Regional library

Wicklow Mountains & Midlands Library

Discover the published walking routes of the Wicklow Mountains, St Kevin’s Way and the ancient roads and glacial ridges of the Midlands, alongside guides to Irish hill lists and names.

14guides currently selected4library sections

Hiking Route Guides

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2 guides

Route Guide1 GPX download

Lugnaquilla via Glen of Imaal Tourist Route

The Glen of Imaal tourist-route out-and-back via Camarahill to Lugnaquilla, with artillery-range checks essential.

17 Aug 2026Read Guide

Route Guide1 GPX download

Great Sugar Loaf via Red Lane

The popular short ascent of Great Sugar Loaf from Red Lane, following open moorland and a rocky summit path.

11 Aug 2026Read Guide

Hill Lists and People

Guide

Simms: the hill category that tidied up the lists

If you've ever wondered why British hill lists seem unnecessarily complicated, Simms offer a rare moment of clarity. Introduced by Alan Dawson in 2010, a Simm is any summit over 600 metres with at least 30 metres of drop all round – a definition that consolidated several older, overlapping lists like Murdos, Corbett Tops, Graham Tops and Hewitts into something more coherent.

28 Sept 2026Read

Guide

Vandeleur-Lynams and the 15-metre line between an Irish summit and a subsidiary top

The Vandeleur-Lynam list uses a 15-metre prominence threshold, low enough that it includes subsidiary tops alongside independent mountains. As at 31 December 2023 it contained 275 locations above 600 metres: 209 mountain summits, 14 hill summits just short of 2,000 feet, and 52 subsidiary tops with less than 30 metres of prominence.

03 Nov 2026Read

Guide

The Dodds: When Three Regional Lists Became One Metric Classification

Between 500 and 600 metres sits a collection of hills that used to be split across Deweys, Donald Deweys and Highland Fives—until the idea emerged in 2014 to unify them under a single name that works across Britain.

02 Nov 2026Read

Guide

The Furths: Britain's other 3000-footers

If you've ticked off Scotland's 282 Munros and need something to do with your weekends that doesn't involve developing an entirely new obsession, there are 34 more 3000-foot peaks scattered across Wales, England and Ireland that the Scottish Mountaineering Club has quietly been maintaining in their official tables since 1953.

29 Sept 2026Read

Guide

Simms: the hill category that tidied up the lists

28 Sept 2026Read

Guide

Marilyns: Why a 150-Metre Drop is the Real Test of a Hill

Think altitude is everything? See why a 150-metre drop identifies Britain’s 1,550 Marilyns, and how the list changed in 2025.

24 Aug 2026Read

Guide

The Hewitts: A Study in Prominence and Persistence

A classification that ignores the "pretty" peaks to focus on the physical effort and distinct logic of the high ground.

24 Aug 2026Read

Guide

The HuMPs: The Geography of Independence

Forget the highest peaks and look at the hills that stand on their own—this is the fascinating, mathematical world of the HuMPs.

24 Aug 2026Read

Guide

Vandeleur-Lynams and the 15-metre line between an Irish summit and a subsidiary top

03 Nov 2026Read

Guide

Simms: the hill category that tidied up the lists

28 Sept 2026Read

History and Heritage

3 guides

Guide

Slí Mhór: Ireland's Five Ancient Roads from Tara

Medieval texts mention five roads from Tara. Some traces survive, but the full routes are guesswork. Here's what we actually know.

31 Oct 2026Read

Guide

Esker Riada: The Glacial Ridge That Became Ireland's Dry Route West

The Esker Riada is a glacial ridge that provided an east-west route through wetlands for millennia, with settlement evidence scattered along its length. Claims about Bronze Age toll stations, defended checkpoints, or lidar-revealed fortifications go beyond what archaeology supports, but the ridge itself remains a genuine monument to Ireland's need for solid ground.

31 Oct 2026Read

Guide

St Kevin's Way: A 30-Kilometre Route That Includes Old Paving, Not Vertical Drama

St Kevin's Way runs approximately 30 kilometres from Hollywood or Valleymount to Glendalough, incorporating old trackways and sections of paving. Claims of rock staircases carved in exactly three vertical places aren't supported, but the route still shows where pilgrims chose effort over ease—even if the steepest sections were never quite as theatrical as the stories suggest.

31 Oct 2026Read

Landscape and Place Names

2 guides

Guide

Slieve, Sliabh, and Sleeve: When One Mountain Word Has Three Spellings

Slieve means 'mountain' in Irish, but centuries of Anglicisation turned sliabh into slieve, sleeve, and occasionally slee, depending on which mapmaker showed up first. The pronunciation stayed the same—the spelling just gave up.

10 Oct 2026Read

Guide

How Glaciers Carved Britain’s Valleys

Moving ice widened and deepened existing river valleys, grinding the floor and sides into the broad U-shape seen across Britain’s uplands. The article will explain corries, hanging valleys and the marks glaciers left on exposed rock.

04 Sept 2026Read

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