Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils 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 located on the east of Ireland, south of

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 ...

. According to the 2022 census, it had a population of 12,957 people. The town is to the east of the M11 route between Dublin and

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

. It also has railway links to Dublin, Wexford,

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 ...

, and

Rosslare Europort Rosslare Europort () is a modern seaport located at Rosslare Harbour in County Wexford, Ireland, near the southeasternmost point of the island of Ireland. The port is the primary Irish port serving the European Continent with 36 direct servi ...

. There is also a commercial port for timber and textile imports. The

River Vartry The River Vartry (; ) is a river in County Wicklow, Ireland, and an important water source for the city of Dublin.

is the main river flowing through the town.

Geography

Wicklow town forms a rough semicircle around Wicklow harbour. To the immediate north lies 'The Murrough', a grassy walking area beside the sea, and the eastern coastal strip. The Murrough is a place of growing commercial use, so much so that a road by-passing the town directly to the commercial part of the area commenced construction in 2008 and was completed in summer of 2010. The eastern coastal strip includes Wicklow bay, a crescent shaped stone beach approximately 10 km in length. Ballyguile Hill is to the southwest of the town. Much of the housing developments of the 1970s and 1980s occurred in this area, despite the considerable gradient from the town centre. From Wicklow the land rises into rolling hills to the west, going on to meet the

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

in the centre of the county. The dominant feature to the south is the rocky headlands of Bride's Head and

Wicklow Head Wicklow Head () is a headland near the southeast edge of the town of Wicklow in County Wicklow, approximately from the centre of the town. Geographically, it is the easternmost point on the mainland of the Republic of Ireland. Lighthouses The ...

, the easternmost mainland point of the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. On a very clear day, it is possible to see the

Snowdonia Snowdonia, or Eryri (), is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales Welsh 3000s, over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (), which i ...

mountain range in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Climate

Similar to much of the rest of northwestern Europe, Wicklow experiences a

maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring ...

(''Cfb'') with cool summers, mild winters, and a lack of temperature extremes. The average maximum January temperature is 9.2 °C (48.6 °F), while the average maximum July temperature is 20.4 °C (68.7 °F). On average, the sunniest month is May. The wettest month is October with 118.9 mm (4.6 in) of rain, and the driest month is April with 60.7 mm (2.4 in). With the exceptions of October and November, rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year with rainfall falling within a relatively narrow band of between 60 mm (2.4 in) and 86 mm (3.4 in) for any one month. A considerable spike of moisture occurs in October and November, each of which records almost double the typical rainfall of April. Wicklow is sheltered from moisture locally by Ballyguile hill and, more distantly by the Wicklow mountains. This causes the town to receive only about 60% of the rainfall the west coast receives. In addition, because Wicklow is protected by the mountains from southwesterly and westerly winds, it enjoys higher average temperatures than much of Ireland. While its location is favourable for protection against the prevailing westerly and southwesterly winds that are common to much of Ireland, Wicklow is particularly exposed to easterly winds. As these winds come from the northern European landmass Wicklow can, along with much of the east coast of Ireland, experience relatively sharp temperature drops in winter for short periods.

Economy

Since 1995, the town has undergone significant change and expansion reflecting the simultaneous growth in the Irish economy. Residential developments have taken place to the west of the town along Marlton Road (R751). More recently, housing developments have been concentrated to the northwest of the town towards the neighbouring village of

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 ...

. The completion of the Ashford/Rathnew bypass in 2004 meant that Wicklow is now linked to Dublin (42 km north) by dual carriageway and motorway. These factors have led to a steady growth in population of Wicklow and its surrounding townlands while its importance as a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

to Dublin increases.

Toponymy

Earlier spellings of the town's name include ''Wykinglo'' in the late 12th century, and ''Wykinglowe'' in the 14th century. The name is usually explained as coming from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

words ''Víkingr'' ("

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

") and ''ló'' ("meadow"), that is to say "the Vikings' meadow". Norwegian toponymist Magne Oftedal criticizes this, saying that ''-ló'' was never used outside Scandinavia nor in such a combination. He argues that the first element is ''Uikar-'' or ''Uik-'' ("bay"), and that the intermediate ''-n-'' of the old forms is a mistake by clerks. However, all early recorded forms show this ''-n-''. For this reason, Liam Price and A. Sommerfelt derive it from ''Víkinga-ló'' ("the Vikings' meadow"). Nevertheless, the Irish

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, b ...

s Ó hUiginn and Mac Uiginn (anglicised O'Higgins and Maguigan) could bring a key for the meaning "Meadow of a man called Viking". The origin of the Irish name ''Cill Mhantáin'' bears no relation to the name ''Wicklow''. It has an interesting folklore of its own.

