County Wicklow - Heritage/Historical

1. Towers (Historical)

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Round Tower

For many, Round towers have come to be seen as a symbol of Ireland and a direct link with the glories of the monastic era. The Glendalough Round Tower is probably the finest surviving example in Ireland. Over 40 metres in height and with a circumference of 16 metres, access is through a doorway 3.5 metres above ground. Built for the dual purposes of serving as a watch-tower and place of refuge during the period of the Viking invasions, the tower was restored in 1876, the conical cap being rebuilt with the original stones which were found scattered at the base.

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2. Monuments

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Halpin Memorial

In Fitzwilliam Square is the Halpin Monument, an obelisk of polished granite. This commerates Captain Robert C Halpin (1836 - 1894), a Wicklowman who commanded the GREAT EASTERN, the ship that laid the first cable across the Atlantic.

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3. Heritage Centres

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Wicklows Historic Gaol

This is a major new visitor attraction located in Wicklow town. A two million restoration plan has been carried out by Wicklow County Council to develop the old county Gaol.

There has been a Gaol on this site since 1702 and it remained active until 1924. During this time thousands of prisoners, young and old, men, women and children, guilty and innocent passed through its doors. The story of Wicklow's Historic Gaol is their story.

The exhibition covers such episodes as the 1798 Rebellion, the Great Famine, life in the Gaol during the 18th and 19th centuries and transportation to the penal colonies of Australia. The highpoint of the visit is the reconstruction of the prison ship, which visitors can climb aboard.

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4. Motte (Historical)

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Castleruddery Stone Circle and Motte

Stone Circle:
A stone circle, 100 feet in diameter, with an interior and exterior facing of stones with a bank in between. Some very large boulders are used in this circle, and some are lying down.

Motte:
A motte surrounded by a ditch which is rounded at the southern side but squared at the north. Further to the south is a raised area, which may also have been used like a bailey for defensive purposes.

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5. Local Tours

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Wild Wicklow Tours

FANTASTIC reviews from guide books such as THE LONELY PLANET. The Award winning Wild Wicklow Tour has earned rave reviews from participants and Tourism Authorities alike. The Guides are all uniformly excellent with plenty of energy and a terrific sense of humour that generates a kind of camaraderie not common on tours. Suitable for all ages Runs EVERYDAY all year round. Full Day 09:00 - 17:00. Collect 09:10 Dublin Tourism (on front steps), Suffolk St. (See www.wildwicklow.ie for other pick up points).

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6. Cathedrals (Historical)

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Cathedral

Dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the Cathedral is the largest surviving ruin and it occupies the most prominent position in Glendalough. Originally dating to the time of Kevin himself, it underwent many alterations over the centuries and now closely resembles a tenth century style structure to which a chancel was added two centuries later. The width of the nave is exceptional, and at 9 metres is probably the widest of any of the early Churches in Ireland. The Church ceased to serve as a cathedral when the Diocese of Glendalough was united with Dublin in 1214 AD.

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7. Castles (Historical)

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Carnew Castle

The old 17th Century O' Toole castle has been modernised and is privately owned. A British garrison occupied the castle during the 1798 rebellion and there is a memorial to 36 rebels who were executed following the uprising. The Croghan Valley is a very scenic drive which dips into Wexford and runs below Croghan Mountain to Coolgreany while Holt's Way Drive runs through the village.

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8. Forts (Historical)

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Baltinglass Hill Burial Mound and Hill Fort

On top of the hill there is a double ring of stones which once retained a mound of stones. At the most northerly point of the ring there is a Passage-tomb with short passage, and a stone basin bearing faint decoration. Towards the south-south-west of the ring there is another Passage-tomb, this time with five recesses off a central chamber, and two stones decorated with spirals. The third and earliest grave is in the north-western portion of the ring, overlain by the stones of the inner ring. There are also other minor structures. The passage-tombs were built in the Late Stone Age, but in the Early Iron Age (500 B.C - A.D. 500?) surrounded on the outside by a large defensive stone wall, while further down the hill-slope are two further concentric stone walls which probably also belong to the Iron Age fortificatory system.

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9. Tombs

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Moylisha 'Labbanasighe' Wedge-tomb

A wedge-tomb in a mound of stones which was 4 feet high and 42 feet long. The tomb itself consists of a short entrance chamber, and a longer burial chamber behind it. Around the tomb itself there is a setting of stones placed in the form of a U. A mould for a bronze spear-head was found in the tomb, suggesting a date of about 100 B.C., but it may be even earlier than that.

