Donard, Dún Ard, Co. Wicklow

Dún Ard · Co. Wicklow

One of the quietest addresses in Leinster - a village of a few hundred people at the edge of an army artillery range, with a 653-metre mountain rising behind it and a Norman motte still sitting on the south side of the road.

Donard takes its name from Dún Ard - high fort - which tells you something about the ground it sits on. The village itself is small enough that the post office, which opened in 1851, closed in 2018 without the closure making national news. It sits on the Little Slaney River in west Wicklow, where the county starts to push up against the inner Wicklow Mountains, and the population is somewhere in the low hundreds. There is no tourist infrastructure here - no café, no hotel, no heritage centre. What there is: a Norman motte on the south side of the road, a mountain behind the village, and one of the stranger geographical situations in Leinster.

That situation is the Glen of Imaal. The large glacial valley immediately to the north has been used by the Irish Army as a live-firing artillery range since the 1890s. It is the only range in the country capable of accommodating 105mm field artillery. Walkers can access two designated routes through the glen - but only when firing is not active. Red flags at the access points mean live rounds are going. The schedule is published at military.ie, and observing it is not optional. Donard itself sits just outside the range boundary, and the mountain above it - Keadeen, 653 metres - is accessible without range restrictions. But the glen shapes everything about this corner of Wicklow: the silence when it is empty, and the noise when it is not.

Population

under 300

Walk score

Keadeen Mountain 7 km return; Glen of Imaal approach routes

Coords

52.9983° N, 6.6261° W

01 / 04

At a glance.

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

01 Glen of Imaal

A large glacial valley that the Irish Army has used as a live-firing range since the 1890s.

The glen is the only range in Ireland capable of accommodating 105mm field artillery. Walkers have two designated routes through it - but only when red flags are not flying. When the flags are up, firing is active and the routes are closed. Check military.ie before you go.

Walks & access → 02 Keadeen Mountain

653 metres. The quiet end of the Wicklow Mountains.

Keadeen sits at the far southwestern tip of the Wicklow range, separated from the main massif, overlooking the Glen of Imaal from the south. The trailhead is reached from Donard village via Knockarrigan, with a small car park opposite the Dwyer-McAllister Cottage. The return walk takes two and a half to three hours.

Walks & outings → 03 The Ball Moat

A Norman motte from the 12th century, still visible on the south side of the village.

Donard Motte - known locally as the Ball Moat - was most likely built by Jordan de Marisco between 1169 and 1190. It sits on the southern side of the village and is the most tangible trace of the Norman presence that spread through west Wicklow in that period.

Stories & lore →

02 / 04

Stories & lore.

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

Dún Ard means high fort. The Normans added their own earthwork within two decades of arriving in Ireland.

The name, the fort, and the Norman motte

The name Donard derives from Dún Ard, meaning high fort, and refers to the ruins of an early fortification on a rise above the village. Within a generation of the Norman arrival in Ireland - which began in 1169 - a motte-and-bailey castle was added on the southern side of the settlement. Known locally as the Ball Moat, it was most likely built by Jordan de Marisco between 1169 and 1190. It is a straightforward earthwork mound of the kind the Normans raised across Leinster in those decades, and it survives in visible form on the south side of the village today.

Donard was one of three sites where Palladius, the first bishop sent to Ireland, is said to have founded a church.

St Palladius, and three ancient churches

Before St Patrick, there was Palladius - sent by Pope Celestine I in 431 AD as the first bishop to the Christians already living in Ireland. The tradition holds that Palladius founded three ancient churches: at Donard, at Tigroney in east Wicklow, and at Colbinstown in Kildare. Two of his companions, named Sylvester and Solonius, are said to have died and been buried at Donard. The historical record for these claims is thin - they come largely from medieval hagiography - but the tradition is old enough and specific enough that Donard's early ecclesiastical connection has been taken seriously by historians of the early Irish church.

The village was burned in the rebellion. The guerrilla who kept fighting longest lived in the glen next door.

