One of Ireland’s most visited waterfalls

Torc Waterfall is some 70 feet high and is fed by the Owengarriff river. Its name comes from the Irish translation for a ‘wild boar’ and has 2 legends associated with it. The first is of a man who was cursed by the devil and was transformed into a wild boar every night. When the secret was revealed by a local farmer, the man burst into flames and disappeared into The Devil’s Punchbowl where the river emerged to hide the entrance to his cave behind the waterfall. The second tells the story of how the legendary Irish warrior, Fionn MacCumhaill, killed a magical boar on Torc mountain with his golden spear! Back in reality – The geology of this area is also interesting as the river flows over the Muckross to Millstreet Fault Line. The top of this mountain is 400 million-year-old Devonian Old Red Sandstone, however, the base around Muckross Lake is about 100 million years younger consisting of carboniferous limestone. At some stage, after the limestone was deposited, a period of tectonic-plate collision occurred and the land under Torc Mountain was lifted 3,000 meters, re-exposing the underlying older sandstone. You can walk or hike here from Ross Castle but the best way to get here is by horse & cart from Muckross House which is only 3km away.