Plumbridge, Droichead an Phluma, Co. County Tyrone

Droichead an Phluma · Co. County Tyrone

A village in a river valley between Sperrin ridges. The road follows the Glenelly River. The mountains start immediately.

Plumbridge is a small village in the Glenelly Valley in the Sperrin Mountains. The Glenelly River comes down out of the hills and the village sits at a bend in it. The population at the last count was around 267. The surrounding hills are Sperrin upland - open moorland, heather, no trees above the intake walls.

The valley has been inhabited for a long time. In 858 AD a battle was fought in Glenn Foichle - this valley - and recorded in the Irish Annals. The armies were Viking and Irish. The valley floor is flat enough to have made a reasonable killing ground. Nothing marks the site.

The mathematician James MacCullagh was born at Landahaussy, a townland close to the village, in 1809. He went to Trinity College Dublin, became a Fellow, and in 1842 was given the Copley Medal by the Royal Society. His work was on light and crystal optics - abstract enough that the valley he came from has never made much of it. He died in 1847.

The Central Sperrins Way runs through the valley. It is 25 miles of mainly road and track through the heart of the Sperrin range. Plumbridge is on it. The walking on the uplands above - toward Donaghanie and the surrounding ridges - is open and mostly untracked. Come with a map.

Population

~267 (2001 census)

Walk score

Village in five minutes; the valley road keeps going

Coords

54.7731° N, 7.2136° W

01 / 05

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The Glenelly Valley

A long valley through the centre of the Sperrins.

The Glenelly River runs east to west along the valley floor and the B47 follows it. Plumbridge sits at the western end of the inhabited valley, where the road bends and the hills close in. Drive east and the valley opens out - farmland between moorland ridges, scattered houses, almost no traffic on a weekday. The Viking armies who fought here in 858 AD left nothing you can see. The landscape looks much as it did before them.

Walks & outings → 02 James MacCullagh

Born a mile from here. Won the Copley Medal in 1842.

The mathematician James MacCullagh was born in 1809 at Landahaussy, a townland a short distance from Plumbridge. He became a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin and in 1842 was awarded the Copley Medal - the Royal Society's highest honour, then as now. He worked on the theory of light and on optical properties of crystals. He died in 1847, aged thirty-eight. There is no monument in the valley.

Stories & lore → 03 Walking country

The Central Sperrins Way passes through.

The Central Sperrins Way is a 25-mile linear walk that runs through the Glenelly Valley. The route passes Plumbridge on its way east toward Barnes Gap and beyond. The Sperrin uplands above the valley - Donaghanie and the surrounding ridges - are open walking country. There are no maintained summit trails; this is map-and-boots territory rather than waymarked paths.

Walks & outings →

02 / 05

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Glenelly Bar

Local, no frills

Traditional village pub

10 Glenelly Road. The pub in Plumbridge. A straightforward local bar serving the valley community. Not a destination pub, not a sessions venue every night. If you have been walking the Central Sperrins Way or the uplands above the village, this is where you end up.

03 / 05

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

858 AD - recorded in the Annals

The battle of Glenn Foichle

The Irish Annals record a battle fought in Glenn Foichle in 858 AD. The glen is identified as the Glenelly Valley. A Viking force engaged an Irish army here. The entry is brief - the Annals are not expansive on the mechanics of individual engagements. Nothing on the valley floor marks the site and there has been no archaeological investigation of specific battle remains. But the valley was clearly known and contested, which tells you something about what it was like to live here in the ninth century.

Mathematician, 1809-1847

James MacCullagh

James MacCullagh was born in 1809 at Landahaussy, a townland near Plumbridge. His father was a farmer. He went to Trinity College Dublin on a scholarship and spent his career there, eventually becoming a Fellow and then Erasmus Smith's Professor of Mathematics. In 1842 the Royal Society awarded him the Copley Medal for his work on the reflection and refraction of light. Three years later he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He died in Dublin in 1847, apparently by suicide, at thirty-eight. The valley he came from has no memorial to him.

04 / 05

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Central Sperrins Way (through Plumbridge) The waymarked Central Sperrins Way runs east-west through the Glenelly Valley and passes Plumbridge. The full route is 25 miles from the Barnes Gap area through the valley and beyond. Walking the valley section on the B47 and surrounding tracks gives you the Sperrin landscape at valley level - river, farmland, ridgelines above. WalkNI.com carries the route description and current waymarking information.

25 miles (linear, full route)distance

Multiple days or one long day for sectionstime

Sperrin uplands - Donaghanie and surrounding ridges The moorland above the valley on both sides is open access land. No maintained summit trails - navigation by map and compass is required above the intake walls. The Donaghanie area gives good elevated views along the valley and toward the higher Sperrin summits to the east. Go on a clear day. In cloud this is featureless high bog and not somewhere to navigate by feel.

Variabledistance

Half day to full daytime

Getting there.

By car

Plumbridge is on the B47 in the Glenelly Valley. Omagh is approximately 14 miles south via the B47 and B46. Gortin is roughly 5 miles southwest - the B47 connects them through the valley. Strabane is approximately 18 miles northwest. There is no through route eastward over the Sperrins by car from Plumbridge - the valley road is the road.

By bus

No scheduled bus service currently operates through the village. The practical access is by car. Check Translink at translink.co.uk for any updated rural service covering the Glenelly Valley.

By train

No rail service. The nearest stations are Derry (Waterside) on the Belfast-Derry line, approximately 25 miles northwest, and Portadown to the southeast. A car is the practical option from either.

By air

City of Derry Airport (LDY) is approximately 30 miles northwest. Belfast International is roughly 70 miles east. Hire a car from either - there is no practical public transport route from either airport to the Glenelly Valley.