mountain.³³

The rounds, as the Westport Parish card (2013) sets them out:²⁴

Leacht Beanain, a small circular cairn at the base of the cone, named for Patrick's disciple Benignus. Seven times round, saying seven Our Fathers, seven Hail Marys and one Creed.
The summit. Kneel and say seven, seven and one; pray for the Pope's intentions; walk fifteen times clockwise round the church saying fifteen, fifteen and one; then seven rounds of Leaba Phádraig, Patrick's Bed.
Roilig Mhuire, some way down the western side: seven times round each of its three cairns, then seven times round the whole enclosure.

Argue about itThe card says Leacht Beanain; you'll also see Benáin, Benian and Benen, while the Ordnance Survey map has Leacht Mionnain and logainm Leacht Mhionnáin. The Survey's own man had a view in 1838: "Leacht Mionnain, or more properly Leacht Benain, i.e. the Monument of Saint Benignus".^25,26 Roilig or Reilig Mhuire? The card and the monuments record say Roilig; logainm's standard Irish is Reilig.²⁷ The card also calls it Garraí Mór, and "probably a pre-Christian grave"; the monuments record is more careful: the cairns "may be prehistoric burial sites".^24,25 In 1838 the pilgrim there went round each cairn on his knees.²⁵

Patrick on the mountain

The oldest account is Tírechán's, from the late 600s: Patrick went to Mons Aiglí to fast for forty days and forty nights, birds troubled him so that "he could not see the face of sky and land and sea", and his charioteer Totmáel died at Muiresc Aigli, Murrisk.³⁴ That the text is old is a fact; what it describes is tradition. The year 441, which you'll see everywhere, is not in Tírechán; the Annals of Ulster for 441 say only that "Bishop Patrick was approved in the Catholic faith".^35,22

LegendIn the Tripartite Life (about 900) the mountain fills with black birds "so that he knew not heaven nor earth". Patrick rings his bell at them, loud enough for the men of Ireland to hear, and flings it, knocking a gap out of the mountain; afterwards no demon came to Ireland for seven years, seven months, seven days and seven nights.³⁷

FolkloreA 1930s Mayo school story has Patrick driving the serpents into Loch na Corra, the lake under the mountain's south side, firing his mass-bell after them.³⁸

And one grim line of record: on St Patrick's night in 1113, says the Annals of Ulster, "a ball of fire" came down on Cruachain Aighle and killed thirty of those fasting there.³⁶ So there were people on the summit in March, and in numbers, nine centuries ago.

Older than Patrick?

Máire MacNeill's The Festival of Lughnasa (1962) gathered the hilltop gatherings of late July and early August all over Ireland and argued they were survivals of Lughnasa, the Celtic festival of the start of harvest.^40,41 At its heart she found a struggle for the harvest between Crom Dubh, who holds the grain, and Lugh; in the later folk versions Lugh's part is usually taken by Patrick, and Crom Dubh becomes a pagan chief.⁴⁰ Reek Sunday sits squarely in that season, and the idea that the pilgrimage took over an older harvest climb is widely credited to her. It's a scholar's interpretation, not a record.

Argue about itGarland Sunday and Domhnach Chrom Dubh are names for that Lughnasa Sunday across the west in general.⁴¹ We found no official Croagh Patrick source using them for Reek Sunday itself.

What the digging found on top

In 1994 Gerry Walsh of Mayo County Council excavated on the summit and found "a rectangular dry-stone building, probably an oratory", about 25 m east of the present church, 7.76 by 5.52 m outside with its door in the east wall.⁴² Charcoal from inside gave a radiocarbon date of cal. AD 430–890; the report calls it "of the Gallarus type".⁴³ In 1997 Michael Gibbons, who worked on the dig, called it "the earliest church building yet excavated in Ireland", which is a big claim for a date range 460 years wide.⁴⁴

The summit is ringed by a rubble wall about 154 m east to west, noticed as early as 1839. Trenches across it in 1995 turned up glass and amber beads but nothing that dates the wall. The monuments record allows that it is prehistoric, or that it was built or reused for an early medieval monastery; the newspapers went with "Celtic hillfort".^25,43,44 Inside are 15 to 20 circular hut sites, about 5 m across, date unknown.²⁵

The present church was built in 1905 to a design by W. H. Byrne & Son for Archbishop John Healy, and extended in 1962. The Dictionary of Irish Architects dates its dedication to 30 July 1905, which was the last Sunday in July; other accounts say 20 July, a Thursday.^45,25 Before it, in 1838, an older Teampull Patruig had "many votive nails and rags" pushed between its stones.²⁵ For the whole mountain's archaeology, Leo Morahan's 2001 book is the place to go.⁴⁶

