The 'Unmapped places' project is mapping previously unrecorded names and stories of the Cairngorm Mountains, Am Monadh Ruadh, as used by people who live or work in the hills.
These 'living' landscape names are the iceberg tips of social history and stories - they are oral records of the connection between people and land. Here, in the only sub-arctic habitat in Britain, connections with humans go back millennia.
The writer and activist Alastair McIntosh holds that cultural loss is ecological loss, and vice versa. Research from the James Hutton Institute shows that we are well into the last 10 years of consistent snow cover in the Cairngorms. Our home is changing before our very eyes. It looks different, smells different, feels different.
Against this backdrop of change, capturing place names in current everyday use helps to share lived-in, grounded knowledge, which may be unknown or undervalued amongst wider audiences. It may also help to evolve our 'view' of the mountains, adding richness, and making these human relationships more visible.
Today the hills are frequented by walkers, mountain bikers, climbers, reindeer herders, artists, Mountain Rescue and Ski Patrol teams, ecologists, crofters, archaeologists, stalkers and gamekeepers. Each group has their own names for and perspectives on the land - all unmapped and unrecorded.
The project helps to highlight these complex connections and relationships between land and people, and adds to current debates on wildness, 're-wilding,' communities' inclusion and exclusion - in access, decision-making, livelihoods - and climate change.
It helps to tell the human story of a 'wild' landscape.
This project is kindly funded in 2025 by Fèisean nan Gàidheal under their Tasgadh fund, and also as part of the Healthy Planet, Healthy People Community Led Awards by The Williamson Trust and the RSE.
These 'living' landscape names are the iceberg tips of social history and stories - they are oral records of the connection between people and land. Here, in the only sub-arctic habitat in Britain, connections with humans go back millennia.
The writer and activist Alastair McIntosh holds that cultural loss is ecological loss, and vice versa. Research from the James Hutton Institute shows that we are well into the last 10 years of consistent snow cover in the Cairngorms. Our home is changing before our very eyes. It looks different, smells different, feels different.
Against this backdrop of change, capturing place names in current everyday use helps to share lived-in, grounded knowledge, which may be unknown or undervalued amongst wider audiences. It may also help to evolve our 'view' of the mountains, adding richness, and making these human relationships more visible.
Today the hills are frequented by walkers, mountain bikers, climbers, reindeer herders, artists, Mountain Rescue and Ski Patrol teams, ecologists, crofters, archaeologists, stalkers and gamekeepers. Each group has their own names for and perspectives on the land - all unmapped and unrecorded.
The project helps to highlight these complex connections and relationships between land and people, and adds to current debates on wildness, 're-wilding,' communities' inclusion and exclusion - in access, decision-making, livelihoods - and climate change.
It helps to tell the human story of a 'wild' landscape.
This project is kindly funded in 2025 by Fèisean nan Gàidheal under their Tasgadh fund, and also as part of the Healthy Planet, Healthy People Community Led Awards by The Williamson Trust and the RSE.
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Unmapped places of the Cairngorms: stories from a living landscape
Over 13 indoor and outdoor workshops between September and November 2025, 81 people contributed 304 place names. This has barely scratched the surface! Contributors included RSPB, Glenmore Lodge, Cairngorms Reindeer Centre, Wildland, Lagganlia, as well as residents and visitors. A huge thank you to all contributors, who were so generous with their time, knowledge and stories.
Project launch events!
Delighted to announce the launch of Unmapped at the Storylands Session on Tues 10 March 2026 in Kincraig. This Storylands Session was a one-off tribute to Nan Shepherd with the theme of 'The Living Mountain,' curated by filmmaker and photographer Hannah Bailey.
Join a launch event below to dive deeper into the ‘unmapped’ places of the Cairngorms and their associated stories, learn more about the project, and the themes that emerged thoughout - such as Anglicisation, land use change, climate change, liminality, and the otherworld.
Names included the Loch of the Filth, Nan’s Howff, The Football Pitch, Ruigh a’ Bhriste Chridh (Shieling of the Broken Heart), The Sometimes Burn, Charlie’s Hotel, The Hinging Tree, and many hundreds more!
Sat 4 April 2026
Loch Insh Outdoor Centre, Kincraig PH21 1NU
2.30pm-4pm
Book tickets here (pay what you can)
Fri 10 April 2026
Glenmore Visitor Centre, Glenmore PH22 1QU
5.30pm-7pm
Book tickets here (pay what you can)
Sat 2 May 2026
I will also be presenting the project at the Scottish Place-name Society (Comann Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba) conference in Inverness; click here for more information and to register.
