Redcross is a small village in south Wicklow, about three kilometres east of the N11 in the low hills behind the Avoca valley, roughly halfway between Wicklow town and Arklow. The 2022 census counted 256 people. By any normal measure it is a crossroads with a church and a few houses - and it would be, except that someone built a brewery here.
The name is literal. A wooden cross, painted red, stood in the centre of the village through the 18th and 19th centuries, and the place took its name from it. The older Irish form, Baile Domhnaill Rua, carries a separate story - that Red Hugh O'Donnell rested here on his way south in the 16th century, fleeing Crown forces. The modern Irish name, An Chrois Dhearg, simply means the red cross. The parish itself is younger than the legends: it was formed in 1829 out of the union of Kilbride, Dunganstown and Castlemacadam, and the small church without tower or spire in the village dates from the same year.
What brings people now is Mickey Finn's and the Wicklow Brewery behind it - an award-winning food pub with a working micro-brewery, a beer hall, daily tours, and trad music. On the edge of the village, River Valley Holiday Park is one of the better-run caravan-and-camping parks in Leinster, which means Redcross sees more summer visitors than its size would suggest. A footnote for the curious: the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein spent part of 1948 working in a farmhouse near here, and said he could never have done the work in Cambridge.
Use it as a quiet base or a stop on a south Wicklow loop. The coast at Arklow and Wicklow town are both fifteen to twenty minutes; Avoca and the Meeting of the Waters are just across the valley; the Wicklow hills rise to the west. Come for an evening in the brewery, not for a long stay.
Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.
The Wicklow Brewery sits behind Mickey Finn's Gastro Pub - a micro-brewery with a beer hall, daily tours, and house beers poured at the bar. Mickey Finn's has won national best-food-pub awards. For a village of 256 people, this is a serious reason to come.
Pubs & drink → 02 The nameThe name comes from a red-painted wooden cross that stood in the village in the 18th and 19th centuries. The older Irish name, Baile Domhnaill Rua, ties the place by legend to Red Hugh O'Donnell passing south in the 16th century.
Stories & lore → 03 The settingOff the main coast road, in the rolling farmland behind the Avoca valley. A quiet crossroads village with a church, a holiday park, and the brewery. The Garden of Ireland away from the traffic.
Walks & outings →None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:
The reason most visitors come to Redcross. An award-winning gastro pub - it has taken the Vintners' Federation best-food-pub title - with the Wicklow Brewery working behind it. Pub-grub menu of burgers, wings and beer-steamed mussels at the front, a bistro for steaks and fish specials, and the house beers poured straight off the tank. Trad sessions and live music at weekends. Book the bistro at the weekend.
| Place | Type | € | Local note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mickey Finn's Bistro | Bistro at the brewery pub, village centre | €€ | The serious end of Mickey Finn's. Dry-aged steaks, daily fish specials, and dishes built around the house beers - the ginger-nut beer turns up in the kitchen as well as the glass. The snug does finger food for a small group; the bistro is the proper sit-down meal. The best dinner in this corner of Wicklow. |
| The Wicklow Brewery beer hall | Beer hall & micro-brewery, behind Mickey Finn's | €€ | A beer hall attached to the working brewery. Tasting trays, brewery tours twice a day, and the Hooley in the Brewery nights where you sit on a keg and drink local beer. More an experience than a restaurant, but food and beer both flow. Ring ahead for tours. |
| Place | Type | Local note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| River Valley Holiday Park | Caravan, camping & glamping park, village edge | A long-running, multi-award-winning family park on the edge of the village - touring pitches, mobile homes, treehouses, lodges and glamping huts, plus a bar, restaurant and a long list of activities from crazy golf to an electric go-kart track. Open roughly mid-March to late October; weekends fill fast in July and August, so book ahead. The main reason Redcross has any visitor beds at all. | |
The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.
Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.
There is no bad time. There are different times.
The hills behind the village green up and River Valley reopens around mid-March. A good quiet time before the summer caravan season.
Peak season for the holiday park, the brewery hooleys and weekend trad in Mickey Finn's. The village is at its busiest, which for Redcross still means relaxed. Book beds and the bistro ahead.
The Avoca valley turns; River Valley runs to late October. A fine season for the river-valley walks across the way and an evening in the brewery.
The holiday park is closed and the brewery pub runs reduced winter hours (Wednesday to Sunday for much of the off-season). Check before you drive out. Fine as a meal stop, not a destination season.
If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.
Redcross is a 256-person crossroads village, not a town. There is a church, a pub-brewery, a holiday park and farmland. That is the whole of it. Come for the brewery and the quiet, not for streets to wander.
Mickey Finn's and the Wicklow Brewery run reduced hours through the off-season and River Valley closes for the winter. Out of season, the village can be very quiet. Ring the pub before you commit the drive.
The Kennedy ancestral home at Dunganstown is in County Wexford, not the Dunganstown beside Redcross. Easy to conflate the two names. The Wexford one is the one with the homestead and visitor centre.
Off the N11 about 3 km east, signposted between Wicklow town (about 20 minutes north) and Arklow (about 15 minutes south). Dublin is roughly 1 hour 15 minutes up the N11/M11.
No direct village bus service to speak of. Bus Eireann and the M11 Expressway serve Wicklow town and Arklow on the coast; a car is the practical way in to Redcross itself. Local Link covers parts of rural south Wicklow.
The nearest stations are Wicklow and Arklow on the Dublin Connolly to Rosslare line, each about 15 to 20 minutes away by road. No station at Redcross.