Avoca () is a small town near

Arklow Arklow ( ; ; ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the Battle of Arklow, bloodiest battles ...

, in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is situated on the

River Avoca The Avoca () is a river in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is contained completely within the county. Its length is 35 miles (56.3 km). The Avoca starts life as two rivers, the Avonmore () and the Avonbeg (). These join at a spot called ...

. The Avoca area has been associated with its

copper mine Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ...

s for many years and the valley has been celebrated by

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852), was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist who was widely regarded as Ireland's "National poet, national bard" during the late Georgian era. The acclaim rested primarily on the popularity of his ''I ...

in the song " The Meeting of the Waters". The name of the song derives from the meeting of the Avonmore and Avonbeg rivers, about 3 kilometres from the village of Avoca. The song is said to have been written under a tree, the stump of which remains by the Meetings. Avoca is also famous for its handweaving, with

Avoca Handweavers Avoca Handweavers, now mostly known simply as 'Avoca'', is a clothing manufacturing, retail and food business in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The company began in Avoca, County Wicklow, Avoca, County Wicklow, and is the oldest working woollen ...

based there. Avoca has been used as a filming location for several films and television series. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

series ''

Ballykissangel ''Ballykissangel'' is a BBC television drama created by Kieran Prendiville and set in Ireland, produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland. The original story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest as he became part of a rural comm ...

'' was filmed there. In 1967, Avoca was one of the locations used in the film ''

Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon ''Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon'' (U.S. title: ''Those Fantastic Flying Fools''; also known as ''Chiflados Del Espacio'', ''Blast-off'', and ''Rocket to the Moon'') is a 1967 British science fiction comedy film directed by Don Sharp and star ...

'', and it was the setting for the comedy film ''

Zonad ''Zonad'' is an Irish comedy film by John and Kieran Carney that premiered in July 2009 at the ''Galway Film'' Fleadh. The film went to general release in Ireland March 19, 2010. Premise An escaped convict fools a whole Irish village into thi ...

'' which had a general Irish release in 2010. The

red kite The red kite (''Milvus milvus'') is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other Diurnality, diurnal Bird of prey, raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harrier (bird), harriers. The species currently breeds only i ...

, recently reintroduced to Ireland, is now commonly seen in and around Avoca.

Toponymy

Avoca was once known as Newbridge. It subsequently became known as Ovoca, and then in

Victorian times In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

as Avoca.

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

mentions the river Oboka on his early map of

. The official name of the village is now Avoca in English and in Irish. None of the other names are used today.

Mining

Copper mining is reported to have begun in the Avoca River valley around 1720 and it continued, with interruptions, until 1982. Earlier mining, perhaps dating back to the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, may have occurred. The East Avoca site, today, is composed mainly of a number of rock waste spoil heaps, abandoned

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safet ...

(Cronebane and East Avoca open pits) and disused roads. The largest spoil heap, Mount Platt, was built up from waste rock excavated from Cronebane open pit. There was a mineral tramway built from the West Avoca mines, through the village (on the opposite side of the river) and on to Arklow Harbour. The route of most of this was subsumed into the Dublin-Rosslare railway line, but an arch and a tunnel under the road from Rathdrum to Avoca remains.

Transport

Avoca lies on the R752 regional road linking

Rathnew Rathnew () is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. Located south of the capital Dublin along the N11 road (Ireland), M11 between Dublin and Wexford, it is close to the county town of Wicklow, which is situated to the east. The village is in a ...

with

Woodenbridge Woodenbridge () is a small village in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies between Arklow and Avoca, at the meeting of the '' Avoca'', '' Aughrim'' and ''Goldmine'' rivers. The village is located at the junction of the R747 and R752 roads. The ...

. The village is served by

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with the exception of Dublin, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidiary of C ...

route 133 from

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

(66 km) and

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...

(21 km) to

(10 km), with two departures in each direction on Mondays to Saturdays and one each way on Sundays. There has been some local political pressure to reopen Avoca railway station, from which passenger services were withdrawn on 3 March 1964, almost 101 years after its opening, on the Dublin-Rosslare railway line, on 18 July 1863.