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10. Homes (Historical)

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Avondale House

Avondale passed to the Parnell family in 1795, and it was at Avondale on 27th June 1846 that one of the greatest political leaders of modern Irish history, Charles Stewart Parnell, was born. Avondale House is now a museum to his memory, and a major refurbishment programme has restored much of the House to its decor of 1850. Parnell spent much of his time at Avondale until his death in October 1891.

Avondale is also synonymous with the birth of Irish Forestry. The state purchased Avondale in 1904 and it was in Avondale that the first silvicultural experimental plots were laid out; along the lines of a continental forest garden.

These plots generally one acre in extent can be seen today, flanking the magnificent Great Rivde, which provides possibly the most beautiful of Avondale's many walks.

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11. Crosses (Historical)

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Memorials/Crosses

Granite, the type of stone which predominates in the valley doesn't lend itself well to ornamentation, it being much too hard. Consequently, the intricate designs and exquisite carvings which are to be found on memorials elsewhere (notably Clonmacnoise) are less notable in Glendalough. Nevertheless, the abundance of memorials which have been discovered are of great antiquity. Found both within the various churches and along the roadsides, many are commemorative rather than sepulchral. Apart from St. Kevin's Cross, the most famous memorial is probably the Bresal Stone which reclines against the South Wall of St. Kevin's Church. It is of eighth century origin with the Irish inscription "Or do Bresal AD IHS XRS" - "Pray for Bresal, Alpha, Omega, Jesus Christ". Also notable is the Market Cross, a 1.75 metre granite cross which originally stood on the roadside near the Glendalough Hotel. It was removed to St. Kevin's Church many years ago.

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12. Museums

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Arklow Maritime Museum

This "unvarnished" collection uses no modern display techniques whatsoever, which helps enhance its authenticity. Arklow has a very fine fishing and maritime tradition. Early this century it had eighty in the present day by Arklow Shipping, which has the largest Irish-flagged fleet. There's a model of Sir Francis Chichester's Gypsy Moth III, built in the Arklow yard of John Tyrrell & Sons. The museum also recalls the great hardships of World War II (the "emergency" in Ireland). A mine from this period stands at the entrance to the museum, Arklow was the first place in Ireland to have a lifeboat station, in 1826, and that proud tradition is also recalled. This delightful miscellany of material includes everything from old navigational instruments to a uniform worn by a merchant navy officer and a shoe worn by a woman passenger on the ill-fated Lusitania.

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13. Monastic Sites

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Glendalough Monastery

Glendalough Monastery
Glendalough Monastery was founded by St. Kevin, in the 6th century. St. Kevin is perhaps unfairly linked to a poetic legend. While living in a cave as a hermit, he was supposedly pursued by a woman, who tried to seduce him. In a rage, he hurled her over the cliff, and into the lake, but there is no evidence to support this story. But his cave, which is located in the upper part of the lake is known as 'St. Kevin's Bed'.
Glendalough has a fabulous collection of buildings including the Cathedral, which dates from the 7th century, which was used as a Cathedral church until the 13th century, when the Glendalough See was united with Dublin. The Round Tower which is 103 feet high and has a 52 feet circumference. There is also St, Kevin's house, which is a double vaulted Oratory, and is more popularly known as St. Kevin's Kitchen.

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14. Historic Hotels

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Hunter's Hotel

Beside the now little-travelled old coaching road from Dublin to Wicklow, which still winds and twists through wooded countryside, stands Hunter's Hotel. It has always been an inn. A cobbled entrance leads to a graceful Georgian doorway, and into a red-and-black tiled hall, worn by the feet of travellers, and polished to a high gloss. A creaking staircase leads up to a wide landing, decorated with painted china basins and ewers, once in daily use. In the hall hangs a pair of enormous ox horns, brought home by a relative from the Boer War.
Bedrooms are small and simple, with plain furniture, pretty flowered wallpaper, and gleaming tilted bathrooms. Mine looked straight out into the branches of a huge flowering magnolia, and was snug and neat.
The bar is large and full of light, a pleasant place to sit and chat over a drink or a snack. It overlooks the hotel's glorious prize-winning gardens, in which flower beds and velvety lawns lead down to the river, overhung with big trees. In the bar hangs a turn-of-the-century photograph of an uncle of the owner, showing him proudly leading the Prince of Wale's horse, which he had trained, and which had just won the Grand National at Aintree.
The restaurant has a low beamed ceiling, and is alway busy, since local people as well as hotel guests enjoy the excellent home-cooking. Bowls of vegetables from the inn garden are put on the table for you to serve yourself, there are hearty old-fashioned puddings, and the menu changes daily.
It is rare to find a hotel which is in such lovely surroundings, with such a feeling of a continuing tradition of hospitality.

