Barndarrig, An Bhearn Dearg, Co. Wicklow

An Bhearn Dearg · Co. Wicklow

A small N11-corridor village in south-east Wicklow, a few kilometres inland from Brittas Bay - a hurling parish with a long memory and an ogham stone in the next townland.

Barndarrig is a small village in south-east Wicklow, strung along the road just off the N11 between Wicklow town and Arklow. Around 260 people. The Irish is An Bhearn Dearg, the red gap or red pass, the old name for the road through here. It is not a destination so much as a parish you pass through on the way to the coast, and it is honest about that.

Do not come looking for a main street to photograph. There is a church, a school, the GAA grounds, and the dual carriageway humming past a field away. What the village has is location: Redcross 3 km south-west, the long sand of Brittas Bay 5 km east, Wicklow town fifteen minutes north, Arklow fifteen minutes south. It works far better as a base or a stop than as a sight in itself.

What is worth knowing is the parish underneath the village. Barndarrig GAA was founded in 1885, when the Association was barely a year old, and it is a hurling club in a football county - a string of Wicklow senior hurling titles through the 1940s and 1950s, and one more in 1988. The shoreline a few kilometres east carries older marks again: the Castletimon ogham stone, the smuggling memory of Jack White, the cove still called Jack's Hole. The view here is not the village. It is everything within ten minutes of it.

Population

~260 (Census 2016)

Coords

52.9103° N, 6.1089° 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 roadside village just off the N11, between Wicklow town and Arklow.

About 260 people. The name is An Bhearn Dearg, the red gap or red pass. Redcross sits 3 km south-west, the coast at Brittas Bay 5 km east. A bus stop on the dual carriageway and a parish that punches above its size.

Getting here → 02 The parish

One of the oldest hurling clubs in Wicklow, founded in 1885.

Barndarrig GAA goes back to the year the Association itself was barely a year old. A run of Wicklow Senior Hurling titles in the 1940s and 1950s, then again in 1988. In a county that mostly plays football, this corner plays hurling.

Stories & lore → 03 The coast

Smuggling lore, an ogham stone, and a beach over the next rise.

Brittas Bay and Jack's Hole are a short hop east. Jack White, the 18th-century smuggler, gave his name to the inn on the road. The Castletimon ogham stone, a National Monument, lies a few kilometres towards the sea.

Walks & outings →

02 / 07

The pubs.

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

Jack White's Inn

Old coaching-stop pub with a fire and snugs

Inn & restaurant, on the road near Brittas Bay

Off the N11 at junction 19, between Barndarrig and the coast. Named for the 18th-century smuggler who landed goods at Jack's Hole nearby. Snugs, a fire in the bar, traditional food and drink. The default stop on this stretch of road and a pub with genuine history rather than a themed one. The village itself is small on pubs, so this is the one to know.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

Barndarrig GAA, since 1885

A hurling club in a football county

Barndarrig GAA was founded in 1885, the year after the Gaelic Athletic Association itself, which makes it one of the oldest clubs in Wicklow. The remarkable thing is the game: Wicklow is a football county, but this south-eastern corner around Barndarrig and Redcross took to hurling and kept it. The club won the Wicklow Senior Hurling Championship for the first time in 1923, then put together a dominant run through the 1940s and 1950s - back-to-back titles in 1943, 1944 and 1945, more in the late 40s and mid-50s - and a final senior crown in 1988. In a village of a few hundred people, that is a deep parish memory, and the grounds on the edge of the village are where it lives.

Smuggling, the N11, and a cove called Jack's Hole

Jack White and the red pass coast

Jack White's Inn sits on the road near Barndarrig, off the N11 at junction 19. The name is not invented marketing - it remembers an 18th-century smuggler who worked this stretch of coast, landing imported goods at a cove near Brittas Bay still known as Jack's Hole. The inn keeps the older shape of a coaching stop: snugs, a fire in the bar, traditional food. It is the obvious place to stop on the road, and the story underneath it is real Wicklow shoreline history rather than a tourism invention.

A National Monument, carved c. AD 350-550

The Castletimon ogham stone

A few kilometres east of Barndarrig, towards Brittas Bay, the Castletimon ogham stone lies prone by the roadside - a National Monument, carved sometime around AD 350 to 550 and rediscovered in 1854. The inscription reads NETACARI NETA CAGI, roughly 'Netacari, nephew of Cagi'. Local legend says the Castletimon Giant once threw it down the hill and the scratches are his fingernails; another tale has a man take it for a hearth stone until the fairies made his cutlery dance until he put it back. It is part of the Castletimon heritage trail, which also takes in an old graveyard and the walls of an 18th-century mill.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

Castletimon heritage trail East of the village towards the coast. The ogham stone by the roadside, a 17th-century graveyard, and the surviving walls of an 18th-century mill. Low-key and rarely busy. Combine it with a run down to Brittas Bay rather than treating it as a day out on its own.

Short trail, a few stopsdistance

45 minutestime

Brittas Bay strand Five kilometres east. One of the best beaches on the east coast - a long arc of dune-backed sand. It gets busy on a hot summer Sunday and is empty most other days. Jack's Hole, the old smuggling cove, is at the southern end. The reason most people are anywhere near Barndarrig in the first place.

Up to 5 km of sanddistance

As long as you liketime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The coast road is quiet, Brittas Bay is empty, and the back roads towards Redcross and the hills are at their best for a drive or a cycle.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Beach season. Brittas Bay fills on warm weekends and the N11 backs up with it. Mid-week is far calmer. The GAA grounds are in use through the championship months.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The crowds leave the coast, the strand comes back to walkers and dog-owners, and the light over the dunes is at its best. A good time to do the Castletimon trail.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Quiet and exposed. The beach is bracing rather than pleasant and there is little open in the village. Fine as a stop on the road, not as a destination.

◐ 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.

A village centre to wander

There is no quaint main street here. Barndarrig is a church, a school, the GAA grounds and a scatter of houses by the road. Adjust your expectations - the interest is in the parish history and the coast a few kilometres east, not in the village fabric.

Stopping only at the bus stop on the N11

Plenty of people only ever see Barndarrig as a name on a bus stop on the dual carriageway. If that is all you do, you have missed the point. Turn off towards Brittas Bay or Redcross and the area earns its keep.

Getting there.

By car

On the N11/M11 corridor between Wicklow town (about 15 minutes north) and Arklow (about 15 minutes south). Dublin is roughly an hour north on the M11. Brittas Bay is 5 km east, Redcross 3 km south-west on local roads.

By bus

A bus stop on the N11 at the village. Bus Eireann Expressway route 2 (Dublin - Dublin Airport - Wicklow - Arklow - Wexford) calls daily in each direction, with the infrequent route 384 also serving the area.

By train

Wicklow railway station is the nearest, about 15 minutes north, on the Dublin Connolly - Rosslare line.

Next on the tour

Co. Wicklow

Redcross

3 km south-west on the back roads. A small crossroads village inland from Arklow, with a pub and local services - the nearest neighbour.

Co. Wicklow

Wicklow

15 minutes north. The county town - Black Castle, Wicklow Head Lighthouse, the harbour and the gaol.

Co. Wicklow

Arklow

15 minutes south. The harbour town at the mouth of the Avoca river, with its maritime history and long beach.

Co. Wicklow

Glenealy

Seven kilometres north-west, another hurling village, this one with a hall named after a Boer War word.