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COOLAFANCY

CO. WICKLOW · IE

Coolafancy
Cúl na Fuinse, Co. Wicklow

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 07 / 07

Cúl na Fuinse · Co. Wicklow

A scattered farming townland in the south Wicklow foothills, between Tinahely and Carnew, on the edge of the old Coolattin estate.

Coolafancy - Cúl na Fuinse, the recess of the ash-tree - is a dispersed rural townland in the south Wicklow hills, in the civil parish of Crosspatrick and the barony of Shillelagh. It sits roughly between Tinahely and Carnew, beside its near-neighbour Coolboy, near the R748. On maps the area is often marked Crosspatrick. There is no main street to speak of. What there is: St Mary's National School - the only primary school for miles, taking in children from Coolboy, Hillbrook, Coolroe and Cummer - a Roman Catholic church, an old graveyard, and the farmland that holds it all together.

The history here is estate history. For the nineteenth century this was Wentworth-FitzWilliam land, part of the vast Coolattin estate that covered close to a fifth of County Wicklow and held over twenty thousand tenants. During the Great Famine and the decade after it, Earl FitzWilliam ran an assisted-emigration scheme: between 1847 and 1856 more than six thousand of his Wicklow tenants were paid to sail for Canada, most of them to Quebec. The estate ledgers recorded every name, age and departure, which is why Coolafancy and the townlands around it turn up in family-history searches from Ontario to New Brunswick far more often than any visitor turns up in person.

Be honest about what this is. Coolafancy is a place to drive through, not a place with amenities laid on for you. The nearest pint with a name worth knowing is The Dying Cow at Stranakelly, a famous one-room pub on the Wicklow Way a few miles north toward Shillelagh. The nearest spread of shops, bars and food is Tinahely or Carnew. What Coolafancy gives you is a quiet corner of the FitzWilliam country with big mountain views, and a walk up Annagh Hill if the weather holds.

Population

~100 (dispersed townland)

Coords

52.764° N, 6.432° 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 land

Coolattin estate country - once a fifth of County Wicklow.

Coolafancy sat inside the Wentworth-FitzWilliam estate at Coolattin, which ran to over 85,000 acres and 20,000 tenants. The famine-era assisted emigration scheme of 1847 to 1856 shipped more than 6,000 of those tenants to Canada. The townland records survive; the people mostly do not.

Stories & lore → 02 The hills

Annagh Hill and the southern Wicklow Way on the doorstep.

The townland nestles in the foothills below Annagh Hill (454m) and Croghan Kinsella, near the Kilcavan Gap and the southern end of the Wicklow Way. Walking country, not a destination village.

Walks & outings →

02 / 07

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Crosspatrick House	B&B, Crosspatrick / Coolafancy	A small guesthouse at Crosspatrick, the heart of the Coolafancy area, around three quarters of an hour from Dublin Airport. The only signposted bed in the immediate townland. For more choice, look to Tinahely or Carnew.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

Wentworth-FitzWilliam, a fifth of a county

The Coolattin estate

The Coolattin estate, seated at Coolattin House near Shillelagh, was the County Wicklow holding of the Earls FitzWilliam (the Wentworth-FitzWilliam family). At its height it ran to more than 85,000 acres - close to one fifth of the entire county - with over 20,000 tenants. Coolafancy and the surrounding Crosspatrick townlands were estate land. Nineteenth-century directories record Coolafancy as the residence of Christmas Johnston, Esq., a name worth keeping for the mountain views it came with rather than the man. The estate office kept meticulous ledgers - rents, arrears, maps, tenant dealings - and it is those records, not any monument, that preserve the ordinary people of this corner of Wicklow.

Six thousand tenants paid to leave

The Coolattin emigrations, 1847 to 1856

When the Famine struck, Earl FitzWilliam - William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-FitzWilliam - chose assisted emigration over eviction. Between 1847 and 1856 the estate paid the passage of more than 6,000 of its Wicklow tenants to Canada, over 2,000 of them from the Coolattin lands themselves. The great majority sailed to Quebec; one shipload, on the Star in 1848, went to St Andrews in New Brunswick. The estate recorded everyone who applied to go - name, age, household, townland, date of departure - and that emigration list is now one of the most complete famine-era tenant records in Ireland. For thousands of Canadian families it is the single document that points back to this scatter of south Wicklow fields.

Crosspatrick, until 1973

Two churches and an old graveyard

Coolafancy lies in the civil parish of Crosspatrick, and the religious geography here straddles a border. The Roman Catholic church, St Mary's, belongs to the parish of Coolfancy (Carnew) in the Diocese of Ferns - a diocese that spreads across Wexford and into south Wicklow. There was also a Church of Ireland church, Crosspatrick Church, which stood until 1973. The Coolafancy old graveyard survives as the quiet record of the settled families who did not take the boat to Quebec.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

Annagh Hill Annagh Hill (Cnoc an Eanaigh, 454m) rises south-east of Coolafancy on the Wicklow-Wexford border. Loop walks such as the Annagh Hill Yellow Belly Loop start on the Wexford side. From the viewing points the foothill villages - Aughrim, Tinahely, Shillelagh, Coolboy and Coolafancy - lie spread out below. Bring the OSI Wicklow South map and proper boots.

Various, hill walkingdistance

2-4 hourstime

Southern Wicklow Way Coolafancy sits near the southern end of the Wicklow Way, the waymarked long-distance trail that finishes at Clonegal in Carlow. The final stages run through this country past Stranakelly and the Dying Cow pub. Walk a section rather than the whole thing if you are only here for the day.

Section walkingdistance

Half daytime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The south Wicklow foothills green up and Annagh Hill is at its best. A clear day gives you the long views the old estate residents paid for.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings for the hill walks. The Tinahely Agricultural Show on the August bank holiday Monday, fifteen minutes north, is the big local event.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Quiet, clear, the heather going over on Annagh Hill. Good walking weather before the days shorten.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

A scattered upland townland in January. Fine to pass through; the hill walks need care and the light goes early. Not a destination season.

◐ 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 village centre

There isn't one in the usual sense. Coolafancy is a dispersed townland - a school, a church, a graveyard and farms - marked Crosspatrick on many maps. For a street with shops, pubs and food go to Tinahely or Carnew.

Expecting a Coolafancy pub

The community is small and rural. The pub people actually name in this country is The Dying Cow at Stranakelly on the Wicklow Way, a few miles toward Shillelagh - worth the detour, but not in Coolafancy itself.

A long stay

Half a day at most: the Coolattin emigration story if you have roots here, and a walk up Annagh Hill if the weather is kind. Then on to Tinahely, Carnew or the Vale of Avoca.

Getting there.

By car

Coolafancy is off the R748 between Tinahely and Carnew, beside Coolboy. Tinahely is about 10 minutes north; Carnew about 10 minutes south. Dublin is roughly an hour and a quarter via the N11 and the back roads. A car is essential.

By bus

No useful scheduled service to the townland. Local Link covers parts of south Wicklow but car is the practical option here.