Valleymount, An Chrois, Co. Wicklow

An Chrois · Co. Wicklow

A one-pub village on a spit of land left behind when the ESB drowned the valley, with a Mexican-looking church full of Harry Clarke glass.

Valleymount is a small village in west Wicklow on a tongue of land sticking into the Poulaphouca Reservoir. The Irish name is An Chrois, 'the cross', and before 1839 it was called the Cross of Ballymore - the 'cross' being land that belonged to the church. That tells you what the place is built around: a church on a crossroads, a pub, and not much else.

The valley you are looking at is younger than it appears. In the late 1930s and early 1940s the ESB dammed the River Liffey and its tributary the King's River at Poulaphouca for hydroelectric power and Dublin's water supply, and the rising water covered the floor of the valley. Farmland that had been worked for generations went under. The townland of Ballinahown was flooded entirely. Valleymount was left on a spit of higher ground with water on three sides.

There is one pub, the Star Inn, and one church, St Joseph's, and the church is the reason to stop. Built in 1803 with a curved porch added around 1835, it has an odd low-slung look that locals attribute to design ideas brought back by emigrants who had been to New Mexico - 'the Mexican church' people sometimes call it. Inside are four windows from the Harry Clarke studio. That is a remarkable thing to find in a village this size.

This is a stopping point, not a destination, and an honest one. The lakeside roads are good for a slow drive or a cycle, St Kevin's Way passes through on its way to Glendalough, and Blessington is fifteen minutes north. Come for the church and the water, have a pint, and move on.

Population

~300

Pubs

1and counting

Walk score

Lakeside and St Kevin's Way routes start at the door; the village itself is a five-minute stroll

Founded

Settlement around St Joseph's Church (built 1803); village name first recorded 1839

Coords

53.1058° N, 6.5250° 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 flood

The valley below the village is under the Poulaphouca Reservoir.

When the ESB dammed the Liffey and the King's River at Poulaphouca in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the water rose over the farmland in the valley. The townland of Ballinahown went under entirely. Valleymount sits on the spit of higher ground that was left.

Stories & lore → 02 The church

St Joseph's - a small barn church with four Harry Clarke windows.

Built in 1803, with a curved porch added around 1835 that gives it an oddly Mexican look. Inside are four stained-glass windows from the Harry Clarke studio. Art students from Dublin still come out to look at them. The village is built around it.

Stories & lore →

02 / 07

The pubs.

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

The Star Inn

The one pub in the village

Village pub

The only pub in Valleymount, and it has been here since around 1836. The story is that it was named for the morning star you could see from the doorway. It is a proper rural local rather than a destination bar - a pint, a fire, and whoever is in. If you want anything more than that, Blessington is fifteen minutes up the road.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

ESB Liffey scheme, late 1930s-1940s

The valley they flooded

The Poulaphouca Reservoir is a working piece of infrastructure, not a natural lake. The Electricity Supply Board dammed the River Liffey and the King's River at Poulaphouca between the late 1930s and the early 1940s to generate hydroelectric power and to supply water to the growing city of Dublin. The water rose over the floor of the valley and stayed there. The townland of Ballinahown, northeast of the village, went under completely; other townlands lost their best low ground. Families were moved and farms were broken up. Valleymount survived because it sat on higher ground, and that is why it now looks out over water on three sides. On a still day the reservoir is beautiful. It is worth remembering it is also a grave for a whole valley's worth of fields.

Built 1803, glass from the 1920s and 1930s

St Joseph's and the Harry Clarke windows

St Joseph's Catholic Church was built in 1803, with a curved porch added around 1835 that gives the building its unusual, almost Mexican silhouette - a look local tradition puts down to ideas carried home by emigrants who had spent time in New Mexico. The real treasure is the glass. In 1924 a stained-glass window of St Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, was commissioned from Harry Clarke, the greatest Irish stained-glass artist of his generation. Eleven years later three more windows were ordered from Harry Clarke Stained Glass Ltd - the Sacred Heart, Our Lady, and St Anthony of Padua. Four Clarke windows in a tiny west-Wicklow village church is the kind of thing that brings art students out from Dublin on a fine afternoon. The church is usually open; go in and look up.

