About County Wicklow
County Wicklow is known as the Garden of Ireland, its granite mountains, wooded glens and long sandy beaches making it the most beautiful county in Leinster. The Wicklow Mountains rise directly from the southern suburbs of Dublin, their wildness a dramatic contrast to the city below. Glendalough, the monastic city in its mountain valley, is one of the most visited heritage sites in Ireland.
History
Wicklow's mountains made it a refuge for those resisting English rule, the O'Byrne and O'Toole clans harried the Pale from these hills for centuries. After the 1798 rebellion, insurgents held out in the Wicklow Mountains long after the rebellion had been crushed everywhere else. Joseph Holt, the Wicklow general, was the last rebel commander in the field.
How Wicklow families left Ireland
Wicklow families emigrated through Dublin and Arklow. The county's proximity to the capital and its relatively prosperous agricultural economy meant emigration rates were lower than in the west, but the Famine still caused significant suffering in the mountain communities.
Places worth visiting in County Wicklow
- Glendalough, the dramatic monastic city in its mountain valley, founded by Saint Kevin in the 6th century
- Powerscourt Estate and Gardens, one of the world's great gardens, with the Sugar Loaf Mountain as backdrop
- The Wicklow Way, Ireland's first long-distance walking route, through mountain blanket bog and wooded glens
- Avondale House, birthplace of Charles Stewart Parnell, the uncrowned king of Ireland
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