POSTED FROM

BALLINACLASH

CO. WICKLOW · IE

Ballinaclash
An Chlais, Co. Wicklow

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 07 / 07

An Chlais · Co. Wicklow

A bridge over the Avonbeg below Glenmalure, an old shop-and-bar, and the wreck of a rake's fortune up the road at Whaley Abbey.

Ballinaclash is a bridge and the houses around it. The R753 carries you across the River Avonbeg on a stone bridge about four kilometres south-west of Rathdrum, and that crossing is the village. The Irish name, An Chlais, means the townland of the ravine, which is honest about the ground: the Avonbeg comes down out of Glenmalure above and the land falls away to the water. Three hundred and nine people lived here at the 2022 census, give or take the same number that have lived here for decades.

It was not always small. Samuel Lewis put the district population at 3,855 in 1837 - a figure the Famine and a century of emigration cut to a fraction. The Church of Ireland church at Ballinatone, a plain building with a square tower, was rebuilt in 1834 for nine hundred pounds. The early Christian story is older still: the monastery on the Whaley Abbey land is traditionally said to have been founded by a brother of St Kevin, the Glendalough saint whose valley is the next one over.

There is one stop that matters in the village itself, and it is Phelan's by the bridge - a shop and a bar in the one premises, run by the same family for three generations, the kind of place where you can buy a loaf, a pint and an ice cream without crossing the room. Beyond that, Ballinaclash is a place you pass through on the way up to Glenmalure or down toward Avoca, and it knows it. Come for the bridge, the shop-bar, and the strange history of the house up the road. Do not come expecting a town.

Population

309 (2022)

Pubs

1and counting

Founded

Early monastery said to be founded by a brother of St Kevin; church rebuilt 1834

Coords

52.9000° N, 6.2667° W

01 / 07

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 place

A bridge village on the Avonbeg, four kilometres south-west of Rathdrum.

The R753 crosses the River Avonbeg here on a stone bridge, and the village gathers around it. The Irish, An Chlais, means the townland of the ravine. Three hundred and nine people at the 2022 census. The water comes down out of Glenmalure above.

Walks & outings → 02 The shop-bar

Phelan's: a pint, a loaf and an ice cream under one roof.

The licensed grocer by the bridge has been run by the same family for three generations. Shop on one side, bar on the other, the age-old country arrangement. Occasional live music. It is the village in one building.

Pubs & bars → 03 The ruin of a fortune

Whaley Abbey, home of Buck Whaley, who bet he could reach Jerusalem.

On a monastery site said to go back to a brother of St Kevin. The Whaley house produced Thomas 'Buck' Whaley, who walked to Jerusalem on a wager in 1788, won fifteen thousand pounds, and gambled the lot away by 1800.

Stories & lore →

02 / 07

The pubs.

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

Phelan's

Old-world country licensed grocer

Shop and bar by the bridge

By the stone bridge over the Avonbeg in the middle of the village. A licensed grocer in the age-old tradition - groceries on one side, a bar on the other, three generations of the same family behind it. Stop in for a pint, a loaf of bread or an ice cream, all under the one roof. Occasional live music. The one place in Ballinaclash that is properly the village, and a real old-world experience rather than a recreation of one.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

Whaley Abbey, 1766 to 1800

Buck Whaley's wager

Whaley Abbey stands on level ground just outside the village, on the site of an old abbey called Ballyhine. The land is said to have come to the Whaleys under Henry VIII, and the family produced one of Georgian Ireland's most spectacular wasters. Thomas 'Buck' Whaley, born in 1766, inherited an estate worth about seven thousand pounds a year. In 1788 he took a wager that he could travel to Jerusalem and back inside a year. He left Dublin in September 1788, reached the Holy Land, returned in July 1789, and collected fifteen thousand pounds. Then he gambled, drank and spent his way through the entire fortune. He died in 1800 at a coaching inn in Cheshire, young and penniless. The estate that funded the bet was outside this small Wicklow village.

A brother of St Kevin

A monastery before the Whaleys

Long before Buck Whaley, the same ground carried an early monastery. The antiquarian Mervyn Archdall recorded that it was founded by a brother of St Kevin - the saint of Glendalough, the great monastic city two valleys north. The medieval abbey was known as Ballyhine, and the Whaley house was later built over the site. The early Christian connection threads Ballinaclash, quietly, into the same Wicklow story as Glendalough itself, though nothing of the monastery is standing to see.

The Tinker's Wedding

Synge's horse-fair line

Ballinaclash earns a line in J.M. Synge's play The Tinker's Wedding, when a character looks forward to meeting Jaunting Jim 'to-morrow in Ballinaclash, and he after getting a great price for his white foal in the horse-fair of Wicklow'. It is a small thing, but it places the village in the map of fairs and roads that Synge's travelling people moved through at the turn of the twentieth century - a real working crossroads in the Wicklow uplands, not an invention.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

The bridge and the Avonbeg From Phelan's down to the stone bridge and along the River Avonbeg. The water comes off the Glenmalure side and runs clear and quick. Not a marked trail, just the riverbank and the road - but it is the heart of the place and a few minutes well spent before you drive on.

Short riverside strolldistance

20-30 minutestime

Up into Glenmalure The Avonbeg leads up to Glenmalure, the long glacial valley above the village and one of the great walking glens in the Wicklow Mountains. Drive up toward Drumgoff and the Glenmalure Lodge, then walk in along the valley floor or up onto the Wicklow Way. Wild, steep-sided, and a serious step up from the riverside stroll. Boots and weather sense required.

Drive then walk, half a daydistance

3-5 hourstime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The Avonbeg runs high with snowmelt and rain off Glenmalure, and the valley above greens up. Quiet roads, the shop-bar open, the mountains accessible without summer traffic.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings and the easiest access to Glenmalure above. The village stays quiet even when the glen draws walkers; Ballinaclash itself is not a destination, which is part of its appeal.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The uplands turn and the river rises after rain. The best light on the valley, and the walks up toward Glenmalure at their most dramatic.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and weather coming down off the mountains. The bridge and the shop-bar keep going, but the high ground above Glenmalure is for the well-equipped only.

◐ Mind yourself

06 / 07

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

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

Looking for a Whaley Abbey to tour

The house is private and the medieval monastery it sits on is gone above ground. The Buck Whaley story is worth knowing as you pass, but there is no visitor site, no car park, no tour. It is history attached to the landscape, not an attraction.

Treating Ballinaclash as a stop in its own right

It is a bridge, a church, a shop-bar and three hundred people. The reason to slow down here is Phelan's and the Avonbeg; the reason to come this way at all is Glenmalure above or Avoca and Rathdrum below. Plan it as part of a Wicklow loop, not a destination.

Getting there.

By car

From Rathdrum, about 4 km south-west on the R753, which crosses the Avonbeg in the village. Glenmalure and Drumgoff are up the valley to the north-west; Avoca is a short run south.

By bus

No direct village service. Bus Eireann route 133 (Dublin to Arklow via Rathdrum) and Local Link Wicklow serve Rathdrum, about 4 km away; taxi or lift from there.

By train

Rathdrum station, 4 km away, is on the Dublin Connolly to Rosslare Europort line. From the station it is a short taxi or cycle into Ballinaclash.