The lake on screen

Braveheart drive and the film valley

The drowned valley and the open hills around Poulaphouca have pulled in film crews for decades. Mel Gibson shot scenes for Braveheart here in 1995, and a stretch of the lakeside road is still locally known as the Braveheart Drive. The valley also turns up in This Is My Father (1998), Widows' Peak (1994) and P.S. I Love You (2007). None of it makes Valleymount a film town, but if the landscape on the drive in feels strangely cinematic, there is a reason.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

Valleymount village and church There is not much village to walk, but St Joseph's Church is the whole reason to be here. Walk the crossroads, go into the church to see the four Harry Clarke windows, and take in the reservoir views from the higher ground. Twenty minutes well spent.

Short strolldistance

20-30 minutestime

Poulaphouca lakeside roads The minor roads that loop around the reservoir are quiet, scenic and good for cycling, with water on one side for long stretches. The road around to Ballyknockan on the western shore is the obvious circuit. No marked trail - this is road riding and driving, so mind the lake-edge bends.

Variesdistance

A drive or a long cycletime

St Kevin's Way (passes through) The St Kevin's Way pilgrim path, which runs west to east through the Wicklow hills to Glendalough, passes through the Valleymount area. You would not start a Glendalough pilgrimage here, but it is a reminder that the old walking routes still thread through this corner of the county. Hollywood, twenty minutes south, is the usual western trailhead.

Full route c. 30 kmdistance

Day walk for the full pilgrim routetime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The hills green up and the reservoir light is at its best. Quiet roads for cycling before the summer day-trippers arrive from Dublin.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings and the warmest water for fishing and watersports on the reservoir. The lakeside roads get busier with Dublin day-trippers heading for Blessington.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Good light on the water and the hills turning. The church is at its best on a bright, low-sun afternoon when the Clarke glass lights up.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and exposed lakeside roads that can be bleak in bad weather. The pub keeps going. Check the church is open before making a special trip.

◐ 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.

Expecting a busy village

Valleymount is a church, a pub and a crossroads with about three hundred people. If you arrive expecting cafes and shops you will be disappointed - the old shop and post office closed in 2006. Come for the church, the water and the quiet, and bring your own lunch.

Treating the reservoir as a swimming lake

Poulaphouca is a working ESB reservoir and Dublin's water supply, not a leisure lido. There is fishing and organised watersports, but it is deep, cold and managed water with submerged field walls and structures. Use the proper access points and do not treat it like a beach.

Getting there.

By car

Valleymount is on the R758 in west Wicklow, on the eastern side of the Poulaphouca Reservoir. Blessington is about fifteen minutes north; Dublin is roughly 50 minutes via the N81. Ballyknockan, on the western shore, is a short drive around the reservoir.

By bus

Dublin Bus route 65 serves Valleymount, but only twice daily Monday to Friday - this is a car-or-bike village, not a public-transport one. Blessington has more frequent connections on the same route toward Dublin.

Next on the tour

Co. Wicklow

Ballyknockan

A short drive around the western shore. The granite-quarrying village that cut the stone for half of official Dublin, with a heritage museum and one pub.

Co. Wicklow

Blessington

Fifteen minutes north at the head of the lakes. The market town for this whole corner, with Russborough House and the Blessington Greenway nearby.

Co. Wicklow

Poulaphouca

The dam and waterfall at the southern end of the reservoir that gave the lake its name - the reason the valley below Valleymount is underwater.

Co. Wicklow

Hollywood

Twenty minutes south. The western trailhead for St Kevin's Way, the pilgrim path east over the hills to Glendalough.