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

and some followers are said to have tried to land on Travailahawk beach, which is to the south of the harbour. Hostile locals attacked them, causing one of Patrick's party to lose his front teeth. Manntach ("toothless one"), as he became known, was undeterred; he returned to the town and eventually founded a church, hence ''Cill Mhantáin'' ("church of the toothless one"). Although its

anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

spelling ''Kilmantan'' was used for a time and featured in some placenames in the town like Kilmantan Hill, it has gradually fallen out of use. The

Anglo-Normans The Anglo-Normans (, ) were the medieval ruling class in the Kingdom of England following the Norman Conquest. They were primarily a combination of Normans, Bretons, Flemings, French people, Frenchmen, Anglo-Saxons and Celtic Britons. Afte ...

who conquered this part of Ireland preferred the non-Irish placename.

History

During excavations to build the Wicklow road bypass in 2010, a Bronze Age cooking pit (known in Irish as a ''fulach fiadh'') and hut site was uncovered in the Ballynerrn Lower area of the town. A radio carbon-dating exercise on the site puts the timeline of the discovery at 900 BC. It has been argued that an identifiable Celtic culture had emerged in Ireland by 600 BC or even earlier. According to the Greek cartographer and historian,

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 ...

, the area around Wicklow was settled by a Celtic tribe called the Cauci/Canci. This tribe is believed to have originated in the region containing today's Belgium/German border. The area around Wicklow was referred to as Menapia in Ptolemy's map which itself dates back to 130 AD.

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

landed in Ireland around 795 AD and began plundering monasteries and settlements for riches and to capture slaves. In the mid-9th century, Vikings established a base which took advantage of the natural harbour at Wicklow. It is from this chapter of Wicklow's history that the name 'Wicklow' originates. The Norman influence can still be seen today in some of the town's place and family names. After the Norman invasion, Wicklow was granted to Maurice FitzGerald who set about building the 'Black Castle', a land-facing fortification that lies ruined on the coast immediately south of the harbour. The castle was briefly held by the local O'Byrne, the O'Toole and Kavanagh clans in the uprising of 1641 but was quickly abandoned when English troops approached the town. Sir Charles Coote, who led the troops is then recorded as engaging in "savage and indiscriminate" slaughter of the townspeople in an act of revenge. Local oral history contends that one of these acts of "wanton cruelty" was the entrapment and deliberate burning to death of an unknown number of people in a building in the town. Though no written account of this particular detail of Coote's attack on Wicklow is available, a small laneway, locally referred to as "Melancholy Lane", is said to have been where this event took place. Though the surrounding county of Wicklow is rich in

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 ...

monuments, the oldest surviving settlement in Wicklow proper is the ruined Franciscan friary (founded 1252, dissolved 1551). This is located at the west end of Main Street, within the gardens of the local Catholic parish grounds. Other notable buildings include Wicklow Town Hall, which dates back to around 1690, and

Wicklow Gaol Wicklow Gaol is a former prison, now a museum, located in the town of Wicklow, County Wicklow, Ireland History Prison There has been a prison on the site since the late eighteenth century. Prisoners were held at Wicklow Gaol during the 1798 Re ...

, which was built in 1702 and later renovated as a heritage centre and tourist attraction. The East Breakwater, arguably the most important building in the town, was built in the early 1880s by Wicklow Harbour Commissioners. The architect was William George Strype and the builder was John Jackson. The north

Groyne A groyne (in the U.S. groin) is a rigid aquatic structure built perpendicularly from an ocean shore (in coastal engineering) or a river bank, interrupting water flow and limiting the movement of sediment. It is usually made out of wood, concrete ...

was completed by about 1909; John Pansing was the designer and Louis Nott of Bristol the builder. Wicklow Gaol was a place of execution up to the end of the 19th century. Billy Byrne, a leader of the

1798 rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (; Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The main organising force ...

, was executed at Gallows Hill near Wicklow in 1798. He is commemorated by a statue in the town square. At Fitzwilliam Square in the centre of Wicklow town is an obelisk commemorating the career of Captain Robert Halpin, commander of the telegraph cable ship Great Eastern, who was born in Wicklow in 1836.

Transport

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 ...

