Manor Kilbride, Cill Bhríde, Co. Wicklow

Cill Bhríde · Co. Wicklow

The first settlement on the young River Liffey, in a green valley below Kippure at the western edge of the Wicklow Mountains. A scattered country parish, not a tourist village.

Manor Kilbride is barely a village in the way most people mean the word. It is a church, a graveyard, a scatter of houses and a former school, set in a valley at the western foot of the Wicklow Mountains where the Brittas River runs into the young Liffey. The civil parish counted under a thousand people at the last full reckoning, spread across a lot of hill country. There is no main street to walk. There is a river, a bridge, and a great deal of sky.

The name carries its own history. Cill Bhríde means the church of Brigid, and a church here was recorded as Kylbryde in 1291, when west Wicklow was dense forest held by the Archbishop of Dublin and the lordship of Kilbride belonged to the Knights Hospitaller at Kilteel. The Manor was bolted on in 1824, when George Ogle Moore, a Dublin barrister and MP, bought the estate and commissioned a Tudor Revival house from the architect Thomas Cobden. The Moore family held the place into the 1950s. The Catholic chapel went up in the village in 1776, was enlarged in 1835, and was replaced by the present church in 1881.

Come for the country, not for a day out. The Liffey rises in the bog on Kippure a few kilometres east and reaches this valley as a real river for the first time. Above the village, Seefin carries a passage tomb built around 3,300 BC - a stone cairn on a bare summit with a chamber you can still get into, no fence, no ticket office, just a steep climb and a long view. The R759 climbs east out of the valley toward the Sally Gap and the Military Road, one of the great high mountain drives in Leinster. Blessington and its lakes are ten minutes south. Most people see none of it because they take the N81 and never turn off.

Population

~975 (civil parish, 2011)

Founded

Medieval church site (Kylbryde, recorded 1291); manor named for George Ogle Moore from 1824

Coords

53.1981° N, 6.4669° W

01 / 08

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 river

Where the Liffey first slows down.

The Liffey rises in the bog on Kippure and runs down through the hills to this valley, the first place flat enough for it to spread out before it reaches Poulaphouca. The village sits where the Brittas River joins it. This is upper Liffey country - quiet, green, and skipped by almost everyone.

Stories & lore → 02 The name

Cill Bhríde - the church of Brigid.

The Irish name points to Brigid of Kildare and a church site recorded as far back as 1291, when the area was held by the Archbishop of Dublin. The Manor part came later, in 1824, when George Ogle Moore bought the estate and built a Tudor Revival house. The two halves of the name are six centuries apart.

Stories & lore → 03 The hills

A 5,000-year-old passage tomb on the skyline.

Seefin, the mountain above the village, carries a Neolithic passage tomb older than the pyramids, with a cruciform chamber you can crawl into. Kippure, the source of the Liffey, rises behind it. The Sally Gap road climbs east out of the valley into the high mountains.

Walks & outings →

02 / 08

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Kippure Estate	Country estate & event venue, east of the village	Up the valley toward the source of the Liffey, on what was once part of the Moore estate. The house was rebuilt after a 1922 fire and now hosts stays, weddings and gatherings, with the Wicklow Mountains National Park across a footbridge over the river. Walking trails run from the door, including the climb to Seefin. Remote and quiet, which is the point.
Manor Kilbride House	Private guesthouse in the old manor	The Tudor Revival house George Ogle Moore began in the 1820s survives as a privately run guesthouse, with dinner served in the manor dining room. A small operation rather than a hotel. Worth checking availability directly, as it is not always open to guests.

03 / 08

Stories & lore.

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

A church site since at least 1291

Cill Bhríde, the church of Brigid

The Irish name ties the place to Brigid of Kildare, the great female saint, and the graveyard is thought to sit on the site of an Anglo-Norman parish church founded before 1250. The earliest written record is from 1291, as Kylbryde in the Colach, when the whole district was forested and formed part of the estates of the Archbishop of Dublin; the lordship of Kilbride was held by the Knights Hospitaller of Kilteel until their dissolution. The Catholic chapel in the village was built in 1776, enlarged in 1835, and replaced by the present church in 1881. For a place this small, the church has been the constant for the best part of eight hundred years.

George Ogle Moore, 1824

The Moore manor

The Manor in the name is barely two centuries old. In 1824 George Ogle Moore, a Dublin barrister who sat as MP for the city, bought the Kilbride estate and had a Tudor Revival house built to a design by the architect Thomas Cobden - it was still under construction when the valuation surveyors came through in 1843. The Moore family held the manor and lordship into the 1950s, and their estate once stretched east through the hills to Kippure. The house survives in private hands. The grander local seats are gone or changed: Tinode House, built nearby in 1864 by the Kildare MP William Cogan, and Kippure House, where the English butterfly collector John Henry Leech was living in 1891.

A passage grave, around 3,300 BC

Seefin and the tomb on the mountain

On the summit of Seefin, the mountain south of the village, sits one of the finest passage tombs in the Wicklow uplands. The cairn is about 75 feet across and 18 feet high, with a passage some 30 feet long leading to a cruciform chamber of five compartments, a partly surviving corbelled roof, and decoration carved on a few of the stones. It was built around 3,300 BC, older than Newgrange and older than the Egyptian pyramids. When it was dug in 1931 no human remains were found inside. Seefingan and Seahan, the next summits along, carry cairns of their own. The walk up starts near Kilbride Military Camp - note that the firing range there flies red flags on active days, and you keep clear when it does.

