Mountains in Early Modern times.

  There are some references to the mountains in Irish literature. A notable one is from Brian Merriman in his Cúirt an Mheán Oíche from the 18th Century.

Ba ghnáth mé ar siúl le ciumhais na habhann

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Ar bháinseach úr is an drúcht go trom,

In aice na gcoillte i gcoim an tsléibhe

Gan mhairg gan mhoill ar shoilseadh an lae.

 Do ghealadh mo chroí nuair chínn Loch Gréine,

  An talamh, an tír, is íor na spéire 

 Ba thaitneamhach aoibhinn suíomh na sléibhte 

 Ag bagairt a gcinn thar dhroim a chéile.

Translation of underlined:

By the edge of the woods on the wild mountainside

At the dawn of the day I'd cheerfully stride.

This might indicate, if not for the requirements of metre and rhyme, that he was accustomed to walk in the hollows or cooms (cwms) of the mountains and simply for the pleasure of doing so.

The Rapparees:  

Crotty's Lake

    This was a cohort of 'outlaws' that used the hills and mountains as a place of refuge from the authorities.  The poem 'Eamon an Cnoic' is the story of Ned Ryan, an 18th Century rapparee, who was a folk hero in Co Tipperary.  He may have used the hills and mountains of Tipperary, as the poem's title indicates,  as a base from which to operate as others did in different parts of the country.  The Ryans will appear at a much later time in this story.

        Lough Coumgaurha or Crotty's Lake was named for the 18th C.highwayman. William Crotty was a notorious highwayman and rapparee, who carried on his depredations in the south of Ireland early in the 18th century. His name is given to a cave and a lough amongst the Comeragh mountains. He was regarded as a man of desperate courage, and unequalled personal agility, often baffling pursuers.

        Guided by the wife of one of Crotty's partners in crime he was captured & was executed at Waterford, 18th March 1742, and for a long time his head remained spiked over the gateway of the jail.

This may be meagre evidence but it does indicate that the uplands and mountains were being frequented by the people and for a variety of reasons up to modern times.

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