The gold

In 1984 prospectors found visible gold in quartz veins at Lecanvey, on the mountain's north side. Drilling outlined a "geological reserve" of 498,000 tonnes at 9.94 grams a tonne: something like five tonnes of gold.⁴⁷ The companies were Burmin Exploration and Development and Tara.⁴⁸

The campaign moved fast. The Mayo Environmental Group, with Paddy Hopkins as chairman and Seán O'Malley as secretary, had the botanist David Bellamy on their side by April 1989.⁴⁹ That May the Archbishop of Tuam, Joseph Cassidy, wrote in the Irish Times that "its wealth is not in gold".⁵⁰ In July 1989 the minister, Bobby Molloy, promised no mining licence without an independent environmental impact assessment.⁵¹ On 24 May 1990 he told the Dáil he had decided to use his powers under the Minerals Development Act, 1940 "to exclude Croagh Patrick from prospecting because of the unique cultural and religious importance of the area".^52,53 The State's own gold report still records the area as excluded "due to its location near the summit of a mountain of pilgrimage".⁴⁷

Argue about itYou'll often read that Mayo County Council stopped the mine. The parliamentary record shows a minister's decision. The council did write a ban on mining into its development plan in 1992, but the courts found that beyond its powers.⁴⁸

Below the mountain

The Augustinian friary at Murrisk was founded around 1456 by Hugh O'Malley; the OPW says it "marked the start of the Croagh Patrick pilgrimage".⁵⁴ (A 1656 document names a Lady Maeve O'Connor as founder instead.²⁵) John Behan's bronze coffin ship nearby, the National Famine Memorial, was unveiled by President Mary Robinson on 20 July 1997.⁵⁵ Tóchar Phádraig, the old pilgrim road from Ballintubber Abbey, runs 35 km to the Reek and was restored in 1987.⁵⁶

At Boheh a rock carved with over 250 motifs, known as St Patrick's Chair, has a trick of light: around 18 April and 24 August, seen from the stone, the setting sun appears to roll down the Reek's north flank.²⁵ That this was a deliberate prehistoric alignment is the argument of Gerry Bracken and P. A. Wayman, made in Cathair na Mart in 1992; it's not settled.

Work on a rebuilt path began in December 2020, led by Mayo County Council, and the project was marked finished in April 2024. The Geological Survey's warning about the scree still stands: above 550 m it can be very unstable underfoot.^18,19,14

Sources & method

Weather and method

Open-Meteo.com forecast API: UK Met Office (UKMO), DWD ICON and ECMWF IFS models, pressure-level temperature, humidity, height and wind. Fetched live by your browser. link Data CC BY 4.0 (open-meteo.com/en/licence)
Lawrence, M. G. (2005). The relationship between relative humidity and the dewpoint temperature in moist air. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 86(2), 225–234. Source of the 125 m per °C cloud-base rule (his Eq. 22) and the Magnus constants used for dew point. link
WMO International Cloud Atlas: orographic cloud on the windward side of mountains, including caps and collars round isolated peaks; and "hill fog". link
Osczevski, R. and Bluestein, M. (2005). The new wind chill equivalent temperature chart. BAMS 86(10), 1453–1458. The "feels like" formula. link
Hirt, C. et al. (2010). Monitoring of the refraction coefficient in the lower atmosphere… J. Geophys. Res. 115. Why k = 0.13 is only a convention: near the ground it swings a lot. link
Sunrise and sunset colour: our own rule of thumb (some mid or high cloud to catch the light, little low cloud overhead, a clear run for the light on the sun's side, checked about 100 km out). Not a published method.

Elevation, maps and data licences

AWS Terrain Tiles (Terrarium PNG), compiled by Mapzen/Tilezen. Around here the source is EU-DEM v1.0, "produced using Copernicus data and information funded by the European Union – EU-DEM layers"; also SRTM (NASA), GMTED2010 (USGS) and ETOPO1 (NOAA). Used for the horizon, viewshed, profiles and the hero skyline. link Attribution terms: github.com/tilezen/joerd/blob/master/docs/attribution.md
OpenStreetMap contributors: summit positions and heights, the Irish names marked "Irish form: OpenStreetMap", towns, islands and piers, fetched through the Overpass API. link © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL
Map tiles: OpenFreeMap (Positron style), © OpenMapTiles, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Map library: MapLibre GL JS. link Free, open; MapLibre is BSD-licensed
Hill Top Views: Croagh Patrick summit position, 53.760043, −9.660112 (north-west corner of the chapel); drop 638 m. link

