According to Irish academic Paul Tempan, "Kippure" is simply a "transliteration of a pronunciation collected locally, but without any clear meaning". Tempan notes that it resembles the Irish language term "ciop" and "iúr", however "stump of the yew" would be "Ciop Iúir". While it is unlikely that yew trees could have ever grown on an exposed mountain such as Kippure, Tempan notes that there is a connection with a similar name in the lower valley, where the association with yew trees could have come.
Geography
Kippure's large massif sits at the head of two major valleys: the valley of Glencree to the east, which it forms with Tonduff, Maulin, and Prince William's Seat ; and the valley of Glenasmole to the north, which is forms with Seefingan, and Corrig Mountain. To the south of Kippure is the high mountain pass of the Sally Gap at, and the long winding "central spine" of the Wicklow mountains as the range runs to Mullaghcleevaun, and then on to Tonelagee, and finally to the terminus at Lugnaquilla in the south, Wicklow and Leinster's highest mountain. Kippure has two corrie lakes on its north-east flank, Lough Bray Upper and Lough Bray Lower. The slopes of Kippure hold the sources of several rivers, including tributaries that feed the River Liffey from the Liffey Head Bog on the western slopes of Tonduff, and tributaries that feed the River Dodder. Kippure's prominence of qualifies it as a Marilyn, and it also ranks it as the 32nd-highest mountain in Ireland on the MountainViews Online Database, 100 Highest Irish Mountains, where the minimum prominence threshold is 100 metres.
Transmission site
At the summit of Kippure stands a 127m television and radio transmitter mast. This is the oldest television transmission site in the Republic of Ireland and was initially selected as a potential VHF FM radio transmitter site during the course of a Radio Éireann survey in the mid-1950s. The Irish Board of Works built an access road to the site in 1959, and the transmitter installation work was then started by the British companyPye Ltd. By the summer of 1961 the mast was erected and test transmissions followed, consisting of slide views of Ireland, a test-card, and the music of Count John McCormack. Telefís Éireann began with transmission from Kippure on 31 December 1961 using the British 405-line TV standard on VHF Band III channel 7, to be followed by a 625-line service on channel H in the summer of 1962. Kippure was the first of the original five main Telefís Éireann transmitters to come into service, the others being, Truskmore, Mount Leinster, Maghera, and Mullaghanish VHF FM transmission of RTÉ Radio commenced in 1966, with stereo broadcasting beginning in 1969. 405-line transmission from Kippure ceased in 1978 with the arrival of RTÉ 2, however, Kippure did not transmit RTÉ 2 until much later. Initially on Channel J at low power later moving to Channel H with RTÉ 1 moving to Channel E. Kippure's importance in radio and television transmission has diminished since the late 1970s with the opening of three new UHF transmitter sites at Three Rock in County Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Clermont Carn in County Louth, and Cairn Hill in County Longford, which provide better reception in most areas previously served only by Kippure. Today the Irish DTT service, Saorview, the national FM radio stations, and some commercial radio stations are broadcast from the site.
Current transmissions
Terrestrial television
Digital Radio
Analogue FM radio
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