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WITH his goatee beard and lean outline he gazes from his statue in a small Pyrenean town, a legendary figure and mountaineer extraordinaire. Count Henry Russell, who died 100 years ago this month, was a lover of the Pyrenees, a man seduced by the mountain air and the beauty of the peaks.

Exotically named Comte Henry Patrick Marie Russell-Killough, he came from a long lineage associated with Killough Castle in Co Down and was known as the Baron of Ulster. In the 11th century the Irish Russells were given the title after being granted lands when they helped Henry II to invade Ireland.