Annamoe
Áth na mBó, Co. Wicklow

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 05 / 05

Áth na mBó · Co. Wicklow

A hamlet on the Avonmore, on the road to Glendalough - one river, one fishery, and an 18th-century novelist who fell through a mill-race and lived to write it down.

Annamoe is a hamlet - fewer than two hundred people, one road in and the same road out, the Avonmore River running alongside. The name in Irish is Áth na mBó, the ford of the cows, which tells you most of what you need to know about the scale of the place and the era in which it was named. The R755 runs straight through it between Roundwood to the north and Laragh to the south, and most of the traffic on that road is heading for Glendalough. Annamoe is a place people pass through, and it has been for a long time.

Two things give it a reason to stop. The first is the trout fishery - a four-acre lake on the riverbank, stocked with rainbow and brown trout, run for over thirty-five years by Brian Nally. There is a junior pond for younger anglers and a log cabin where you can pick up flies and tackle. It is a straightforward, honest operation in good mountain country, and on a weekday morning in April it is about as peaceful as Wicklow gets. The second is a footnote in literary history: in 1720, a seven-year-old boy named Laurence Sterne was staying with his father at the parsonage here, fell through the working mill-race on the Avonmore, and was hauled out unhurt. He later wrote about it himself, noting drily that hundreds came to see the child who had survived. Sterne went on to write Tristram Shandy, one of the most formally inventive novels in the English language. The mill on the river still stands. The parsonage is gone.

Population

Under 200 - a hamlet rather than a village

Walk score

River valley on foot; Glendalough 8km west by road

Coords

53.0058° N, 6.2997° W

01 / 05

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The trout fishery

A four-acre lake on the Avonmore River.

Annamoe Trout Fishery is a stocked lake run by Brian Nally, with fly fishing for rainbow and brown trout, a junior pond, and a log cabin clubhouse where you can buy flies and a cup of something warm. Casting tuition can be arranged. It is the main reason people stop here rather than drive through.

Walks & outings → 02 The novelist in the mill

Laurence Sterne fell into the mill-race here. He was seven. He wrote about it.

In 1720, the young Laurence Sterne - later the author of Tristram Shandy - was staying at the parsonage in Annamoe with his father. He fell through a working mill-race on the river and was pulled out unharmed. He later recorded in his own memoirs that hundreds of people came from the surrounding area to see the child who had survived. The mill still stands.

Stories & lore →

02 / 05

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Accommodation in Laragh (8km west) and Roundwood (8km north)	Hotels, B&Bs, self-catering	There is no accommodation in Annamoe itself that can be verified as currently operating. Laragh - the actual village at the Glendalough junction - has Lynhams Hotel, a handful of B&Bs, and is the practical base for this part of the valley. Roundwood, 8km north on the R755, has further B&B options. Both are short drives.

03 / 05

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

The novelist fell through a working mill-race here at the age of seven, in 1720

Laurence Sterne and the mill-race

Laurence Sterne (1713-1768), who would later write The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman - a novel still talked about by people who study how stories can be taken apart - spent time as a child in Annamoe while his father was stationed in the area. In his brief autobiographical 'Memoirs', Sterne recalled the incident precisely: 'I had that wonderful Escape in falling thro a Mill Race whilst the Mill was going - and of being taken up unhurt - The Story is Incredible - But known for Truth in all that part of Ireland, where hundreds of the Common people flocked to see me.' The mill on the Avonmore River where this happened was converted into a private residence in 2000. It is known locally as Sterne's Mill.

A medieval stronghold, a grassy mound

Castle Kevin and the O'Tooles

A short distance up the valley from Annamoe stood Castle Kevin - a fortification built as a motte-and-bailey around 1200 by Anglo-Norman settlers acting for the Archbishop of Dublin, intended to hold the mountain approaches to the city. The O'Toole clan seized it in 1331 and held it as part of their broader resistance to Norman control of east Wicklow. The O'Tooles were the dominant Gaelic family in this part of the mountains for centuries, and Glenmalure and the Annamoe valley were at the centre of their territory. What remains of Castle Kevin today is a grassy earthwork - a ditch, a rampart, and a few foundation stones in a field.

The Irish name is an accurate description of what was once here

Áth na mBó - the ford of the cows

The Irish placename Áth na mBó means 'ford of the cows' - a reference to a crossing point on the Avonmore River that cattle were driven through. The name dates from well before any road ran through here, when the valley was a route between the upland grazing and the lower ground, and the river had to be forded rather than bridged. The anglicised form 'Annamoe' has been in use since at least the 17th century.

04 / 05

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

The Annamoe valley on foot The R755 through the valley is quiet enough outside summer weekends to walk sections of it, with the Avonmore River running alongside through mixed woodland. There is no formal looped trail in the hamlet itself - the walking infrastructure is in Glendalough, 8km west. The valley walk is self-directed: south from the hamlet toward Laragh, or north toward Roundwood through open farmland.

Variable - 2-5km depending on how far you godistance

45 min-2 hourstime

Drive or cycle to Glendalough (8km west) Annamoe sits on the approach road to Glendalough - west on the R755 to Laragh, then left on the R756 into the valley. The full Glendalough walking network (the Spinc, the Green Road, the Upper and Lower Lakes) is covered on the Glendalough page. If you are staying in the area and want to walk to the monastic site from a base further out, the road between Annamoe and Laragh is manageable on a weekday morning.

8km one way on the R755 and R756distance

10 min by car; 35 min by biketime

Getting there.

By car

Annamoe sits on the R755 between Roundwood (8km north) and Laragh (8km south). From Dublin, take the M11 south to Rathnew, then the R755 through Roundwood - about 1 hour 10 minutes. From Wicklow town, 25 minutes via Rathdrum and the R755. There is no realistic alternative to a car: public transport does not serve the hamlet.

By bus

St Kevin's Bus Service between Dublin and Glendalough runs through Roundwood - the nearest stop, 8km north on the R755. From there, Annamoe is accessible only by car or on foot. Check glendaloughbus.com for the current timetable.