Arklow, An tInbhear Mór, Co. Wicklow

An tInbhear Mór · Co. Wicklow

A working port town at the mouth of the Avoca, with a maritime history that runs from Viking longships to cordite and bone china.

Arklow is not selling itself to you. It is a town of 13,000 people with a working port, a Main Street that serves the people who live there, and an industrial history that most Irish towns would find hard to match. The Vikings made it a port in the 9th century. The Normans built on it. Copper ore from the mines at Avoca came down the river and out through here in the 18th century. Shipbuilders launched schooners and brigantines from the North Quay. During the First World War, a British explosives company called Kynoch employed 5,000 people on the edge of town to make cordite for the Western Front - and in 1917, four huts of nitro-glycerine and guncotton went up in the night and killed twenty-seven men. From 1934 to 1998, Arklow Pottery made bone china that is now a collector's item. The town has lived many lives.

None of this makes Arklow a tourist village. The Main Street has the rhythm of a real Irish town - a proper hardware shop, a barber, a bookmaker, Christy's bar with a terrace on the river. The Arklow Heritage Museum on the quay is small, seriously curated, and worth an hour of anyone's time. The Nineteen Arches Bridge is one of the longest stone arch bridges in Ireland, and most people drive over it without stopping to look. The South Beach walk is six kilometres of sea air that you share with the locals rather than a tour group.

Come through Arklow on the way between Dublin and Wexford - on the train if you can, which stops here on the Rosslare line. Spend an afternoon. Walk the quay, cross the bridge, walk the beach, have a pint on Christy's river terrace. Drive the ten kilometres up to the Vale of Avoca in the morning. Don't expect a village designed for visitors. Expect a town that has been doing its own thing for twelve hundred years.

Population

~15,800 (Census 2022)

Pubs

12and counting

Walk score

South Beach loop 6km, 1hr 25min; riverside walk flat and easy

Founded

Viking settlement, 9th century; Norman consolidation, 12th century

Coords

52.7974° N, 6.1583° W

01 / 09

At a glance.

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

01 Port and maritime history

Ireland's first motorised fishing boat was built here in 1908.

Arklow had 80 schooners, brigs and brigantines by the turn of the 20th century. The Tyrrell boatbuilding family is still working on North Quay, fourth generation. The Arklow Heritage Museum on the quay holds the logbooks, the models, and the story of how copper ore from Avoca built this port.

Stories & lore → 02 Gateway to the Vale of Avoca

Ten kilometres upriver: the Meeting of the Waters.

The River Avoca, the longest river wholly within Wicklow, runs through the centre of town. Follow it north and you reach the Vale of Avoca and Avoca Handweavers, weaving on the same site since 1723. Thomas Moore wrote the poem here. The looms are still running.

Walks & outings → 03 South Beach

A long strand south of the Nineteen Arches Bridge.

The beach runs south from the harbour, backed by boulders and a golf course. It is not a destination beach. It is a town beach - good for a walk, good for a dog, right there when you need it. The Nineteen Arches Bridge over the Avoca is the way in.

Walks & outings →

02 / 09

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Christy's

Town centre, riverside terrace, all-day

Bar, restaurant & terrace

At 38 Main Street, with a large outdoor terrace backing onto the Riverwalk and the Avoca. Gastro bar food, daily specials, an extensive whiskey list, live sports and music at weekends. The terrace on a summer afternoon is the best seat in Arklow. Open Monday to Saturday from 11am.

The Old Ship

Long-established, local

Traditional pub

At 44 Main Street, a long-established family-run house with a function room. Food served, reliable pint of stout. The kind of pub that does not need to reinvent itself every few years because it got it right the first time.

Nineteen Arches

Upper Main Street, neighbourhood

Pub

On Upper Main Street, named for the bridge a short walk away. A no-nonsense local with a regular crowd. The kind of pub where someone will tell you something about Arklow that you will not find in any guidebook.