International relations

Avoca has a

town twinning A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

agreement with

Bromham, Wiltshire Bromham is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England.OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). The village is northwest of Devizes and ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Notable people

* Noel Andrews (1932–2011), Irish radio and television commentator ran The Avoca Inn from 1970 to 1990 * George Barret Sr. (c. 1730–1784), Irish landscape artist painted at Avoca * Niall Byrne, guitarist in Irish band The Redneck Manifesto * Oliver Byrne (1810–1880),

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

and author of scientific works was born in the Vale of Avoca * Harry Harrison (1925–2012), American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

author lived in the area in the 1970s *

Lawrence Kavenagh Lawrence Kavenagh (c. 1810 – 13 October 1846) was an Irish-Australian convict bushranger who, with Martin Cash and George Jones (bushranger), George Jones, escaped from Port Arthur, Tasmania, Port Arthur, Van Diemen's Land, in late 1842. The ...

(c. 1810–1846), Irish-Australian

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts ...

bushranger Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in The bush#Australia, the Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia ...

was born in either Newbridge (now called Avoca) or nearby Rathdrum * Pauline Mellon, Irish mathematician was born in the town * Abraham Mills (c. 1750–1828), English mining company manager and

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

, one of the earliest advocates of investment in

Irish gold ''Irish Gold'' is the first of the ''Nuala Anne McGrail series'' of mystery novels by Roman Catholic priest and author Father Andrew M. Greeley. The title "Irish Gold" refers to the gold allegedly accepted by Roger Casement Roger Davi ...

mining, spent time mining for copper in Avoca *

John O'Hagan John O'Hagan (born 19 March 1822 at Newry, County Down; died 10 November 1890 at Howth, County Dublin) was an Irish lawyer and writer. He was also an Irish Nationalist and Young Ireland, Younger Irelander, and was a founding member of the first Ir ...

(1873–1930), Irish priest who served as Rector of the

Pontifical Irish College The Pontifical Irish College is a Catholic Church, Catholic seminary in Rome for the training and education of priests. The college is located at #1, Via dei Santi Quattro, and serves as a residence for clerical students from all over the world ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

from 1919 to 1930 was born in Ballykillageer near the town * Akihiko Okamura (1929-1985), Japanese photographer notable for his work in Northern Ireland during

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

Chris Pontius Chris Pontius (born July 16, 1974) is an American stunt performer and television personality. He is best known as a cast member of the reality comedy show '' Jackass'' and co-host of its spinoff '' Wildboyz'' with fellow cast member Steve-O. ...

(born 1974), American

stunt performer A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

and cast member of reality stunt show ''Jackass'' lived in the town from 2004 to 2008 * Donald Pratt (born 1935), Irish businessman and former first-class cricketer purchased

in 1974 *

Günther Schütz Günther Schütz (17 April 1912 – 1991) was a German citizen who worked for German Intelligence (Abwehr) during World War II, he was deployed to Ireland, however, after parachuting to the wrong location he was apprehended by Irish police, and ...

(1912–1991), German citizen who worked for German Intelligence (

Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...

) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

retired in Avoca * Emily Wynne (1872–1958), Irish author and textile artist worked at Avoca Woollen Mills * Myles Kavanagh (1918-2009), Local and active community member who worked at the Avoca Mines for 38 dedicated years as a shift boss.
Irish Independent.

References

Notes *Timothy Alborn, ''An Irish El Dorado: Recovering Gold in County Wicklow'', Journal of British Studies, Vol. 50, No. 2 (April 2011), pp. 359–380. Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The North American Conference on British Studies. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/658187
PDF.
*Bodkin T. (1920) ''Four Irish Landscape Painters: George Barret R.A.'', Irish Academic Press, 2nd ed. 1987.

External links

Avoca Cemetery HeadstonesMining, Metal Resources and Exploration in the Republic of Ireland
in German, English summary {{Authority control Towns and villages in County Wicklow