The source of many of our placenames lies in our Gaelic past. Divis, Carnmoney, Colin and Slievenacloy have retained versions of their older Gaelic names. The ridge behind Collin mountain is called Slievenagravery ~ Sliabh na gCreabhairí ‘the mountain of the woodcocks’, birds which thrive in moist woodlands and bogs. Older names for some of the other hills have also survived; Mullaghglass ~An Mullach Glas ‘the green hill top’ became Boomer’s Hill; Altnakey~Alt na Cuaiche ‘the valley of the cuckoo’ became Armstrong’s Hill. Cuckoos can still be heard amongst its scrub and hedgerows as they scan for meadow pipit nests across the mosses and heather of Divis and Standing Stones Hill.

Wolf Hill gets its name from the tradition that the last wolf in Ireland was killed there in 1692. However, 17^th century documentation offers us a number of earlier names such as Sleughtinermore ~ Sleacht an Fhir Mhóir ‘the cairn of the big man or giant’ which got its name from a standing stone or commemorative cairn on its slopes. According to Irish folklore bad luck and misfortune followed those who tampered with these stones.

The striking landscape of the hills inevitably features in their townland names. Some describe the physical characteristics, including the very rock that makes the hills, while other reflect mankind’s influence on the landscape. The dark basalt of the hills and the contrasting chalk is reflected in the English names Black Mountain and (the much later) Whiterock, and also in the Irish names Divis ~ Dubhais ‘black ridge’ and Ligoniel ~ Lag an Aoil ‘the hollow of the limestone’.

The range of trees in the foothills are evident in the townlands names which include references to trees such as saileán ‘willows or ‘sallies’, fearn ‘alder’, doire ‘oak’, coll ‘hazel’ and muine ‘thicket or scrub wood’. Trees have been important to the Irish from earliest times. In the fifth century, the creators of the first Irish alphabet, called Ogham, even named their letters after trees.

The name of the large Iron Age rath of Dunnaney Fort, or Nancy’s Fort, is probably from the Irish Dún Áine meaning ‘the fort of Áine’. She was an ancient Irish sun-goddess who was associated with summer, love and fertility. Her name means brightness or radiance. Fire rituals were performed in her honour on hilltops up until the late 19th century. In some parts of Ireland she was thought to have been the Queen of the Fairies.

Some names reflect the Christian heritage of the hills such as Templepatrick (the church of St Patrick) and Shankill (the old church), two of the five civil parishes which converge on the Belfast hills. It is also likely that Budore ‘hut or cell of oak’ refers to the site of an early Christian hermitage and that Bolgan Well at Slievenacloy and the townland of Bovolgan ~Both Bholgáin ‘the hut of Bolgán’ also echo Christian traditions. Some scholars have suggested that the latter are named after St Olcan, a contemporary of St Patrick normally associated with the Dál Riata of north Antrim.

Although a 15th century Irish source calls it Beann Uamha ‘the hill of the cave’, its more common name was Beann Mhadagáin, and Mac Art’s Fort was Dún Mhadagáin. They were both named after Matudán (†857 AD), a king of the Ulaidh (Ull-ee), the tribe which gave its name to Ulster.

Ben Madigan has long been associated with The O’Neills of Clandeboy who controlled the area from the 14th century until Elizabethan times. In 1556 the Earl of Sussex was told that in Ben Vadagan … there ‘is a great cave where is the treasure of the country of Clandeboy’. The O’Neills of northern Clandeboy were inaugurated at McArt’s Fort which lies in the townland of Ballyaghagan. This townland is named after the Ó hEachaidhín family, who for several hundred years acted as hereditary bards to the O’Neills. As their patrons disappeared or lost their land, these bards descended into obscurity, and most of them changed their name to Hagan or Hawkins. A few became clergymen, others became highwaymen. The most famous of these was Neece O’Haughian, who haunted the hills of Antrim from the Braid to Colin Mountain until he was caught and hanged at Carrickfergus in 1720. His treasure is said to be buried in the Belfast Hills, five jumps to the east of a spot where you can see five castles, five loughs and five counties.