The Caves of the Tullybrack and Belmore hills are a collection of caves in southwest County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The region is also described as the West Fermanagh Scarplands by environmental agencies and shares many similar karst features with the nearby Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark.
The caves are situated under the hills of Tullybrack (386 m (1,266 ft)) – which incorporates Glenkeel (373 m (1,224 ft)) and Knockmore (280 m (920 ft)) – and Belmore (398 m (1,306 ft)), and feature three major cave systems: Reyfad–Glenkeel, Noon's Hole–Arch Cave and Boho Caves.[1][2] They have been described as nationally significant by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.[3]
The caves and related features are formed predominantly in the Dartry Limestone Formation – a sequence of rocks assigned to the Asbian sub-stage of the Visean stage of the Carboniferous period. Within this formation, the Knockmore Limestone Member is also an important cave-forming rock sequence. Cave development occurred within the Quaternary period and certain features are ascribed to the Holocene epoch of the last 10,000 years.
With the exception of Arch Cave, all of the caves and related karstic features listed below have been designated as provisional Areas of Special Scientific Interest (provisional ASSIs, or PASSIs), a conservation designation in Northern Ireland equivalent to SSSIs in other parts of the United Kingdom.