Rathdangan () is a village 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 is in the Electoral Division of Rathdangan, in Civil Parish of

Kiltegan Kiltegan () is a village in west County Wicklow, Ireland, on the R747 regional road close to the border with County Carlow. The village is in a townland and civil parish of the same name. The civil parish extends into County Carlow. Accordin ...

, in the Barony of

Upper Talbotstown Upper Talbotstown () is a barony in County Wicklow, Ireland. Etymology Upper Talbotstown derives its name from Talbotstown village, near Kilbride. Location Upper Talbotstown is located in west County Wicklow, covering much of the Glen of Im ...

History

Evidence of habitation is shown by a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

burial

cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...

, a fort dating from at least the eight-century and a Norman

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

at Killamoat. A 1668 survey records 18 houses in the village. Due to its mountainous elevation, in the severe winters of 1947, 1963 and 1982, Rathdangan was isolated for weeks. In 1985 the town was caught up in the

moving statues The moving statues () phenomenon occurred during the summer of 1985 in Ireland, where, in several different parts of the country, statues of the Virgin Mary were reported to move spontaneously. In Ballinspittle, County Cork, in July 1985, an obs ...

phenomena gripping Ireland when people claimed to see the Rathdangan

Marian Year A Marian year is a designation given by the Catholic Church to calendar years in which Mary the mother of Jesus is to be particularly reverenced and celebrated. Marian years do not follow a set pattern; they may be declared by a bishop for his d ...

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

statue move.

Toponymy

In Liam Price's extensive survey of place names of County Wicklow he recorded that in the

Down Survey The Down Survey was a cadastral survey of Ireland, carried out by English scientist William Petty in 1655 and 1656. It was created to provide for precise re-allocation of land confiscated from the Irish. The survey was apparently called the "Do ...

, dated 1655-9, the name is first noted as Radangin, but the 1660 the Books of Survey and Distribution now uses the spelling Radanginge. A few years later, in 1668, Rathdangin is stated in the Hearth Money Roll of County Wicklow, followed by Radangin in the 1685 Hiberniæ Delineatio. Finally the current village name is shown in A.R. Neville's Map of County Wicklow from circa 1810.

Geography

Rathdangan is at an elevation of 207m. and is located on the road from Aughrim to

Baltinglass Baltinglass, historically known as Baltinglas (), is a town in south-west County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Slaney near the border with County Carlow and County Kildare, on the N81 road (Ireland), N81 road ...

joining the east and west of County Wicklow. To the north-east the terrain rises up to the summit of

Lugnaquilla LugnaquillaLugnaquilla
.

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

while

Keadeen Mountain Keadeen Mountain () at , is the 152nd–highest peak in Ireland on the Arderin scale, and the 184th–highest peak on the Vandeleur-Lynam scale.Mountainviews, (September 2013), "A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits: The Vandeleur-Lynams & the ...

at lies to the north. The village has experienced severe weather with heavy snowfall, cutting off the village for days, during the winters of 1947, 1963 and 1982.

Places of interest

Rathdangan once had two pubs, two shops and a post office. One pub remained known by locals as Junior's but closed during Covid-19 and was put up for sale in July 2022; the name over the door is Byrne's, per the family name. This pub, built in the early 1800s, was the first building in Rathdangan and one of three pubs in the village. A community shop operates most mornings, in the parish hall "The Village Pantry". An amenity park and playground was opened in July 2018.

Tober Owen Well

A holy well, Tober Owen, or St. John's Well, is a short distance from the village on the left side of the road leading to the

Glen of Imaal The Glen of Imaal ( or ; ) is a remote glen in the western Wicklow Mountains in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is ringed by the Lugnaquilla massif and its foothills, including Table Mountain, County Wicklow, Table Mountain and Keadeen Mountain ...

. A festival used to take place on the saint's day, June 24. An ancient tree used to grow over the well and a man called Moore was eventually hanged on the tree, having been on the run for quite some time, for murdering Hume of Humewood who hunted rebels of 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 ...

. The tale goes that nothing grew upon the limb on which Moore was hanged and when the tree was blown down in a storm, it was used as firewood by some locals but those pieces of the branch used to hang Moore exploded and scattered all around the place. A memorial to Moore was erected beside the well.

Saint Mary's Catholic Church

The local church at Killamote, about 1 km the village, is Saint Mary's Catholic Church, built in a classical style in 1847 and renovated in 1968. The tall windows, mainly of stained glass have semi-circular heads and two of them are by the stained-glass artist

Harry Clarke Henry Patrick Clarke (17 March 1889 – 6 January 1931) was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement. His work was influenced by both the Art Nouveau ...

. They depict the Crucifixion (1920), and the Nativity (1925).

Post office

In 1889 a question were asked in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

on the possibility of opening a post office but, while it had been considered, it was refused by the

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government official ...

on the grounds there was insufficient mail to warrant the cost. Six years later, in 1895, the

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

had been opened and closed in mid-2007.

Shoeing stone

Until the 1950s, the large flat circular stone, inside the bridge wall, was used to install iron bands on wooden cart wheels.

References

External links

dúchas.ie 1938 Schools report about St. John Well

PURE Mile 2011
Heritage updates related to Rathdangan
The Murder of Mr Hume of Humewood
(details of Moore hanging pg 30–38)
A Village with Vision
YouTube video

Historical Videos - YouTube video {{County Wicklow Towns and villages in County Wicklow