Croagh Patrick, a 764-metre mountain in County Mayo overlooking Clew Bay, is one of western Ireland’s most distinctive landmarks and one of its most enduring holy mountains. Sacred long before Christianity, it was a focus of ritual activity from at least the Neolithic and stood within a wider Bronze Age ceremonial landscape marked by carvings, cairns, huts, and an enclosure. Later closely associated with Saint Patrick, it has had a summit church since the 5th century and became a major pilgrimage site. Reek Sunday still draws thousands, even as erosion from heavy use and a rejected gold-mining proposal have underscored pressures on the mountain.