County Wicklow and Glendalough
Known as the "Garden of Ireland", County Wicklow lies a mere 16 km from Wicklow and is blessed with beautiful scenery, a spectacular coastline and some of Ireland’s best-preserved early Christian remains.
Take a walk through the Wicklow mountains - with their domed granite heights, deep glens and wooded valleys, you'll see some of the finest countryside in Ireland. For a great day out, visit the ancient monastic settlement at Glendalough or brave the heights of Lugnaquilla - Wicklow’s highest peak.
Bray, Wicklow Town and Avoca, County Wicklow
Bray is the principal town in County Wicklow, with a nice promenade leading to the foot of Bray Head. Numerous bars overlook the sea - great for sitting outside in the summer. In Wicklow town, you can listen to traditional music seven nights a week or browse through craft shops. There's a regatta every summer, and the 'Wicklow Gaol' attraction is well worth a visit.
The picturesque village of Avoca is the location for the immensely popular TV series Ballykissangel, and you can see pictures of the show's stars on the walls of Fitzgerald's pub. The Avoca metal mines were once the most important in the country. The Mottee Stone landmark and the setting for Thomas Moore’s poem "The Meeting of the Waters" are both within two miles of the village.
County Wicklow is a county on the east coast of Ireland, immediately south of Dublin. Area: 2,024 km² (781 square miles). The county is bordered by the Irish Sea and the counties of Carlow, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Kildare, South Dublin and Wexford. The county is considered by some as part of the "Greater Dublin Area".
The county town is Wicklow (pop. 9,355), although the largest urban centre is Bray (pop. 30,951). Other main towns include Greystones (pop. 11,913) and Arklow (pop. 11,721). All of these towns are situated on the eastern coast.
County Wicklow is sometimes known as 'the last county' as it was the last of the original counties to be established - in 1606 from land previously part of County Dublin.
A 'Military Road', stretching from Rathfarnham to Aughavannagh cuts through the mountains which was built by the British army to assist them in crushing rebels still active in the Wicklow Mountains following the failed 1798 rebellion by providing them quick access to an area that had been a hotbed of Irish rebellion for centuries. Several barracks to house the soldiers were built along the route and the Glencree Reconciliation Centre was built alongside the remains of barracks there. Battalions of the Irish Army use firing ranges in County Wicklow for tactical exercises especially the largest one in the Glen of Imaal that was previously used by the British Army prior to independence.
The Turlough Hill pumped-storage scheme, a significant civil engineering project, was carried out in the mountains in the 1960s and 1970s. The ancient monastery of Glendalough is located in County Wicklow. The local radio station for Wicklow is East Coast FM.
