Valleymount

Valleymount
Moin an Bhealaigh
Town
Valleymount

Location in Ireland

Coordinates: 53°06′21″N 6°31′30″W / 53.105763°N 6.525068°W / 53.105763; -6.525068Coordinates: 53°06′21″N 6°31′30″W / 53.105763°N 6.525068°W / 53.105763; -6.525068
Country Ireland
Province Leinster
County County Wicklow
Elevation 198 m (650 ft)
Time zone WET (UTC+0)
 • Summer (DST) IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference N984072

Valleymount (Irish: Moin an Bhealaigh or An Chrois) is a small village in western County Wicklow, Ireland. Neighbouring villages are Hollywood, Ballymore Eustace, Blessington, Ballyknockan and Lacken.

Location and transport

Valleymount is at an average elevation of 198m above sea level and is situated on the R758 regional road. The village is on a land spit created by the flooding of the River Liffey and its primary tributary the King's River in the late-1930s and early-1940s for the Poulaphouca Dam project. The Poulaphouca project now supplies water to the Greater Dublin Area, and electricity to the ESB national grid.

It is serviced by the Dublin Bus 65 route which connects to Dublin twice daily (Mon - Fri).

The Valleymount Spur of St Kevin's Way, the pilgrim route to the ancient monastery site at Glendalough runs through Valleymount village. Another spur runs from the nearby village of Hollywood to Glendalough.

Townlands

There are numerous townlands in the area of Valleymount, some of which are: Ballyknockan, (The) Togher, Monamuck, Valleymount (or Cross), Humphrystown, Lockstown Upper, Lockstown Lower, Baltyboys Upper, Baltyboys Lower, Rathballylong, Annacarney, Blackditches Upper, Blackditches Lower, Carrigacurra, Lugnagroagh, Tulfarris, Granabeg Upper, Granabeg Lower, Knocknadruce and Knocknadruce Upper. Nearby (to the NE) is the 'lost' townland of Ballinahown which was completely flooded by the Poulaphouca project in the late-1930s and early-1940s

Buildings/Sites

St. Joseph's Church

St. Joseph's church

The most notable building is the church which of a traditional Mexican style, a design created when emigrants from the area returned home and adapted the style to the local area. The church features beautiful stained glass windows by Harry Clarke, a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement and art students from Dublin's Art colleges regularly visit the church to see the windows.

The Star Inn

The pub was established around 1836 and switched owners in 1947 to Edward O'Connor and his wife Julia. The current proprietor is their son, Leo O'Connor, who took over the business in 1985 and refurbished the premises in 1996. The Inn is apparently named after the Morning Star that could be seen from the entrance.[1]

Valleymount House

A stone building that was the village's one and only shop and post office until it closed in 2006.

The old Forge

The village used to have its own forge which was active until the 1980s.

The Sweathouse

There is a prehistoric sweathouse in the townland of Annacarney near Valleymount.[2]

Sports

Honours won by Valleymount GAA club include:[3]

Rugby player Brian Carney played Gaelic football for Valleymount GAA and won a junior championship medal in 1998 with the club.

Cultural references

Films

The following films were made in or near Valleymount:[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome to The Star Inn, Leo O Connor's Pub Vallymount, Wicklow". O'Connors Valleymount. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
  2. ↑ "Annacarney: Sweat House". Megalithomania. 2002-05-20. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
  3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20071122033807/http://wicklow.gaa.ie/Clubs/Valleymount04.htm. Archived from the original on November 22, 2007. Retrieved March 26, 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ http://www.visitwicklow.ie/films/

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.