Also look out for a new Storywalk exploring these names and themes! Date to be announced.
Browse the map
Names are colour-coded by who uses them, e.g. local residents, gamekeepers, snowboarders, individual or family names, etc. Some names are duplicated if used across several groups. After clicking play below, click the arrow on the right of the frame to view or hide the group panel.
Enjoy browsing and listening...
Please contact [email protected] with any amends.
Project launch events!
Delighted to announce the launch of Unmapped at the Storylands Session on Tues 10 March 2026 in Kincraig. This Storylands Session was a one-off tribute to Nan Shepherd with the theme of 'The Living Mountain,' curated by filmmaker and photographer Hannah Bailey.
Join a launch event below to dive deeper into the ‘unmapped’ places of the Cairngorms and their associated stories, learn more about the project, and the themes that emerged thoughout - such as Anglicisation, land use change, climate change, liminality, and the otherworld.
Names included the Loch of the Filth, Nan’s Howff, The Football Pitch, Ruigh a’ Bhriste Chridh (Shieling of the Broken Heart), The Sometimes Burn, Charlie’s Hotel, The Hinging Tree, and many hundreds more!
Sat 4 April 2026
Loch Insh Outdoor Centre, Kincraig PH21 1NU
2.30pm-4pm
Book tickets here (pay what you can)
Fri 10 April 2026
Glenmore Visitor Centre, Glenmore PH22 1QU
5.30pm-7pm
Book tickets here (pay what you can)
Sat 2 May 2026
I will also be presenting the project at the Scottish Place-name Society (Comann Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba) conference in Inverness; click here for more information and to register.
Also look out for a new Storywalk exploring these names and themes! Date to be announced.
Browse the map
Names are colour-coded by who uses them, e.g. local residents, gamekeepers, snowboarders, individual or family names, etc. Some names are duplicated if used across several groups. After clicking play below, click the arrow on the right of the frame to view or hide the group panel.
Enjoy browsing and listening...
Please contact [email protected] with any amends.
Project area
Map showing approximate area of study - the high hill ground within the Cairngorms National Park boundary. Place names may be captured outwith this, but the primary focus is on the mountains and areas away from current settlements.
(Map from the CNPA website.)
What next?
The number of names collected was far more than I anticipated - and has barely scratched the surface, with many 'gaps' both in terms of geography and who was able to contribute. I would be hopeful of obtaining further funding to expand the map and project in several ways.
If you have any comments or feedback, please do email me: [email protected]. If you would like to submit more names to the map, please use the form below. Many thanks!
The number of names collected was far more than I anticipated - and has barely scratched the surface, with many 'gaps' both in terms of geography and who was able to contribute. I would be hopeful of obtaining further funding to expand the map and project in several ways.
If you have any comments or feedback, please do email me: [email protected]. If you would like to submit more names to the map, please use the form below. Many thanks!
Submit place names online
If you would like to add a place name to the map, please make sure it is within the Cairngorms National Park boundary (see map above) and use the form below. Please submit multiple times for multiple place names. The names will be added to the map on receipt of further funding.
If you would like to add a place name to the map, please make sure it is within the Cairngorms National Park boundary (see map above) and use the form below. Please submit multiple times for multiple place names. The names will be added to the map on receipt of further funding.
Project lead
Sarah Hobbs is based in Aviemore and runs Storywalks to place stories back where they belong in the landscape and skyscape – very literally re-storying the land. The main focus of Storywalks uncovers and highlights quiet, hidden or silenced voices within the landscape, for example women’s stories, or colonial history. She is an accredited storyteller with the Scottish Storytelling Forum.
She has 20 years’ experience of working on place-based community-led social justice and systemic social inequities, including producing multimedia resources bringing people together from different backgrounds. She is also a former reindeer herder, which is where the seeds of this project began. Her academic background is Arabic and Social Anthropology. Read more about Sarah here.
She has 20 years’ experience of working on place-based community-led social justice and systemic social inequities, including producing multimedia resources bringing people together from different backgrounds. She is also a former reindeer herder, which is where the seeds of this project began. Her academic background is Arabic and Social Anthropology. Read more about Sarah here.