, I.P Passenger Services Ltd (trading as Wexford Bus) and

Iarnród Éireann Iarnród Éireann, () or Irish Rail, is the operator of the national Rail transport in Ireland, railway network of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of CIÉ, Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). It operates all internal I ...

all operate to and through the town. Bus

provides hourly bus services to Dublin Busáras on the 133 bus route. The route starts at Monument and makes its way around the town stopping at various stops before continuing to

and

. It no longer serves Dublin airport. A 131 bus route service has been introduced which provides sixteen return services from Wicklow to Bray per day. This route calls at several stops in the town before terminating at Bray DART station. Wexford Bus operates ten services to Dublin airport and up to twelve from Dublin airport each day. Both services are via Dublin city center. Wexford Bus's services are one hour each way to Dublin city center, some 30 mins shorter than the Bus Eireann service. However they do not go through the town, dropping passengers at the Grand Hotel before continuing on to

. Wexford Bus also operates the UM11 service which calls at Wicklow's Grand Hotel bus stop and carries on to Maynooth University, via the Intel campus in

Leixlip Leixlip ( or ; , ) is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and ...

. It operates in college term time only. There is one outbound service each morning, weekdays, and a return service in the evening. TFI Local Link operate the 183 service which runs between Arklow and Sallins in County Kildare. It calls at several stops within the town. There are five services per day operating between Arklow and Wicklow, before continuing on to, and returning from Sallins via several towns and tourist attractions in the Wicklow mountains. Route 133: Wicklow ↔ Dublin Busáras Route 740A:

Gorey Gorey () is a market town in north County Wexford, Ireland. It is bypassed by the main N11 road (Ireland), M11 Dublin to Wexford road. The town is also connected to the Gorey railway station, railway network along the same route. Local newspape ...

↔ Wicklow ↔

Dublin Airport Dublin Airport () is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland. It is operated by DAA (formerly Dublin Airport Authority). The airport is located in Collinstown, north of Dublin, and south of the town of Swords. In 2024, over 34 ...

Route 131: Wicklow ↔

Bray Bray may refer to: Places France * Bray, Eure, in the Eure ''département'' * Bray, Saône-et-Loire, in the Saône-et-Loire ''département'' * Bray-Dunes, in the Nord ''département'' * Bray-en-Val, in the Loiret ''département'' * Bray-et-Lû ...

Route 183:

↔ Wicklow ↔

Sallins Sallins () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland, situated 3.5 km north of the town centre of Naas, from which it is separated by the M7 motorway. Sallins is the anglicised name of ''Na Solláin'' which means "the willows". In the Centra ...

Route UM11: Gorey ↔ Wicklow ↔

Maynooth Maynooth (; ) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's College, Maynoo ...

Rail

operate six trains per day in each direction from

Wicklow railway station Wicklow railway station () is a railway station in Wicklow, County Wicklow, Ireland. Facilities The main station building is on platform 1. There are a waiting room and toilets next to the ticket office. An automatic ticket machine is near the ...

. Services offer connections to most large towns in counties Wexford and Wicklow, as well as a coastal link to Dublin city. Services northbound terminate at

Dublin Connolly Connolly station () or Dublin Connolly is the busiest railway station in Dublin and Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. On the North side of the River Liffey, it provides InterCity, Enterprise and commuter services to ...

and southbound terminate at

Sports and recreation

Wicklow Golf Club, founded in 1904, is located between the town and Wicklow head, while Blainroe Golf Club is situated about 3.5 km south of Wicklow. Oak Hill Cricket Club is located 7.5 km south of Wicklow. The club plays its home matches at Oak Hill Cricket Club Ground, which was constructed in 2008. The ground has hosted

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

matches for

and

Leinster Lightning Leinster Lightning is an Ireland, Irish inter-provincial cricket team. They participate in the Inter-Provincial Championship, Inter-Provincial Cup and Inter-Provincial Trophy. The team is based in Dublin and is managed by Cricket Leinster. Hist ...

Wicklow Local Electoral Area

In local government, the Wicklow

local electoral area A local electoral area (LEA; ) is an electoral area for elections to Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authorities in Ireland. All elections in the Republic of Ireland, elections use the single transferable vote. Republic of Ir ...

elects six councillors to

Wicklow County Council Wicklow County Council () is the local authority of County Wicklow, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning an ...

. The electoral divisions of Wicklow include Altidore, Ballycullen, Brockagh, Calary, Dunganstown East, Glendalough, Glenealy, Killiskey, Moneystown, Newcastle Upper, Oldtown, Togher, Trooperstown, Wicklow Rural and Wicklow Urban.

News media

The ''Wicklow News'' was set up on 15 August 2016. Their current partial address is in Wicklow.