The mountain: name, height, rock, path

logainm.ie, Cruach Phádraig: the Irish name and the older Cruachán Aighle; the name is listed as non-validated. link Irish-language placename data by Logainm © Government of Ireland, CC BY 4.0
P. W. Joyce, The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places, vol. 1 (1910 edition), pp. 387–388: cruach, primarily a rick or stack of corn or hay, extended to round, stacked-looking hills; usually Croagh or Crogh in place names. Public domain. link
Wikipedia, Croagh Patrick: known locally as "the Reek", a Hiberno-English word for a rick or stack. link
Geological Survey Ireland, County Geological Site report MO037, Croagh Patrick Scree Gullies: 764 m; mainly Silurian (Cregganbaun Formation) quartzite and psammite; scree left by the last Ice Age; unstable underfoot above 550 m. link
Mayo County Council, Climb Croagh Patrick: 764 m (2,507 ft); a 7 km round trip. link
Discover Ireland, Car-free Croagh Patrick: "around three to four hours". link
Elfyn Jones, Croagh Patrick Footpath Condition Report, for Mountaineering Ireland (May 2013): path from Murrisk, about 5 km; about 30,000 on Reek Sunday; gives the height as 765 m. link
Mayo County Council (8 December 2020): work begins on the Croagh Patrick sustainable path. link
Mountaineering Ireland (30 April 2024): the Croagh Patrick path project concludes. link
Irish Times (31 March 2024): pathway to the top almost complete; about 120,000 climb each year. link
Tanner, P. W. G. (2014). Geological Magazine 151(6), 1072–1094: Irish gold–silver in 0.1–6 m quartz veins of Upper Silurian to Lower Devonian age, Croagh Patrick among them. link

Pilgrimage, legend and folklore

Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 4 (1908), "Croagh Patrick": the last Sunday in July "from time immemorial"; quotes the 1432 indulgence; gives "441". link
Archdiocese of Tuam on Croagh Patrick (catholicireland.net): Garland Friday; climbing in the dark until the 1970s. link
Westport Parish, Stations of the Reek (card; Imprimatur, Archbishop Michael Neary, July 2013). link
National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (Historic Environment Viewer): MA087-045 Leacht; MA087-044004 Leaba Phádraig; MA087-043001 Roilig Mhuire and cairns; MA087-044006 summit enclosure; MA087-044009 hut sites; MA087-044001 church; MA087-031001 Murrisk friary; MA097-006001 Boheh. Includes the 1838 Ordnance Survey letters. link
logainm.ie, Leacht Mhionnáin (Leaght Mionnain). link
logainm.ie, Reilig Mhuire. link
Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference (2022), via theway.ie: Domhnach na Cruaiche; about 100,000 climbers a year. link
Mayo-Ireland.ie: Reek Sunday 2026 (26 July) and Garland Friday (24 July). link
RTÉ Archives: 60,000 climb Croagh Patrick (1965). link
RTÉ News, 25 July 1999: "an estimated 25,000". link
The Irish Catholic (2014): "between 15,000 and 20,000". link
Irish News (26 July 2015): Reek Sunday called off after overnight storms; zero visibility. link
Tírechán, Collectanea §38 (late 7th century), translated by Ludwig Bieler; Latin text alongside (confessio.ie/more/tirechan_latin). confessio.ie (Royal Irish Academy). link
Annals of Ulster, 441 (CELT): "Bishop Patrick was approved in the Catholic faith." link
Annals of Ulster, U1113.2 (CELT): the ball of fire on Cruachain Aighle on the night of St Patrick's feast. link
The Tripartite Life of Patrick (c. 900), ed. Whitley Stokes (1887), part I, p. 115: the black birds, the bell, "Brigit's Gapling". link
The Schools' Collection (1930s), dúchas.ie: Patrick drives the serpents into Loch na Corra. link
The Metrical Dindshenchas (CELT): Cruachán Aigle, once Cruachán Garbrois, named for Aigle son of Derg. link
Máire MacNeill, The Festival of Lughnasa (Oxford University Press for the Irish Folklore Commission, 1962; reprinted Dublin 1982). link
Anne Ross, review of The Festival of Lughnasa, Scottish Studies: names for the day include Garland Sunday, Lammas Sunday and Domhnach Chrom Dubh. link

Archaeology

Excavations.ie 1994:186, Croagh Patrick summit (Gerry Walsh, Mayo County Council; licence 94E0115). link
Excavations.ie 1995:224: radiocarbon date cal. AD 430–890 from the oratory; trenches across the summit wall. link
Irish Times (17 March 1997): "Scientific evidence suggests Patrick climbed mountain". link
Dictionary of Irish Architects: Oratory of St Patrick, Croagh Patrick (W. H. Byrne & Son; dedicated 30 July 1905). link
Leo Morahan, Croagh Patrick, Co. Mayo: Archaeology, Landscape and People (Croagh Patrick Archaeological Committee, Westport, 2001). Further reading; not checked page by page.

