Wicklow’s history moves between the mountain valleys and the coastal towns. Glendalough’s traditions and the Parnell family’s Avondale home offer distinct ways into that landscape.
⊕Recorded locationWicklow52.95162° N · 6.36030° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
Cill Mhantáin· Irish · main form · validated name
Wicklow· English · main form
Place & story
A county of different settings
Lewis’s nineteenth-century county survey treats mountain districts, coastal approaches and river valleys within the same broad area. Its inland religious sites and its coastal settlements followed different paths of development.[2]
Folklore & tradition
Kevin and the blackbird
The Office of Public Works’ educational account of Glendalough records the legend of St Kevin remaining still while a blackbird nested in his outstretched hand and reared its young. The devotional story celebrates patience and the saint's relationship with nature. The association belongs to Glendalough and its landscape of lakes and monastic remains.[3]
Avondale’s house and trees
Avondale near Rathdrum joins architectural, political and forestry history. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records the late eighteenth-century house built for Samuel Hayes and its later association with Charles Stewart Parnell. The county heritage account also describes Hayes’s experimental tree planting. The house and wooded estate are therefore more than a backdrop to one biography: they preserve changing ideas about improvement, land use and the cultivation of trees.[4][5]
People & connections
The Parnells of Avondale
Charles Stewart Parnell was born and lived at Avondale before becoming a leading figure in the Home Rule movement. His sister Anna Parnell was also born there, in 1852. The county heritage account describes the siblings’ upbringing, their mother’s encouragement of education, and the political interests shared by Anna and Fanny. Keeping the sisters within Avondale’s story broadens a place often introduced through Charles alone, while retaining the exact connection between the family and the estate.[5][6]
Figures cover the whole county including its cities. CSO recommends this series for long-term comparison, although minor boundary changes have occurred.
View population figures
County Wicklow, including its cities — census population
placenames