Overview
The 225-metre lattice tower on top of Mullaghanish is the tallest television mast in Ireland, and the reason most people know the hill at all. For anyone who grew up in the southwest, ‘a problem with the transmitter at Mullaghanish’ was the dreaded caption that killed the evening’s telly. The mountain itself – Mullach an Ois, ‘summit of the deer’, 649 m in the Derrynasaggart range north-east of Ballyvourney – is a boggy, flat-topped thing that no one would climb for its own sake. You climb it for the mast, and for the view.
Be clear about what this walk is: a steady plod up the tarmac service road that maintenance crews use to reach the transmitter. It is not a wild mountain trail. If you want a proper Cork hill, the Paps of Anu to the south are a better climb. But if you want big views for little effort, in almost any weather, on a surface you can’t get lost on, Mullaghanish delivers – the road starts high, so the actual ascent is short.
The walk to the summit
From the parking on the minor road, the route simply follows the access road up through the forestry and onto the open top. It’s about 7 km there and back; because you start at roughly 430 m, the climb to the 649 m summit is modest, and most reasonably fit walkers will do it in two to three hours with stops. Walkers after a longer day can link it into the waymarked Mullaghanish Way, which runs around 13.8 km.
The top is soft peat and rock, exposed and windswept. In dry spells the road keeps your feet clean the whole way; step off it after rain and the ground turns to deep bog, so boots with grip are worth having. There are no facilities of any kind on the hill – carry your own water and food.
One thing to check before you go: the service road is occasionally closed for safety while crews work on the mast, so look out for signage at the gate.
Getting there and parking
There’s no public transport to the mountain. Coming from Ballyvourney on the N22 (the Killarney–Macroom road), follow the small blue signs for Mullaghanish from the centre of the village. Parking at the gate is limited – room for only about ten cars – so come early on a fine weekend or bank holiday. There’s an alternative forest access pull-in a couple of kilometres on, near Knockullane, if the gate is full.
Most visitors drive in from Cork city (about 80 km) or Killarney (around 70 km).
The view
The summit stands right on the Cork–Kerry border, and on a clear day that’s the whole point. The land falls away into the Blackwater, Clydagh and Lee valleys, with the Paps of Anu and Caherbarnagh close by to the north and west, and ridgelines of the Derrynasaggart range running off in every direction. An information board at the mast base explains the site’s coverage and history.
The hill’s name remembers deer that are long gone, but the open peatland still holds red grouse, curlew and other upland birds, and the quiet – broken only by wind and the hum of the compound – makes it a fair spot for photography in the low light of spring and autumn evenings.
Broadcasting heritage
Mullaghanish was one of Telefís Éireann’s original five main television transmitters, coming on air in December 1962 and in full service by September 1963, carrying the first TV signal to Cork, Kerry and Limerick. The old 170 m mast was taken down after the current 225 m structure went up in 2009 for the switch to digital (Saorview); analogue finally ended in October 2012. It’s now the most powerful TV transmitter in the country, also carrying six FM radio services and feeding 20 relay transmitters – more than any other Irish TV site. The compound itself is fenced and off-limits; the open summit around it is not.
Nearby
Down in Ballyvourney, the ruins of St Gobnait’s church and her holy well mark the 6th-century site of the saint who is patron of beekeepers – a quiet, historic counterpoint to the climb, and a few minutes from the trailhead. For food after the walk, the Mills Inn at Ballyvourney is the usual stop. Further south, the Paps of Anu offer a tougher summit for experienced walkers.
After the hill, drop into the Mills Inn, and time your visit for a clear evening – on a grey, low-cloud day there is genuinely nothing to see up top but the mast vanishing into the murk.