Glendalough

Glendalough is a village located at the site of an ancient monastery located in County Wicklow, Ireland. It was founded in the 6th century by St. Kevin, a hermit priest, and destroyed in 1398 by English troops.

St. Kevin's Monastic Site

The location was originally sought out as a peaceful retreat by St. Kevin because of its remoteness and serenity, but several disciples who wished to follow his teachings built a temporary hamlet of churches, chapels and living quarters in the valley below the site of his hovel. This soon grew and eventually, at the height of its popularity, was one of the main religious universities in Ireland.

The name Glendalough comes from the Irish Gleann Dá Locha meaning the glen (valley) of two lakes. The monastery site is located between two lakes (Lower Lake and Upper Lake) and is one of the most popular tourist sites in Wicklow.

The monastic site includes a 33 metres tall round tower and St. Kevin's Cross, a Celtic High cross. The round tower was built during the era of the viking invasions in Ireland (up to and around AD1066), in order to protect the religious relics, books and chalices used around the monastery at the time.

Mining

At the west end of the Upper Lake lie the ruins of an abandoned miners' village that is, normally, accessible only by foot. Mining, primarily for lead, took place here from 1850 until about 1875 but the mines in the valley of Glendalough were smaller and less important than those in Glendasan Valley, that are separated by Camaderry Mountain. In 1859 the Glendasan and Glendalough mines were connected with each other by a series of adits, now flooded, through the mountain. This made it easier to transport ore to Glendalough and process it there.

An exhibition, The Mining Heritage of Wicklow, was displayed at the County Buildings, Wicklow Town, in September 2003, in association with Mining Heritage Trust of Ireland and Wicklow County Council Heritage Office. The exhibition explored the mining heritage of Wicklow and two panels and were devoted to mining in Glendalough.

Rock Climbing and Hill Walking

Glendalough's granite cliffs, above the north-western end of the Upper Lake, are a popular rock-climbing location. The boulders below the cliffs are excellent for bouldering.

There are many good local walks, of varying difficulty, to be made around Glendalough and a Glendalough Walking Trails map is available from the Wicklow Mountains National Park web site. The Wicklow Way, a long distance way-marked walking trail, passes through Glendalough on its way from Rathfarnham in the north to its southerly point of Clonegal in County Carlow.

This article is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Glendalough".