Aghavannagh () is a small village and townland in south

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is located in the barony of Ballinacor South on the

Military Road {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The following is a list of military roads worldwide. Australia * Part of the A8 (Sydney) between Neutral Bay and Mosman * Military Road, part of Route 39, Melbourne * Military Road, off Wanneroo Road just nort ...

originally constructed between 1804 and 1809, in the wake of the

1798 rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a Irish republicanism, ...

. It is so remote that inhabitants say that "Aghavannagh is the last place God made".

Location

The village is situated near the base of the

Lugnaquilla LugnaquillaLugnaquilla
.

Aughrim,

Glenmalure Glenmalure () is a 20-kilometre long U-shaped glacial valley in the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. Glenmalure is an important base for climbing in the Wicklow mountains, and particularly accessing the massif of Lugnaquilla, and contains one of ...

and

Tinahely Tinahely () is a village in County Wicklow in Ireland. It is a market town in the valley of the River Derry, a tributary of the River Slaney. Location and access It is located on the R747 road which links the west Wicklow town of Baltingla ...

to the east and south, and

Kiltegan Kiltegan () is a village in west County Wicklow, Ireland, on the R747 regional road close to the border with County Carlow. The 19th century mansion Humewood House lies just outside the village. It was built in 1870 for William Hume-Dick, ...

Hacketstown Hacketstown (, IPA: �bˠalʲəˈhaceːdʲ, historically known as Ballydrohid (), is a small town in County Carlow, Ireland, near the border with County Wicklow. It is located on the R747 regional road at its junction with the R727. The R ...

and

Baltinglass Baltinglass, historically known as Baltinglas (), is a town in south-west County Wicklow, Ireland. It is located on the River Slaney near the border with County Carlow and County Kildare, on the N81 road. Etymology The town's Irish name, ''Be ...

to the west. The area is mainly surrounded by forests and is composed of mountains and mountain land. This fact may indicate an original name in Irish as ''achadh mbeannach'' whose meaning is "hilly field". This mountainous terrain is where the Ow river rises on the southern slopes of Lugnaquilla, flows through a

glacial valley U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by the process of glaciation. They are characteristic of mountain glaciation in particular. They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with steep, straight s ...

and passes the outskirts of the village meeting the Aghavannagh river, which is much smaller and flows through the village, a short distance to the south. One of the earliest references to the place is in 1623 to "Aghavanny" in the ''Calendar of

Patent Rolls The patent rolls (Latin: ''Rotuli litterarum patentium'') are a series of administrative records compiled in the English, British and United Kingdom Chancery, running from 1201 to the present day. Description The patent rolls comprise a register ...

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

'', followed by five other 17th century references with three different spellings of "Aghamanagh", "Aghamannagh" "Aghavannagh", and lastly "Aghavanagh" on A.R. Neville's ''Map of Co. Wicklow'' dated c 1810. There is no commercial centre to the village that only comprises residences and a school (on map— no longer in use). Between 1896 and 1899 a sub-post office was opened in Aghavannagh under the nearby

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

of Aughrim but this was already closed by 1909.

Military barracks

Aghavannagh Barracks, along with similar structures in

Glencree Glencree ( ga, Gleann Crí from the older Gleann Criothach, which translates as Valley of the Shaking Bog) is a valley in the Wicklow Mountains in eastern Ireland. It is the third-closest valley in the mountains to Dublin city, the first being ...

, Laragh and

, was one of a series of

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

built along the route of the military road, to house British forces and give them access to the

Wicklow Mountains The Wicklow Mountains (, archaic: ''Cualu'') form the largest continuous upland area in the Republic of Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into the counties of Dublin, Wexford and Carlow. Wh ...

where many 1798 rebels, such as

Michael Dwyer Michael Dwyer (1772–1825) was an insurgent captain in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, leading the United Irish forces in battles in Wexford and Wicklow., Following the defeat and dispersal of the rebel hosts, in July 1798 Dwyer withdrew into ...

, sought refuge. The barracks each accommodated 100 men, while a larger 200-man barracks was built in the

Glen of Imaal The Glen of Imaal ( or ; ga, Gleann Uí Mháil) is a remote glen in the western Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. It is ringed by the Lugnaquilla massif and its foothills, including Table Mountain and Keadeen. Much of the glen is used by the Irish ...

, that together cost of £26,500 with an additional £1,500 for a bridge at Aghavannagh. The property came into the ownership of

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...

's grandfather after the British

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

vacated it in 1825 because he was the ground landlord and was used by him as a hunting lodge. The Parnell family shared the building with up to 50 men of the

Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ga, Constáblacht Ríoga na hÉireann; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the country was part of the United Kingdom. A separate ...

. Several of the outhouses were totally ruined at this time as were the two

redoubt A redoubt (historically redout) is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, although some are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldi ...

s. Upon Parnell's death,

John Redmond John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalism, Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He was best known as lead ...

bought the barracks. Later,

An Óige An Óige (; meaning "Youth"), or the Irish Youth Hostel Association (IYHA), is a non-profit organisation providing youth hostel accommodation across the Republic of Ireland. An Óige is a member of Hostelling International. Background An Óige ...

ran the building as a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...

for several years before acquiring ownership in 1944. They closed it in 1998 when a tower of the structure was declared unstable by engineers.

Síle de Valera Síle, Gaelic-Irish female given name. Bearers of the name * Síle Ní Mathgamna, died 1473. * Síle Ní Siurtáin, died 1485. * Síle Níc Ceallaigh, died 1486. * Síle Níc Carthaigh, died 1489. * Síle Ní Raghalligh, died 1491. * Síle ...

, then Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, answered a question in the Dáil whether the property would be acquired by the government as a heritage building saying that

Dúchas Dúchas, sometimes Dúchas: The Heritage Service, was an executive agency of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands of the Government of Ireland responsible for Heritage management, including: * natural heritage (including ...

, the heritage service of the department, did not have the resources to protect or preserve the building. After 20 years, in 2010, a restoration project extensively restored the building's interior and exterior. It is now privately owned and used as a family home and guesthouse.

References and sources

External links

The County Wicklow Military Road
Greystones Archaeological & Historical Society: Journal: Volume 4, 2004. {{County Wicklow Towns and villages in County Wicklow

Location

Military barracks

See also

References and sources

External links