POSTED FROM

AVOCA

CO. WICKLOW · IE

Avoca
Abhóca, Co. Wicklow

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 09 / 09

Abhóca · Co. Wicklow

The oldest working woollen mill in Ireland, a BBC soap opera, and Thomas Moore's favourite tree.

Avoca is a small village at the bottom of a wooded valley where two rivers meet, half an hour south of Glendalough and deep enough into the mountains that the landscape earns its reputation. The Vale of Avoca was beautiful before anyone called it that; the copper mines operated here continuously from the Bronze Age until 1982; Thomas Moore wrote a poem here in 1807 that the Irish have been quoting since. The Ballykissangel tourism is the newest layer on a very old place.

The mill is the best reason to stop. Avoca Handweavers has been weaving on the same site since 1723 - the co-operative was originally established to clothe the copper miners working the hills above - and the looms are still running. You can watch the weavers, buy the throws, eat in the mill café. The mining operation visible on the hill above the village is an industrial ruin now, one of the most complete examples of historic copper mining in Ireland. The last metal came out in 1982.

Fitzgerald's pub is still Fitzgerald's, which is its own small story: the producers of Ballykissangel renamed the Fountain Bar for filming and the new name stuck. The show is finished; the pub is open; it serves a decent pint to visitors who arrive expecting the fictional village and find the real one, which is quieter and better.

Population

769

Pubs

2and counting

Walk score

Village in 10 minutes; Vale of Avoca loop half a day

Founded

Mill established 1723; Bronze Age copper mines on the hill

Coords

52.8558° N, 6.2132° 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 Avoca Handweavers

Ireland's oldest working woollen mill, since 1723.

The mill has been weaving on this site since 1723 - set up to clothe the local copper miners, purchased from disrepair in 1974, now the flagship of a chain that sells throws and coats across the country. The looms still run. You can watch them.

Stories & lore → 02 The Meetings

Where the Avonmore and Avonbeg rivers become the Avoca.

Thomas Moore stood here in 1807 and wrote 'The Meeting of the Waters'. The tree he sat under fell and was replaced. The confluence is still there - two rivers joining below a wooded bank, exactly where he left them.

Stories & lore → 03 Ballykissangel

The BBC show filmed here from 1996. Fitzgerald's is still a pub.

Six series, 5 million viewers, the fictional village of Ballykissangel was shot entirely in Avoca. The pub the show called Fitzgerald's is still called Fitzgerald's - it was the Fountain Bar before filming, took the name, and kept it. The rest of the village looks much as it did.

Pubs & bars →

02 / 09

The pubs.

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

Fitzgerald's

Ballykissangel pilgrims and locals

Pub (formerly Fountain Bar)

The pub from the TV show - or rather, the pub that became the TV pub and kept the name. A real pub that serves real pints. The Ballykissangel posters have faded. The stout hasn't.

03 / 09

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
Avoca Mill Café	Café at the handweavers	€€	In the mill itself. Brown bread, soups, cakes - the same Avoca formula as all the shops, which is a formula that works. Open during mill hours. Busy on summer weekends; manageable the rest of the year.

04 / 09

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Woodenbridge Hotel	Hotel, est. 1608	3km down the Vale at Woodenbridge, where three rivers meet. Claims to be Ireland's oldest hotel - the coaching inn has been here since 1608. New ownership (Fitzpatrick Hotel Collection) from August 2024. The setting is the Vale of Avoca at its widest and most wooded.

05 / 09

Stories & lore.

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

Ireland's oldest working woollen mill

The mill, 1723

The cooperative mill at Avoca was established in 1723 to produce cloth for the copper miners working the hills above the village. It changed hands many times over the centuries, fell into disrepair, and was purchased and restored in 1974 by Donald and Hilary Pratt. The Pratts rebuilt the looms, developed the distinctive Avoca palette of tweeds and throws, and created what became a retail chain. The mill in Avoca is still the original site. Acquired by Aramark in 2015. The looms are still the point.

1807, a tree, a poem

Thomas Moore at the Meetings

The poet Thomas Moore visited the confluence of the Avonmore and Avonbeg rivers in 1807 and wrote 'The Meeting of the Waters' - 'There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet / As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet'. He described sitting under a particular tree; that tree fell and was replaced by a younger one, which visitors photograph. The rivers joined here long before Moore and have continued since.

Bronze Age to 1982

The copper mines

The Avoca copper mines are among the oldest continuously worked mines in the world. Bronze Age people were smelting copper here; the Romans may have noted the ore; the modern industrial operation ran from the 1720s alongside the mill and employed most of the valley for 250 years. The operation closed in 1982 after the price of copper collapsed. The industrial ruins on the hill above the village - tanks, crushing sheds, the spoil heaps that stain the Avoca River orange with acid drainage - are a designated industrial heritage site.

The fictional village that moved in

Ballykissangel

The BBC and RTÉ filmed six series of Ballykissangel in Avoca between 1996 and 2001. The show portrayed a fictional Irish village; the real village became the destination. Fitzgerald's pub (the Fountain Bar before filming) kept the television name after production ended. The series is over; the village has settled back into itself, with a mild residue of visitors looking for fictional characters among the real ones.

06 / 09

Things to do outside.

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

Vale of Avoca River Walk From the village, south along the Avoca River to Woodenbridge and back via the other bank. Wooded, relatively flat, the river running beside you the whole way. The red-tinged water near the old mine workings is copper leaching from the spoil heaps - not dangerous, but notable.

5 km loopdistance

1.5 hourstime

Avoca Mines Heritage Site A short loop around the visible ruins of the 20th-century mining operation above the village. Industrial heritage trail; information boards explain what you're looking at. Wear boots - the ground is rough and occasionally damp with acid drainage.

2 kmdistance

1 hourtime

07 / 09

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The wooded valley is at its best in May - bluebells under the oak canopy, the rivers running high. The mill and café are open. Quiet before the summer traffic.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Busy on weekends with Ballykissangel pilgrims and mill shoppers. The valley stays cool under the trees. Go on a weekday morning for the walks.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The valley is its most dramatic in October - the oaks turn, the river levels rise after rain, the mill is quieter. The best version of the Vale of Avoca walk.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

The café closes earlier and the Ballykissangel visitors stay home. The valley is quiet, the river is loud, the mining ruins look as stark as they should.

◉ Go

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.

Expecting Ballykissangel's fictional Kilnashee

Avoca is the real village behind the show, but the fictional geography doesn't map onto it. The pub is real; Father Ted's house is somewhere else entirely. Come for the mill and the valley, not the TV reconstruction.

Driving the Vale of Avoca in high summer on a weekend

The road south from Rathdrum to Avoca and on to Woodenbridge is narrow and beautiful. On a summer Saturday it is also backed up. Go on a weekday or in autumn.

The mill shop as the only reason to come

The Avoca shops at Kilmacanogue (on the N11) and elsewhere stock the same throws and throws. The reason to come to Avoca specifically is to see the original mill running and walk the valley it sits in.