Overview
Glenelly is the longest valley in the Sperrin Mountains, a glacial trough running through the middle of County Tyrone. It sits inside the Sperrin Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is farmed rather than manicured: rolling pasture, dry-stone walls and heather-topped slopes, with the little crossroads village of Plumbridge on the river at its lower end. The draw isn’t a single sight but the whole quiet length of it, best taken slowly – by car on the narrow roads, or on foot off them. Its Irish name, Gleann Eallaigh, means the valley of the cattle.
The archaeology
For its size, Glenelly is thick with prehistory. It’s known for its raths – circular earthen enclosures that served as forts and farmsteads for local chieftains in the early Christian period – and for a scatter of Bronze Age monuments: wedge tombs, stone circles, portal tombs and stone rows. If you want specific targets, the Clogherny Wedge Tomb, the Goles Stone Row and the Glenroan Portal Tomb (known locally as Dermot and Gráinne’s Bed) are among the best. The stone Goles Bridge over the River Glenelly is the most-photographed spot in the valley, and a good place to start.
History and the Irish of Glenelly
The valley has form as a battleground. In 858 AD, in a clash recorded at Glenn Foichle, Áed Findliath, king of Ailech, heavily defeated a Viking force that had probably pushed inland from Lough Neagh or the Bann.
Glenelly also held onto the Irish language longer than most of Tyrone. Well into the 20th century it was home to some of the county’s last native speakers, and when the linguists Gearóid Stockman and Heinrich Wagner recorded the dialect in the 1960s they found it closer to Donegal Irish than to the other Tyrone dialects – a trace of old cross-border movement that predates the modern line on the map.
Walking and driving
There is good walking here, but go prepared rather than by a fixed itinerary. Waymarked routes cross the Sperrins, and the obvious plan is to link a few of the tombs and the bridge into a loop on the quiet lanes; higher up, the open peat and sudden mist mean map-and-compass skills still earn their keep. The Sperrins’ driving roads have been singled out by Discover Northern Ireland – and, they’ll tell you, by National Geographic – among the finest scenic drives, and Glenelly’s share of them is a large part of the reason. Early light along the stone walls is when it looks its best.
A large wooden sculpture by the Danish artist Thomas Dambo stands in the valley, one of a set he built across the Sperrins, and it’s worth a short stop for the photo.
Nearby
Corrick Abbey, said to have been founded by St Columba around 560 AD and later a Franciscan friary, stands in ruins just outside the valley. St Patrick’s Church in upper Badoney, built in 1784 on an older site, holds the gravestone of the mathematician James MacCullagh.
Practical information
- Getting there: the valley runs between Plumbridge and the Sperrin heartland on narrow B-roads. A car gives you the most freedom, as public transport to the surrounding villages is limited.
- Parking: laybys serve the popular walking and viewing points; some spots are on local land, so park considerately.
- Where to stay: there are no hotels in the valley itself – look for B&Bs and self-catering cottages in Plumbridge and the surrounding Sperrin villages, and book ahead in summer.
- Weather: open moorland, so bring a waterproof whatever the forecast says.
Go for a day or two of settled weather if you can, start early, and give yourself time to stop at the tombs and Goles Bridge rather than driving straight through. The valley is the attraction, not a route to somewhere else.