According to Irish academic Paul Tempan, British cartographerTim Robinson proposed the alternative name for the mountain, however, Tempan agreed that the existing OS map name of Bencorr was the correct version. Tempan records that the British armysappers set up a beacon on Bencorr during the first Ordnance Survey of Ireland in the 1830s, and that it is said that the subsidiary peak of Binn an tSaighdiúra was named after one of the sappers who fell to his death from the mountain.
Geography
Bencorr sits on its own mini-massif and is linked by a short high rocky north-eastern ridge to Bencorr North Top at, which gives Bencorr the profile of a "double summit" when viewed from a distance. One of Bencorr's more distinctive features is its long rocky north-easterly spur, known as Carrot Ridge, on which sits the subsidiary peaks of Binn an tSaighdiúra , and at the far end of the spur, Bencorrbeg. Bencorr lie at the junction of two major glaciated U-shaped valleys. To the northeast is the Gleninagh Valley ; while the northern and smaller corrie lies between the summit of Bencorr and Bencorr North Top and is known as Log an Choire Bhig. Both corries lead down into the Derryclare Wood and Lough Inagh. Bencorr's prominence of qualifies it as a Marilyn, and it also ranks it as the 48th-highest mountain in Ireland on the MountainViews Online Database, 100 Highest Irish Mountains, where the minimum prominence threshold is 100 metres.
Hill walking
The most straightforward route to climb Bencorr either via the pass of Maumina by walking up the Gleninagh valley, or by staying on higher ground by first climbing Bencorrbeg and then traversing Carrot Ridge to the summit; both routes total over 9-kilometres and 4–5 hours of walking. A larger horseshoe-type route can be formed from an 11–14 kilometre, 5–7 hour circuit of Derryclare and Bencorr, and either descending Bencorr's small spur between its two corries, or continuing on to Bencorr North Top and descending via Carrot Ridge. Bencorr is also climbed as part of the popular 16–kilometre, 8–9 hour Glencoaghan Horseshoe, considered one of the best ridge walks in Ireland. Bencorr is also climbed as part of the Gleninagh Horseshoe, a 15–kilometre, 8–9 hour route around the Gleninagh River usually done counter-clockwise starting at Knockpasheemore and ending at Bencorrbeg;
Rock climbing
Bencorr's northeast rocky spur, Carrot Ridge, is an important rock-climbing venue in Connemara with multi-pitch rock-climbs with grades varying from Diff to Very Severe, and length ranging from 150 to 320 metres. Classic climbing routes include Carrot Ridge, and Seventh Heaven. Tempan notes that there are records of Carrot Ridge being climbed as far back as 1933 by students from Cambridge University, however the route was named "Carrot Ridge" by Irish climber Joss Lynam who mistakenly believed that their ascent in 1949 was the first-ever ascent of the route; the Meacan Buí is simply a direct translation of Carrot Ridge. The large easterly corrie between the summits of Derryclare and the summit of Bencorr, Log an Choire Mhóir, also contains several large 200 metre multi-pitch graded rock climbs at grades of Diff to Very Diff, the most notable of which is The Knave ; and the smaller corrie between the summit of Bencorr and the summit of Bencorr North Top, Log an Choire Bhig, has a number of shorter but harder climbs including Corner Climb.
