There are 125 distinctly separate mountain and hill ranges in Ireland. The perimeters and boundaries of these upland areas were defined by Kieron Gribbon in 2015 while compiling the Irish Range High Points list. We have created an alphabetical list of all the mountain / hill ranges in Ireland and plotted them on a handy interactive map below to help you identify Ireland's upland areas.
Click here for the criteria used to identify upland area perimeters and boundaries between neighbouring upland areas
31 of Ireland's 125 upland areas are classed as mountain ranges.
Please note that we have illustrated these upland areas based purely on their topography in comparison to surrounding land. It should not be assumed that access is permitted to any of the upland areas illustrated on this website. Where local access restrictions exist (e.g. those indicated by "Private Property" signs, "No Trespassing" signs, etc), we strongly advise that you comply with the relevant landowner's wishes.
Upland areas offer great walking opportunities all year round, however we particularly recommend exploring them during months when the days are longest. For this reason, we promote upland walking as our monthly theme for June.
#JuneUplandWalk
Click here for the criteria used to identify upland area perimeters and boundaries between neighbouring upland areas
31 of Ireland's 125 upland areas are classed as mountain ranges.
Please note that we have illustrated these upland areas based purely on their topography in comparison to surrounding land. It should not be assumed that access is permitted to any of the upland areas illustrated on this website. Where local access restrictions exist (e.g. those indicated by "Private Property" signs, "No Trespassing" signs, etc), we strongly advise that you comply with the relevant landowner's wishes.
Upland areas offer great walking opportunities all year round, however we particularly recommend exploring them during months when the days are longest. For this reason, we promote upland walking as our monthly theme for June.
#JuneUplandWalk
All-Ireland map
Each red polygon on the map below represents the extents of a mountain / hill range in Ireland. Click on a polygon for further information about that area. All the upland areas marked on this map have also been listed in alphabetical order below.
Alphabetical list
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Criteria
What is an upland area?
An upland area is a geographical region where the land surface is sufficiently hilly or mountainous to be described as a hill range or mountain range. Some sources classify an area as being upland if it lies above an enclosing 300m contour. We believe this definition is too general as it disregards lower hilly areas which are distinctly not lowland in nature. Instead, we have applied a specific set of criteria to identify the perimeter of every upland area in Ireland.
Identifying and plotting Ireland's upland areas
The following criteria was drawn up by Kieron Gribbon when he was compiling Ireland's Range High Points list (pub. 2015).
In order to compile Ireland's Range High Points list, Kieron Gribbon had to first identify and plot every Irish upland area's perimeter based on the above criteria. Surprisingly, such a task had never been done before and had to be undertaken from scratch. It was only after all 125 Irish upland areas were accurately plotted that it became possible to identify the Range High Point locations themselves.
It is worth noting that an inferior list of hill areas and sub-areas is widely referred to throughout the MountainViews website where a very crude perimeter has been drawn for each area by simply "joining the dots" (each dot being one of the area's outermost summits). The crudeness of this lazy method is most obvious where a MountainViews' hill area containing three or four summits is represented by a simple triangle. Many of MountainViews' join-the-dot hill areas include substantial amounts of relatively flat lowlands and even areas of sea but exclude significant portions of high ground. We strongly recommend that MountainViews' lazy attempt at defining Ireland's hill areas be ignored and that our accurately-drawn upland area perimeters, as shown on the map above, be recognised as the official boundaries Ireland's hill ranges and mountain ranges.
An upland area is a geographical region where the land surface is sufficiently hilly or mountainous to be described as a hill range or mountain range. Some sources classify an area as being upland if it lies above an enclosing 300m contour. We believe this definition is too general as it disregards lower hilly areas which are distinctly not lowland in nature. Instead, we have applied a specific set of criteria to identify the perimeter of every upland area in Ireland.
Identifying and plotting Ireland's upland areas
The following criteria was drawn up by Kieron Gribbon when he was compiling Ireland's Range High Points list (pub. 2015).
- The highest summit in an upland area must be at least 150m higher than the highest point on that area's perimeter.
- The highest summit in an upland area must also have the greatest prominence within that area.
- The key col of an upland area's highest summit must lie either on or outside that area's perimeter.
- In addition to its highest summit, (as defined in points 1, 2 and 3 above), an upland area must also contain no less than two other summits which are at least 100m higher than the highest point on that area's perimeter. At least two of these additional summits must also have a prominence of 50m or more.
- The lowest point on an upland area's perimeter is also the lowest point in that area as a whole.
- The highest point on the boundary between two adjoining upland areas is the lowest col along the highest ridge linking those two areas' highest summits.
- An upland area's perimeter can be defined by a combination of rivers, valleys, lakes, coastlines, cols, and / or obvious flattening of the surrounding lower ground.
- An upland area cannot be bisected by a natural watercourse (e.g. a river or stream). In other words, all natural watercourses flowing within an upland area must have all their sources in that same upland area.
In order to compile Ireland's Range High Points list, Kieron Gribbon had to first identify and plot every Irish upland area's perimeter based on the above criteria. Surprisingly, such a task had never been done before and had to be undertaken from scratch. It was only after all 125 Irish upland areas were accurately plotted that it became possible to identify the Range High Point locations themselves.
It is worth noting that an inferior list of hill areas and sub-areas is widely referred to throughout the MountainViews website where a very crude perimeter has been drawn for each area by simply "joining the dots" (each dot being one of the area's outermost summits). The crudeness of this lazy method is most obvious where a MountainViews' hill area containing three or four summits is represented by a simple triangle. Many of MountainViews' join-the-dot hill areas include substantial amounts of relatively flat lowlands and even areas of sea but exclude significant portions of high ground. We strongly recommend that MountainViews' lazy attempt at defining Ireland's hill areas be ignored and that our accurately-drawn upland area perimeters, as shown on the map above, be recognised as the official boundaries Ireland's hill ranges and mountain ranges.
