placenamesMeeting of the Waters
Comar an Dá Abhann
The Avonmore and Avonbeg unite here to form the Avoca River.
The name
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
- Comar an Dá Abhann · Irish · main form
- Meeting of the Waters · English · main form
Place & story
A landscape on a postcard
The National Library of Ireland holds a postcard combining verses from Thomas Moore’s ballad with his portrait and a view of the confluence. Its catalogue dates the ballad to 1807 and the postcard broadly to the mid-twentieth century, showing how the literary association continued to shape images of this place. [2]
The river beyond the view
The East Wicklow Rivers Trust’s interpretation for the site identifies drainage from Avoca’s former mines as a continuing pressure on the river. Acidic mine water carries heavy metals that damage aquatic habitats. The trust links this environmental legacy to the valley’s former mining employment. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Wicklow
- Barony
- Ballinacor North
- Barony
- Arklow
- Civil parish
- Rathdrum
- Civil parish
- Castlemacadam
- Within
- Meetings
- Coordinates
- 52.88510, -6.23201
- Logainm ID
- 113135 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Meeting of the Waters. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Postcard: The Meeting of the Waters by Thomas Moore, EPH A1072 · National Library of Ireland
- Meeting of the Waters: Harbour to Headwaters · East Wicklow Rivers Trust
- The Meeting of the Waters, as photographed in August 2013 illustration: based on a The Meeting of the Waters by Eirian Evans. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-06-08. How this page was prepared.