From a Kippure spring to the open valley

The first stretch of the Liffey

The River Liffey begins as a spring in the blanket bog on Kippure, the mountain that closes off the eastern end of the valley, around 1,800 feet up. It runs down through the hills and reaches Manor Kilbride as its first proper settlement, the place where the river finally leaves the uplands and spreads out before it fills Poulaphouca Reservoir to the south and, eventually, runs on to Dublin. Standing on the bridge in the village, the water going under your feet is the same river that runs past the Four Courts. It is a long way, in distance and in character, from here to there.

04 / 08

Things to do outside.

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

Seefin passage tomb The set-piece walk. From a forest lay-by south of Kilbride Military Camp, or from the Kippure Bridge car park, a steady climb brings you onto the bare summit and the 5,000-year-old cairn. You can get into the cruciform chamber. The view stretches across the western mountains. Check for red flags at the military range before you start, and keep clear when they are flying.

About 5 km returndistance

1.5-2 hourstime

Cloghleagh and the Shankill River From Cloghleagh Bridge on the R759 east of the village, a woodland trail follows the Shankill River up toward Seefin through the trees. The valley around Cloghleagh holds a cluster of prehistoric cairns. A gentler, sheltered alternative to the open mountain when the wind is up on the tops.

4-5 km loopdistance

1.5 hourstime

The Sally Gap drive Not a walk but the great outing from here. The R759 climbs east out of the Liffey valley, past Kippure, and meets the Military Road at the Sally Gap - one of the highest and emptiest mountain crossings in the country. Bog, blanket cloud, and on a clear day a view of half of Wicklow. Lough Tay and Glendalough lie beyond.

20 km plus to the Gapdistance

Half a day with stopstime

05 / 08

Tours, if you want one.

The ones below are bookable through our partners - pick one that suits, or skip the lot and just turn up.

via Viator

Kilkenny, Wicklow and Glendalough Sheepdog Trials from Dublin

cultural

Full-day Dublin tour visiting medieval Kilkenny, the Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough's 6th-century monastery, and a traditional sheepdog trial on a Wicklow farm.

10 hours From €40

See tour → via Viator

Dublin to Glendalough, Wicklow and Kilkenny Full Day Guided Tour

day trips

Voted No.1 day tour on Tripadvisor. Guided visits to Glendalough and medieval Kilkenny, plus the Wicklow Gap, in a luxury coach with WiFi. Departs 8:45am.

9 hours 15 minutes From €40

See tour → via Viator

The Original Award Winning Wild Wicklow Tour incl. Glendalough

private tours

A small-coach journey through the Wicklow Mountains to Sally Gap, Lough Tay, and Glendalough - with a free tot of whiskey to round off the day.

8 hours 30 minutes From €55

See tour →

We earn a small commission when you book through our tour pages. It costs you nothing extra and keeps the village hubs free. All Co. Wicklow tours →

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The valley greens up, the Liffey runs full off the hills, and the Seefin climb is at its best before the summer haze. Long light evenings on the Sally Gap road.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Driest months for the mountain walks and the high road. Still very quiet up here even at the height of the season. Bring water and sun cover for the open summits.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The bog and heather turn colour and the crowds, such as they are, thin out further. Good walking weather between fronts. Check daylight before heading up Seefin.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days, the high road over the Sally Gap can close in snow or ice, and the mountain tops are no place to be caught out in poor visibility. Stick to the lower valley and Cloghleagh woods unless you are properly equipped.

◐ Mind yourself

07 / 08

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

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

Expecting a village to walk around

There is no main street, no row of shops, no cluster of pubs. Manor Kilbride is a church, a bridge and a scattered country parish. If you want a village stroll, Blessington ten minutes south is the place. Come here for the river and the hills, not for a wander.

Driving the Sally Gap in bad weather

The R759 over to the Military Road is high, exposed and prone to fog, ice and snow. It is glorious on a clear day and a genuine hazard on a bad one. Check the forecast and do not push on if the cloud is down on the tops.

Ignoring the red flags at Seefin

The walk up Seefin passes the edge of Kilbride Military Camp, which has an active firing range. Red flags mean live firing. When they are up, you stay off that ground. It is not decoration.

Getting there.

By car

From Dublin, take the N81 toward Blessington and turn off east into the hills - about 45 minutes. From Blessington it is roughly 10 minutes north on local roads. The R759 runs east through the village and over the Sally Gap into the high mountains.

By bus

There is no bus to the village itself. The nearest services are at Blessington on the N81, where the Dublin Bus 65 runs to and from the city centre. From there it is a car or taxi the last stretch up to Manor Kilbride.

Next on the tour

Co. Wicklow

Blessington

Ten minutes south. The nearest real town, with the Blessington Lakes, Russborough House and the bus to Dublin.

Co. Wicklow

Valleymount

On the far side of Poulaphouca, a small village on a spit of land in the reservoir. Quiet lake country.

Co. Wicklow

Ballyknockan

The granite village on the Poulaphouca shore, built by and for the stonecutters who quarried the hill above it.

Co. Dublin

Brittas

North over the hills toward Dublin, in the mountain foothills along the N81. The Brittas River that meets the Liffey here rises up that way.