Glenealy, Gleann Fhaidhle, Co. Wicklow

Gleann Fhaidhle · Co. Wicklow

A one-pub hurling village in a wooded valley between Wicklow town and the mountains, with a hall the locals named after a Boer War word for community.

Glenealy is a small village in mid-Wicklow, roughly eight kilometres west of Wicklow town, set in a wooded valley between the coast and the mountains. The R752 from Wicklow to Rathdrum runs through it and the Dublin to Rosslare railway line passes by. It is neither a coastal village nor a mountain village - central Wicklow country, with Coillte forestry climbing the hills to the west and Carrick Mountain rising behind. Six hundred and twenty-three people at the 2022 census.

The Irish name is Gleann Fhaidhle. The place has a long Christian history: an early monastery here is associated with St Enan, linked in turn to St Kevin of Glendalough up the valley. In the old graveyard lie the ruins of a church reputedly burnt by Cromwell's army in 1649 on its march from Drogheda to Wexford. The Catholic parish church, St Joseph's, was built to designs by Pugin and Ashlin of Dublin and dedicated in 1869, its dressings cut from Ballyknocken granite. The Church of Ireland church on the other side of the village is older still, a plain granite building of 1792.

Day to day, Glenealy is a village that keeps to itself and is good at it. There is one pub - King's, run by the King family - a primary school, and the small shop the locals call the yellow shop, which carries the sub-post office. The Laager Hall does the community work. And for a village this size the hurling is the headline: Glenealy Hurling Club has taken the Wicklow senior title sixteen times, which is not a thing most villages of six hundred people can say.

Use Glenealy as a quiet waypoint rather than a destination. Wicklow town and its harbour are fifteen minutes east; Rathdrum and Parnell's Avondale are ten minutes south-west; Glendalough is about half an hour up into the mountains. The walking is on Coillte tracks behind the village, on Carrick Mountain. Come for the valley and the quiet, not for a night out.

Population

623 (Census 2022)

Pubs

1and counting

Walk score

Flat village centre; Carrick Mountain forest is a hill climb on Coillte tracks

Founded

Early monastic site of St Enan; Church of Ireland church built 1792

Coords

52.9595° N, 6.1793° 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 valley

Mid-Wicklow country, 8km west of the county town on the R752.

Glenealy sits in a wooded valley between the coast at Wicklow town and the mountain country around Glendalough. The R752 from Wicklow to Rathdrum runs through it, the Dublin to Rosslare railway line passes by, and Coillte conifer plantation climbs the hills behind. Six hundred-odd people. A school, a pub, and a shop.

Walks → 02 The hurling

A small village that is one of the strongest hurling clubs in Wicklow.

Glenealy Hurling Club has won the Wicklow Senior Hurling Championship sixteen times, the most recent run including a county final win over Carnew in 2018. For a village this size to carry a senior hurling tradition in a football and mountain county is the thing the place is quietly known for.

Stories → 03 The hall

The Laager Hall, named by men who came home from the Boer War.

The original hall was built in the 1890s. Men from Glenealy who had served in the British Army in South Africa brought back the word laager - a Boer term they took to mean community - and gave it to the building. Douglas Hyde, later the first President of Ireland, gave Irish-language classes there.

Stories →

02 / 07

The pubs.

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

King's

The village local - the only pub in the parish

Village pub, Glenealy

Run by the King family, which is where the name comes from. This is the one pub in Glenealy and it does the job a village pub does: a pint, the match on, the locals at the bar. Do not arrive expecting a gastropub or a late licence. It is the social centre of a small place and honest about it.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

An early monastery and a graveyard ruin burnt in 1649

St Enan, Cromwell, and two churches

Glenealy was an early Christian site. The monastery here is associated with St Enan, a figure linked to St Kevin of Glendalough, whose monastic city lies up the same valley. In the old graveyard stand the ruins of a church said to have been burnt by Oliver Cromwell's army in 1649, as it marched south from the storming of Drogheda toward Wexford. The village carries two later churches that face each other across the valley. The Church of Ireland church is a plain granite building of 1792, four bays and single-storey, built in granite rubble with ashlar dressings and a pointed-arch door. The Catholic church, St Joseph's, came later: designed by the Dublin firm of Pugin and Ashlin - the practice of George Ashlin, son-in-law of the great Gothic Revivalist A.W.N. Pugin - and dedicated on 4 October 1869, with granite dressings cut by John Brady from the Ballyknocken quarries. For a village this small to hold a Pugin-school church is the kind of thing easy to drive past without noticing.