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15. Stones (Historical)

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Castletimon Ogham Stone

An Ogham stone, placed in a niche beside the road, bearing the inscription NETA-CARI NEGA CAGI

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16. Abbeys

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Baltinglass Cistercian Abbey

In 1148 Dermot Mac Murrough brought Cistercian monks here from Mellifont to found a new monastery which he called 'The Valley of Salvation', and Baltinglass in turn was the mother-house of a number of other Cistercian foundations including Jerpoint, Co. Kilkenny. The monastery was the centre of a number of disputes in the 13th century, one with the Archbishop of Dublin and another in which the monks were accused of harbouring 'felons against the English'. In 1377 Abbot Peter was awarded damages because two men had diverted water from his mill. After the Suppression in 1541, the monastery buildings and lands passed to Sir Thomas Eustace, a Catholic loyalist. The church consisted of a nave with aisles, chancel and two transepts, and building was probably complete by 1170. the south arcade of choir and nave which remains is slightly later in date, and has alternating round and square pillars supporting capitals with peculiarly Irish motifs. The three west windows are 12th century, but the three east windows and the tower (now housing carved fragments and some medieval tiles from the Abbey) are 19th century. Joining the south aisle to the cloister is a 12th century doorway, while excavations in 1931 brought to light a north door in the aisle, parts of the original cloister (now rebuilt) and an early tower which blocked the eastern two-thirds of the transept arches. The decorative stonework at Baltinglass shows an interesting fusion of Cistercian and Irish Romanesque architecture.

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17. Friaries

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Franciscan Friary

Some remains of a Franciscan Friary may be seen in the grounds of the parish priest's house.

Founded by one of the Fitzgeralds in the thirteenth century, it later came under the patronage of the O'Byrnes. After the dissolution of the monasteries at the time of the Reformation the building became a courthouse later it was used as a store for war equipment.

The heritage centre in the modern courthouse provides a genealogical service and has some interesting artefacts relating to the history of the town.

The Church of Ireland parish church, though itself a late structure , has an interesting Norman doorway in the south porch and an ancient stone fort.

In Market Square, the 1798 Memorial remembers Wicklowmen who fought in this and later struggles: it consists of a life size figure of a pikeman.

On Kilmantan Hill is Wicklow Gaol ( now disused ) Billy Byrne of Ballymanus, a leader of the 1798 Rising, was among those imprisoned in it .

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18. Churches (Historical)

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Our Lady's Church

Our Lady's Church:
Regarded by some as being the earliest church erected in the lower valley, Our Lady's Church stands somewhat isolated from the main group of ruins. For this reason it is thought, as was common in most Irish monastic cities, to have been specially for the use of women or nuns. St. Kevin himself is buried within the walls of this church and he was venerated here on his feast day (June 3rd) until the eighteenth century when religious persecution under the Penal Code forced the practice to come to an end.

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19. Monastery

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The Gateway

Gateway:
The Gateway to the old monastic city is the only surviving one of its kind in the country. Originally comprising of a keeper's house and a small tower, the principal remains now consist of two semi-circular archways supported by granite piers. The gateway is of later origin than the other buildings of the lower group, it having been part of the surrounding defensive wall which was constructed to secure the city from attack.

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20. Stone Circles

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Deer Stone

Located across the Glenealo river from St. Kevin's Kitchen, the Deer Stone is thought to be a baptismal font of great antiquity. When the wife of one of themonastery workmen died during childbirth in the seventh century, Kevin is said to have prayed here and a doe came daily and deposited a supply of milk into the hollow of the stone for the baby.

According to legend the child later became a disciple of Kevin.

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21. Hills (Historical)

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The Scalp

About 2 miles (3 km) north of Enniskerry, the main road to Dublin passes through the Scalp - a spectacular rocky defile rising steeply on either side of the road, with huge granite boulders strewn about in wild confusion.

It is a good example of a 'dry gap' formed at the end of the Ice Age when streams from glaciers cut deep drainage channels.

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22. Farmsteads

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Kilpoole Hill Farm Polo

Polo Lessons & Matches
Polo Horse Sales and Hire.

Polo has been called horse hockey. It's also known as the game of kings. Any potential player of polo should watch a few good matches. Admission to games in Ireland is free. The game has become more popular in Ireland in the last few years.

In polo, a player sits on top of a pony (pony as opposed to horse is traditional, dating from the days when there was a height limit) and, with a long mallet, tries to drive a little wooden ball into a narrow goalmouth with the help of three other players. The four opponents, of course, try to stop this and keep the ball to themselves with the same purpose.

The full match is divided into Six 7-minute "Chukkas" with three minutes given in which to change ponies between chukkas. At the end of the chukka a bell is rung, but the game continues until the ball goes out of play or the 7.5 minute bell is rung to end the chukka.

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