1798 and Michael Dwyer

During the 1798 rebellion, Donard was burned by insurgent forces and the inhabitants fled to Dunlavin. But the more enduring story from this corner of west Wicklow belongs to Michael Dwyer, a United Irishman from the Glen of Imaal who continued armed resistance long after the main rebellion collapsed. On 15 February 1799, at a cottage in the nearby village of Derrynamuck, Dwyer escaped a British military encirclement - his comrade Samuel McAllister drew fire to allow him to flee. The Dwyer-McAllister Cottage at Derrynamuck is now preserved as a heritage site, and the car park opposite it serves as the trailhead for Keadeen Mountain. Dwyer eventually surrendered in 1803 and was transported to New South Wales, where he later became a police chief.

The Irish Army has been firing artillery in the glen since the 1890s. It is the only range in Ireland for 105mm field guns.

The Glen of Imaal artillery range

The Glen of Imaal became a military training area in the 1890s and has been used continuously since. It is the only range in Ireland capable of accommodating 105mm Light Gun field artillery, and is also used for anti-tank weapons, mortars, heavy machine guns, and cavalry vehicle weapons. Two designated walking routes exist for members of the public - Route 1 from Knickeen to Table Mountain, and Route 2 from near Fenton's Pub to Lugnaquilla - but both are closed when live firing is active. Red flags flying at access points, including at Glenmalure, Aughavanagh, Rathgorragh and Ballinabarney, mean the range is live. The schedule is published at military.ie. Walkers should also not pick up any unfamiliar objects on the range - unexploded ordnance is a documented hazard in the glen.

03 / 04

Things to do outside.

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

Keadeen Mountain From Donard village, follow signs toward Knockarrigan, then continue to the Dwyer-McAllister Cottage at Derrynamuck - the small car park opposite the cottage is the trailhead. Keadeen (653m) sits at the far southwestern end of the Wicklow Mountains, separated from the main massif. The summit ridge looks down into the Glen of Imaal to the north and out over west Wicklow and Kildare to the west. Parts of the route are boggy; boots and waterproofs recommended. No army range restrictions apply on Keadeen itself.

7 km return (approx 4.2 miles)distance

2.5-3 hourstime

Glen of Imaal designated walking routes Two routes are designated for public access through the Glen of Imaal when the army range is not active. Route 1 runs from Knickeen to Table Mountain. Route 2 runs from near Fenton's Pub toward Lugnaquilla. Check military.ie for the current firing schedule before you travel. Red flags or flashing lights at the access points mean live firing is in progress and entry is not permitted. Do not pick up any unfamiliar objects within the range area.

Variable - Route 1 and Route 2distance

Variestime

Getting there.

By car

Donard is about 1 hour from Dublin via the N81 southwest to Blessington, then continuing south through Hollywood. The village is signed off the N81. There is no practical alternative to driving - public transport does not serve Donard directly. For the Keadeen trailhead, continue through the village toward Knockarrigan and follow signs for the Dwyer-McAllister Cottage at Derrynamuck.

Next on the tour

Co. Wicklow

Baltinglass

Twenty minutes south on the N81. A working market town with a 12th-century Cistercian abbey in the middle of it, founded in 1148 by Diarmait Mac Murchada. A very different kind of west Wicklow - a town that has its own business to conduct.

Co. Wicklow

Blessington

Twenty minutes north. The market town on the Poulaphouca Reservoir, created in 1940 by flooding four villages. The largest inland water body in Leinster and the main water supply for Dublin.

Co. Wicklow

Glendalough

Forty-five minutes east through the Wicklow Mountains. The 6th-century monastic city in its glacial valley, with two lakes, a round tower, and more early medieval stonework than almost anywhere else in Ireland.

Co. Wicklow

Grangecon

Right beside us to the east, a farming hamlet that started as a monks' out-farm, with one good pub and a cafe hidden up the back roads.

Co. Wicklow

Stratford-on-Slaney

Six kilometres north-west, a planned cotton town meant to rival Bath - three thousand people once, a couple of hundred now.