A Boer War word for community, and Douglas Hyde teaching Irish

The Laager Hall

The original hall in Glenealy was built in the 1890s, up behind the Pound Field, around the time of the Boer War. Men from the village had served in the British Army in South Africa, and they brought home the Afrikaans word laager - a defensive circle of wagons - which they took to mean, loosely, a community drawn together. They gave the word to the new hall. What happened inside it cuts the other way against the imperial origin of the name: it became a centre of the Gaelic League revival, with Irish-language classes and Irish literature, and one of the teachers who gave classes there was Douglas Hyde, founder of the Gaelic League and later the first President of Ireland. The original hall fell into decay and a new Laager Hall was built for meetings in what is now the Annsbrook estate. The name held.

Sixteen Wicklow senior titles from six hundred people

A hurling village

Wicklow is a football and a mountain county, and hurling is the minority code in most of it. Glenealy is the exception. Glenealy Hurling Club has won the Wicklow Senior Hurling Championship sixteen times, a record that puts a village of a few hundred people at the top of the county game. The most recent strong run included a county final win over Carnew in 2018, and the club has carried Wicklow's flag into Leinster competition. In a place this small, the hurling field and the club are a large part of what holds the village together through the year. If you want to understand Glenealy, a championship match on a Sunday tells you more than the main street will.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

Carrick Mountain forest The walking from Glenealy is up onto Carrick Mountain, in Coillte forestry behind the village. Tracks climb through dense conifer plantation and patches of older broadleaf woodland - oak, hazel, holly - to a summit with sweeping views over the mid-Wicklow countryside and out toward the coast. Sections are rocky and can be wet, signage is not always clear, and the tracks are shared with mountain bikers. Boots, not trainers. It is a proper hill walk, not a village stroll.

Loop of roughly 7 kmdistance

2 to 3 hourstime

Village and old graveyard Glenealy has a flat, walkable centre. The two churches and the old graveyard with its Cromwell-era ruin are the heritage to take in on foot, along with the Laager Hall and the village street. A short stop rather than a day out, but worth ten minutes in the old graveyard.

Short on-foot circuitdistance

30 minutestime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The valley greens up and the Coillte woodland on Carrick Mountain is at its best before the summer heat. The mountains to the west are clear, and Glendalough half an hour away is quieter than in high season.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings and the best of the forest walking. The hurling championship runs through the warmer months, so a Sunday match is a possibility. The village stays quiet even as the wider county fills with Dublin traffic at weekends.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The broadleaf patches on Carrick Mountain colour through October and the conifer tracks are at their least crowded. Cool, clear walking weather and the county tourist numbers easing off after August.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and the forest tracks can be muddy and slick. The village offers little in cold weather beyond the pub. For anything more, Wicklow town is fifteen minutes east.

◐ 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 night out or a restaurant scene

Glenealy has one pub and a small shop. There is no run of restaurants or late bars. For dinner with choices, Wicklow town is fifteen minutes east and Rathdrum is ten minutes south-west.

Treating it as a destination in its own right

This is a small working village, not a sight. The reward is the valley, the quiet, the two churches and the forest walk - half a day at most. Pair it with Glendalough, Avondale, or Wicklow town to make a day of it.

Carrick Mountain as a casual stroll

The forest loop is a real hill climb on rocky, sometimes wet tracks with patchy signage, shared with mountain bikers. Arriving in trainers expecting a flat woodland amble is how people turn back at the first steep section.

Getting there.

By car

Glenealy is on the R752, about 8 km west of Wicklow town. From the M11/N11 exit for Wicklow and follow the R752 toward Rathdrum; the village is signposted. Rathnew is roughly 10 minutes north-east, Rathdrum about 10 minutes south-west, and Wicklow town about 15 minutes east.

By bus

Bus Eireann route 133 serves Glenealy, connecting it with Dublin, Bray, Wicklow town, Rathnew, Rathdrum, Avoca and Arklow. Check buseireann.ie for current timetables.

By train

The Dublin to Rosslare railway line passes by Glenealy, but the nearest staffed station for scheduled services is Wicklow, about 8 km east on the R752. From there it is a short drive or taxi to the village.

Next on the tour

Co. Wicklow

Rathdrum

Ten minutes south-west on the R752. The market town above the Avonmore valley where Parnell was born - Avondale House and its forest park are 1.5 km from the square.

Co. Wicklow

Ashford

About fifteen minutes north. Home to Mount Usher Gardens on the Vartry and the Devil's Glen forest walks, including the Seamus Heaney loop.

Co. Wicklow

Wicklow

Fifteen minutes east. The county town on the coast - working harbour, the Black Castle ruin on the headland, and Wicklow Head Lighthouse.

Co. Wicklow

Avoca

About twenty minutes south. The Meeting of the Waters, the old copper-mining valley, and the original Avoca handweavers mill.

Co. Wicklow

Barndarrig

Seven kilometres south-east toward the coast, a hurling parish with a long memory and an ogham stone in the next townland.