Aughrim (; ) is a small town in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It lies in a scenic valley in the

Wicklow Mountains The Wicklow Mountains (, archaic: '' Cualu'') form the largest continuous upland area in Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into the counties of Dublin, Wexford and Carlow. Where the mountai ...

in the east of

where the Ow and Derry rivers meet to form the Aughrim River. Aughrim is on the R747 road between

Arklow Arklow ( ; ; ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the Battle of Arklow, bloodiest battles ...

and Baltinglass, and the R753 regional road.

Architecture

The Rednagh Bridge south of the village was the site of an engagement during the

1798 rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (; Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The main organising force ...

between Crown forces and the rebels. A plaque on the bridge commemorates Anne Devlin, who was employed by and supported

Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Prote ...

, a revolutionary who was hanged in

1803 Events January–March * January 1 – The first edition of Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière's ''Almanach des gourmands'', the first guide to restaurant cooking, is published in Paris. * January 4 – William Symingt ...

for his leadership of an aborted uprising. There are a number of unusual granite terraced houses throughout the village, constructed - along with a

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...

, and

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

- at the behest of the Earl of Meath. Aughrim was a granite mining village, and this material is widely used, giving the village a distinctive and coherent architecture. Aughrim has won the Irish Tidy Towns Award for the tidiest village in County Wicklow from 1996 to 2007 and won the

Irish Tidy Towns Competition Tidy Towns ( Irish: ''Bailte Slachtmhara'') is an annual competition, first held in 1958, organised by the Department of Rural and Community Development in order to honour the tidiest and most attractive cities, towns and villages in the Republ ...

in 2007.

Wind farm dispute

Since 2014, German-owned company ABO Wind has applied to build a

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

surrounding Aughrim. It would include eleven turbines (150 m tall) with access roads, covering the hills between Aughrim and

, in the

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

s of Ballymanus, Roddenagh, Killaduff, Askekeagh, Ballinglen, Preban, Tomcoyle, Kilballyowen, Killacloran, Clone, Coolahullin, Ballycoog Upper and Lower, Ballykillageer Upper and Lower, Ballintemple, Coolgarow, Kilcarra East and West, Glenart, Shelton Abbey, Kilbride and Killinskyduff. Local residents have opposed the plan and formed the South Wicklow Wind Action Group (SWWAG) to campaign against it.

Wicklow County Council Wicklow County Council () is the local authority of County Wicklow, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning an ...

voted to reject the wind farm. In 2017, ABO Wind applied to build the wind farm again, with minor adjustments. This was also opposed, but in 2019

An Bord Pleanála (; meaning "The Planning Board"; ABP) is an independent, statutory, quasi-judicial body that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in Ireland. As of 2007, An Bord Pleanála directly decided major strategic infra ...

approved the wind farm, against the recommendation of their own inspector. This controversial decision has been awaiting judicial review.

Sports

Aughrim has a number of walking trails, with the Sean Linehan Way starting by Tinakilly Bridge on the east side of the village, while just to the west the Ciaran Shannon Way can be accessed via the Rednagh Road or by parking at Annacurragh village. The village is home to the county grounds of the Wicklow county

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

team. The 'Angling for All' fishing lake and Aughrim river provide

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

and

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

fishing. A

Paul McGinley Paul Noel McGinley (born 16 December 1966) is an Irish professional golfer who has won four events on the European Tour. At the 2002 Ryder Cup, he famously holed a ten-foot putt on the 18th hole in his match against Jim Furyk at The Belfry which ...

-designed golf course is open at nearby Macreddin.

People

* Tara Blaise, singer, grew up in the village * Shane Byrne, Irish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

international was born in Aughrim * Anne Devlin (1780–1851), accomplice of

Gallery

References

* ''Illustrated road book of Ireland, Second Edition'', Automobile Association, London (1970)

External links

The Tidy Towns of Ireland "Celebrating 50 years"

Aughrim in Wicklow Tourism
{{Tidy Towns (Ireland) Towns and villages in County Wicklow