03 / 09

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
The Pottery Restaurant	Hotel restaurant, fine dining	€€€	The formal dining room at the Arklow Bay Hotel, named after the factory that once employed a thousand people in this town. Irish ingredients, full table service, the place locals use for a significant occasion. On Ferrybank, the north side of the Nineteen Arches Bridge.
Christy's	Gastro bar	€€	Daily specials in a bar rather than a restaurant, which suits most purposes. The terrace on the river is the reason to come at lunchtime on a decent day. Food runs from midday.
The Old Ship	Pub food	€€	Bar food in a traditional setting on Main Street. Good for a straightforward lunch or early dinner without ceremony. Reliable and unpretentious.

04 / 09

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Arklow Bay Hotel	4-star hotel with leisure centre	91 rooms on Ferrybank, the north bank of the Avoca, with views toward the Irish Sea. Indoor pool, sauna, steam room, gym, spa. The Pottery Restaurant for dinner, the Ferrybank Lounge for something quieter. The biggest hotel in south Wicklow and well set up for it - conference trade, leisure breaks, families. Free parking on site.
B&Bs and self-catering in town	B&B / self-catering	A spread of smaller B&Bs and self-catering properties across the town and the Ferrybank side. Cheaper than the hotel by a considerable margin, and often with better breakfasts. Worth searching directly rather than through the large booking platforms, where the smaller places tend to be underrepresented.

05 / 09

Stories & lore.

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

Five thousand workers, cordite for the Western Front, and a night that shook the town

The Kynoch factory and the 1917 explosion

In 1895 a British munitions company called Kynoch established an explosives works on the north edge of Arklow to manufacture cordite, a propellant that had recently replaced gunpowder in military ammunition. By the First World War the factory employed up to 5,000 people, men and women working in separate areas divided by explosive hazard. Women were paid four shillings a week to the men's twelve. On the night of 22 September 1917, four huts containing workers mixing nitro-glycerine and guncotton exploded. The blast threw people from their beds across the town and was heard twelve miles away. Twenty-seven men died; three of the huts vanished completely, leaving only craters. The factory closed in 1918 when the war ended. The women who worked the cordite lines are still referred to locally as the Arklow gunpowder girls.

From Seán Lemass to Noritake to the auction house: 64 years of bone china

Arklow Pottery

Arklow Pottery opened in 1934 on South Quay, formally launched by Seán Lemass - then Minister for Industry and Commerce - on 29 July 1935. For sixty years it was one of the town's biggest employers, producing earthenware and fine bone china that was exported across the world. Noritake, the Japanese tableware company, took it over in 1977. In April 1998, after losses of £7.5 million over twenty years, Noritake closed the factory with 140 redundancies, citing competition from Asian manufacturers. Arklow Pottery pieces are collector's items now. The Pottery Restaurant at the Arklow Bay Hotel was named in the factory's memory. A community archive project is still preserving the records.

A family, a quay, and over a century of boats

Tyrrell and the first motorised fishing boat in Ireland

The Tyrrell family has been building boats on North Quay since the 19th century. In 1908 they designed and built the OVOCA, the first motorised fishing boat in Ireland or Britain. By the turn of the 20th century Arklow was Ireland's largest fishing port, running a fleet of 80 schooners, brigs and brigantines. The fourth generation of Tyrrells is still building on North Quay today, under the name Arklow Marine Services Ltd, on roughly the same ground where the early 19th-century fleet was fitted out. The Arklow Heritage Museum holds models, logbooks, and photographs from across the full span of this history.

How ore six miles upriver built a harbour

Copper, the Avoca mines, and the port

The discovery of copper at Avoca in the 18th century changed the town's economic geography. The mines produced ore that came down the river and out through Arklow's port in sufficient volume to justify major investment in harbour infrastructure in the 1830s. The mines also left a significant pollution legacy: the Avoca River ran orange for generations from acid mine drainage. The mines closed in 1963. The river has been slowly recovering since, and the mine site is now managed as a heritage area.

06 / 09

Things to do outside.

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

Arklow South Beach Loop Starts from North Quay beside the marina, the Heritage Museum and the Bridgewater Shopping Centre. Cross the Nineteen Arches Bridge - pause on it, it is one of the longest stone arch bridges in Ireland - then south along South Quay, through the harbour dock area to the South Beach amenity area. The return loop comes through the old town, the former fishery quarter, and King's Hill, the site of the 1798 Battle of Arklow. Flat, easy, well-marked.

