The place names connected to White Mountain show the community’s engagement with the landscape. The most common name for the mountain in Irish is ‘Bran Scultair.’ Along the ridge of the mountain there are several spectacular rocky outcrops called tors but known locally as ‘Brans’. The name ‘Bran’ is connected to Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the legendary giant of Irish mythology, who was said to have a dog called Bran who would play on the rocks.
Close to the summit of White Mountain at just over 500 metres high, a triangulation pillar from the Ordnance Survey’s mapping of Ireland perches on top of Bran Scultair. This concrete pillar is part of a network of ‘triangulation points’ that dot the Irish landscape. In order to accurately measure the landscape, each triangulation point was positioned with a line of sight to two others so that triangles could be drawn, and exact measurements of distance be made.
Further down, the forest cover gives way to rich farmland where a mixture of crop growing, and animal rearing can be seen. On the lower slopes sits the small, quiet village of Templeudigan or Templeludigan, named from the Irish ‘Teampall Lúdagáin’, ‘the Church of Saint Ludigan.’ Ludigan, also spelled as Lugidon, was believed to have been a nephew of Saint Patrick, suggesting that the existence of a church here dates back almost 1,500 years. The village contains a monument to the 1798 United Irishmen Rebellion and a beautifully restored water pump dating from the early 1900s.