Twinning

Wicklow is twinned with the following settlements: *

Eichenzell Eichenzell is a municipality in the district of Fulda, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the river Fulda, 7 km south of the town Fulda. The letter-processing center for Deutsche Post (, ) is a brand of the DHL Group (listed as ), ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, Germany *

Montigny-le-Bretonneux Montigny-le-Bretonneux () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris, in the " new town" of Saint-Quentin-en-Yveli ...

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

, France *

Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

, Wales

Notable people

* Leo Cullen, Irish rugby union coach * Josh van der Flier, Irish rugby union player * Nicholas Ford, Irish-born American politician * William Goodison, surgeon * Robert Halpin, captain of the ''

SS Great Eastern SS ''Great Eastern'' was an iron-hull (watercraft), hulled steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by John Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall Iron Works on the River Thames, London, England. Powered by both sidewheels and a screw ...

'' * F. E. Higgins, children's author *

Hozier Andrew John Hozier-Byrne (born 17 March 1990), known professionally as Hozier ( ), is an Irish musician. His music primarily draws from Folk music, folk, Soul music, soul and blues, often using religious and literary themes and taking politica ...

, Irish musician * Hybrasil, electronica group *

Jimmy Martin James Henry Martin (August 10, 1927 – May 14, 2005) was an American bluegrass singer and musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass". Early years Martin was born in Sneedville, Tennessee, United States, and was raised in the hard farming l ...

, golfer *

Fionnuala McCormack Fionnuala McCormack ( Britton; born 24 September 1984 in Wicklow) is an Irish runner who has competed at a range of distance running events. She was the gold medallist at the 2011 and 2012 European Cross Country Championships, becoming the firs ...

, runner *

Paul McShane Paul McShane may refer to: * Paul McShane (footballer) (born 1986), Irish football player * Paul McShane (rugby league) (born 1989), rugby league footballer See also *Paul Shane Paul Shane (19 June 1940 – 16 May 2013) was a British actor ...

, footballer *

Áine O'Gorman Áine Marie O'Gorman (born 13 May 1989) is an Irish professional Association football, footballer who plays for Women's National League (Ireland), Women's National League club Shamrock Rovers Ladies F.C., Shamrock Rovers. At club level, O'Gorma ...

, footballer *

Ursula Stephens Ursula Mary Stephens (; born 7 July 1954) is a former Australian politician. She served as a Senator for New South Wales from 2002 to 2014, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She was a parliamentary secretary in the Rudd and Gilla ...

, Irish-born Australian politician * John Ussher, priest *

George Drought Warburton George Drought Warburton (1816–1857) was an Irish soldier, politician and writer on Canada. Life The third son of George Warburton of Aughrim, County Galway, and younger brother of Bartholomew Elliott George Warburton, known as Eliot, he was ...

, soldier and politician

Gallery

File:Wicklow_town_looking_north_from_southern_end_%28Aug_2014%29.jpg, Wicklow Bay with

Great Sugar Loaf Great Sugar Loaf () at , is the 404th–highest peak in Ireland on the Arderin scale, however, being below 600 m it does not rank on the Vandeleur-Lynam or Hewitt scales.Mountainviews, (September 2013), "A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits: ...

(centre) and

Bray Head Bray Head () is a hill and headland located in northern County Wicklow, Ireland, between the towns of Bray and Greystones. It forms part of the Wicklow Mountains and is a popular spot with hillwalkers. At the top of the head is a concrete cro ...

(right) File:Wicklow - aerial - 2025-03-09 05.jpg, Aerial view of Wicklow File:Wicklow Harbour - aerial - 2025-03-09 01.jpg, Wicklow Harbour File:Abbey Street, Wicklow - 2025-03-09 03.jpg, Abbey Street File:Bridge on the Leitrim River in Wicklow Town - geograph.org.uk - 1437981.jpg, Stone Bridge over the River Vartry File:Wicklow mountain - panoramio.jpg, The

File:Golf course on Wicklow Head - geograph.org.uk - 228956.jpg, Golf course in Wicklow

References

Bibliography

* Cleary, J and O'Brien, A (2001) ''Wicklow Harbour: A History'', Wicklow Harbour Commissioners

External links

Wicklow Tourism page on Wicklow TownWicklow Chamber of CommerceHistory of Wicklow Town in MP3 formatWicklow Mountains National ParkDublin & Wicklow Walks
{{Authority control County towns in the Republic of Ireland Port cities and towns in the Republic of Ireland Towns and villages in County Wicklow Viking Age populated places Former urban districts in the Republic of Ireland Former boroughs in the Republic of Ireland