6kmdistance

1hr 25mintime

Riverside walk north toward Shelton Abbey The Avoca River walk north from the town centre follows the river upstream through quiet farmland. Shelton Abbey - a Gothic Revival house used as an open prison - is visible from the path. The woods along the river are good for early morning birds. Turn back at any point; the riverbank is level throughout.

5km one waydistance

1hr 15mintime

Vale of Avoca (10km north by car) Not a walk from Arklow itself but the logical excursion. Drive or bus the ten kilometres north to the village of Avoca, where the Avonmore and Avonbeg rivers meet - Thomas Moore's Meeting of the Waters. Avoca Handweavers has been weaving on the same site since 1723. Walk the riverside path from the weaving mill to the confluence. The shop at the mill is unavoidable and you will probably buy something.

3km riversidedistance

45mintime

07 / 09

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

March-May

The Vale of Avoca is best in late April and May when the riverbanks are green and the weaving mill is quieter than summer. Arklow beach is cold but empty. Hotel rates are reasonable.

◉ Go

Summer

June-August

Arklow South Beach is a town beach rather than a resort beach, so it does not get overwhelmed. The Vale of Avoca and Avoca Handweavers get busy - go early in the day. Accommodation at the Arklow Bay Hotel books up on summer weekends.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

September-November

The best season for the riverside and vale walks - the light through the trees on the Avoca in October is worth the trip on its own. Town is quiet, hotel rates drop, the Pottery Restaurant is easier to book.

◉ Go

Winter

December-February

The Heritage Museum keeps regular hours through winter (closed Christmas and New Year). The beach walk is fine in any weather if you dress for it. Arklow is a town that functions year-round rather than a seasonal visitor economy.

◐ Mind yourself

08 / 09

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Driving through on the bypass without stopping

The N11 bypass takes you around Arklow in under two minutes and most people use it. The Heritage Museum, the Nineteen Arches Bridge, and the river terrace at Christy's are all worth the detour, and none of them is visible from the bypass.

Expecting a tourist-ready village

Arklow is a town of 13,000 people with a Lidl, a Dunnes, and a hardware shop. The infrastructure is built for the people who live here. That is not a criticism - it means the pubs and restaurants are genuine - but adjust expectations accordingly.

The Vale of Avoca at midday in July

Avoca Handweavers is heavily visited in peak summer. The car park reflects this. Go before 10am or after 4pm and the experience changes completely.

Assuming the beach is a swimming beach

Arklow South Beach is a long strand backed by boulders. It is good for walking. The water is fine for a hardy swim but this is not a sandy cove with a lifeguard and an ice cream van. Set expectations accordingly.

Getting there.

By car

On the N11/M11 corridor between Dublin and Wexford. The bypass carries through traffic around the town. For the town centre, the quays, and the Heritage Museum, exit at Arklow and follow the river in. Parking is available along the quays and on Main Street.

By bus

Bus Éireann routes connect Arklow to Dublin, Wexford, and Wicklow town. The town is also served by local Wicklow rural transport links. Check the Bus Éireann website for current timetables.

By train

Arklow station is on the Dublin Connolly-Rosslare Europort line, one of the few Irish intercity routes that runs through the town rather than around it. Several services daily in each direction. Dublin Connolly to Arklow is around 1hr 20min. The station is a five-minute walk from Main Street.

Next on the tour

Wicklow

Glendalough

Forty kilometres north through the Wicklow hills: a 6th-century monastic city at the bottom of two lakes. The round tower is intact. The actual village - pubs, food, beds - is at Laragh, 1.5km east.

Wexford

Gorey

Twenty kilometres south on the N11: north Wexford's market town, on the same Dublin-Rosslare rail line. A town that trebled in size in a generation, with a good Main Street for a stop.

Wexford

Courtown

Twenty-five kilometres south and east: a small seaside town with a working harbour and a long sandy beach. The quieter alternative to the busier Wexford coast resorts.