The gold

Exploration and Mining Division, Gold in Ireland (2004): visible gold found in quartz veins at Lecanvey in 1984; a "geological reserve" of 498,000 t at 9.94 g/t; the area since excluded from prospecting licences. link
Supreme Court, Glencar Exploration plc v Mayo County Council [2001] IESC 64: names Burmin Exploration and Development plc and Tara Mines plc; the council's 1992 mining ban. link
RTÉ Archives, 28 April 1989 (Jim Fahy): David Bellamy backs the campaign against gold mining on Croagh Patrick; Mayo Environmental Group. link
Archbishop Joseph Cassidy, "Croagh Patrick: its wealth is not in gold", Irish Times, 6 May 1989 (as catalogued in the Tim Robinson papers, University of Galway archives). link
Dáil Éireann, 20 July 1989: Minister Bobby Molloy on independent environmental impact assessment. link
Dáil Éireann, 24 May 1990: Molloy excludes Croagh Patrick from prospecting under the Minerals Development Act, 1940. link
RTÉ Archives: mining ban on Croagh Patrick celebrated in Mayo. link

Below the mountain

OPW Heritage Ireland: Murrisk Abbey, founded around 1456 by Hugh O'Malley. link
Irish Famine Memorials: Murrisk, 1997 (John Behan's "Coffin Ship"; plaque: unveiled by President Mary Robinson on 20 July 1997). link
Mayo County Council: Tóchar Phádraig, Ballintubber Abbey to the Reek, 35 km; restored 1987. link

The panorama stories

Connacht Telegraph (20 June 2020): Doolough, scene of the 1849 famine tragedy. link
Department of Justice press release (2018): posthumous pardon for Myles Joyce (Maamtrasna, 1882). link
Archdiocese of Tuam: Máméan, Co. Galway (holy well, "St Patrick's Bed", revived pilgrimage). link
Wikipedia, Croaghaun (the sea-cliff claim; no official ranking found). link
Wikipedia, Mweelrea: "the highest mountain in the western province of Connacht", 814 m. link
Wikipedia, Benbaun: "the tallest mountain of the Twelve Bens range, and the county top for Galway". link
Wikipedia, Nephin: "the second-highest peak in Connacht (after Mweelrea)" and "the highest standalone mountain in Ireland". link
Wikipedia, Inishturk: highest point 189.3 m. link
Mayo County Council: Achill's Deserted Village and booleying. link
askaboutireland.ie: bridges (the Achill Sound swing bridge, 1887). link
Royal Irish Academy, New Survey of Clare Island (the 1909–11 survey and its 1992–2009 repeat). link
Mayo County Council: Inishturk (the 1805 signal tower). link
Catholic Encyclopedia, "School of Mayo" (Colmán and Inishbofin, after Bede). link
Archaeology magazine (4 February 2014): Caher Island's second pilgrimage circuit. link
RTÉ Archives: hippies in County Mayo (Dorinish). link
Commissioners of Irish Lights: Inishgort lighthouse. link
Geological Society: Clew Bay geosite (drowned drumlins). link
Irish Times (2012): how Westport won Best Place to Live in Ireland. link
Louisburgh–Killeen heritage: Louisburgh town (laid out 1795; the Louisbourg name). link
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage: St Patrick's Church, Newport (Harry Clarke window). link
BSBI: Erica erigena (Irish heath), status in Ireland. link
Mayo County Council: General Humbert and the Races of Castlebar. link
askaboutireland.ie: Yeats's epitaph at Drumcliff. link
OPW Heritage Ireland: Knocknarea, Queen Medb's tomb. link

Names and heights

logainm.ie, the Placenames Database of Ireland: Irish forms of the names in the panorama (entry numbers are given on each card). link Irish-language placename data by Logainm © Government of Ireland, CC BY 4.0

Folklore and legend are labelled as such in the text. Where sources disagree (the height, the station names, the chapel's date, who stopped the mine) the page says so. Facts we could not verify were left out. Licences: forecast data CC BY 4.0 (Open-Meteo); map and place data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); elevation data per the Terrain Tiles attribution above.