The Big Gun
mountain in Kerry, Ireland
The Big Gun (Irish: An Gunna Mór), at 939 metres (3,081 ft) high, is the ninth-highest peak in Ireland on the Arderin list, or the tenth-highest according to the Vandeleur-Lynam list. It is part of the MacGillycuddy's Reeks in County Kerry, and is also known as Lackagarrin or Foilnabreachaun.
Geography
The Big Gun is in the eastern section of the MacGillycuddy's Reeks in County Kerry, Ireland's highest mountain range. It is on a narrow rocky arête between the mountains of Cnoc na Péiste 988 metres (3,241 ft) to the southwest, and Cruach Mhór 932 metres (3,058 ft) to the north, and is considered as offering some of the most exposed and serious hill walking in Ireland (equivalent to The Bones on the nearby Beenkeragh Ridge).
Because of its positioning, The Big Gun is usually climbed as part of a horseshoe, or loop-walk, of the eastern section of the Reeks, starting and ending from the Hag's Glen. It is also climbed as part of the even longer MacGillycuddy's Reeks Ridge Walk, which often starts at The Big Gun's eastern end, from Kate Kearney's Cottage in the Gap of Dunloe.
The Big Gun is the 378th-highest mountain peak in Britain and Ireland on the Simm classification. It is regarded by the Scottish Mountaineering Club ("SMC") as one of 34 Furths, which is a mountain peak above 3,000 ft (914 m) in elevation, and meets the other SMC criteria for a Munro (e.g. "sufficient separation"), but which is outside of (or furth) Scotland; which is why The Big Gun is sometimes referred to as one of the 13 Irish Munros.
The Big Gun's prominence qualifies it to meet the Arderin classification, and the British Isles Simm and Hewitt classifications.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Big Gun” as mountain in Kerry, Ireland. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as mountain in Kerry, Ireland. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7717657. Authority coordinates are 52.001, -9.689. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Big Gun”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Big Gun primary sources, The Big Gun archive and mountain research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Big Gun” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.