Things To Do in Wicklow

County Wicklow (Irish: Contae Chill Mhantáin) is a county on the east coast of Ireland, immediately south of Dublin. The county is bordered by the Irish Sea and the counties of Carlow, Kildare, Wexford, as well as two parts of what was County Dublin, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County and South Dublin County. Wicklow is known as the Garden of Ireland because of its scenery.

Glendalough

Glendalough (Irish: Gleann Dá Loch, meaning "Glen of Two Lakes") is a glacial valley located in County Wicklow, Ireland, renowned for its Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, a hermit priest, and destroyed in 1398 by English troops.

Glendalough, County Wicklow

History of Glendalough

Kevin, a descendant of one of the ruling families in Leinster, studied as a boy under the care of three holy men, Eoghan, Lochan, and Eanna. During this time, he went to Glendalough. He was to return later, with a small group of monks to found a monastery where the 'two rivers form a confluence'. Kevin's writings discuss his fighting a "monster" at Glendalough; scholars today believe this refers to his process of self-examination and his personal temptations.  His fame as a holy man spread and he attracted numerous followers. He died in about 618. For six centuries afterwards, Glendalough flourished and the Irish Annals contain references to the deaths of abbots and raids on the settlement.

At the Synod of Rath Breasail in 1111, Glendalough was designated as one of the two dioceses of North Leinster. The Book of Glendalough was written there about 1131. St. Laurence O'Toole, born in 1128, became Abbot of Glendalough and was well known for his sanctity and hospitality. Even after his appointment as Archbishop of Dublin in 1162, he returned occasionally to Glendalough, to the solitude of St. Kevin's Bed. He died in Eu, in Normandy in 1180.

Glendalough Round Tower

The present remains in Glendalough tell only a small part of its story. The monastery in its heyday included workshops, areas for manuscript writing and copying, guest houses, an infirmary, farm buildings and dwellings for both the monks and a large lay population. The buildings which survive probably date from between the 10th and 12th centuries.

Glendalough Recreation

There are many walking trails of varying difficulty around Glendalough. Within the valley itself there are nine colour-coded walking trails maintained by Wicklow Mountains National Park. They all begin at an information office located near the Upper Lake where maps are available to purchase.

The Wicklow Way

The Wicklow Way, a long distance waymarked walking trail, passes through Glendalough on its way from Rathfarnham in the north to its southerly point of Clonegal in County Carlow. Bridging up the steep corner of Sarcophagus at Glendalough. Glendalough's granite cliffs, situated on the hillside above the north-western end of the valley, have been a popular rock-climbing location since the first climbs were established in 1948. The current guidebook, published in 1993, lists about 110 routes, at all grades up to E5/6a, though several more climbs, mainly in the high grades, have been recorded since then.

The granite rock provides excellent friction, and the climbs typically follow crack lines, with good traditional protection. The climbs vary between one and four pitches, and up to over 100m in length. There are several sectors: