Carlow and Dublin earlier consisted of County Wicklow, which is a traditional county in Ireland. It became a separate county in 1606 and now controls natives like O’Byrnes. The British army built the Military Road of County Wicklow which runs from Rathfarnham to Aghavannagh thus crossing the mountain ranges where the rebellions conducted had failed in an attempt to gain power in 1798 are still operative.
The Irish Army installed many a barrier in County Wicklow, and they carried out army exercises there more often. The largest of these Irish Army locations is Glen of Imaal. The British Army controlled this place before the independence. Glendalough, a historical monastery is located in County Wicklow. With the defeat of the revolt in 1798, the local leaders fled to the mountains of County Wicklow from where they started to retaliate the ensuing attacks by the British Army during 1756 to 1826.
The Administration of County Wicklow
The Wicklow County Council (WCC) governs the region now and by bringing in the Local Government Act of 2014, they abolished town councils including the councils of Greystones, Bray, and Arklow. County Wicklow has four main political parties apart from some minor ones. The main ones include Fine Gael, Fine Fail, Sinn Fein, and the Green Party.
Attractions of County Wicklow
The County boasts a rich culture that goes back many centuries. Today the county’s Bray Art Centre and Mermaid Art Hub show valuable creations of art, and they encourage new talents to enter into the field. The Mermaid Art Hub holds stage dramas, opera dances and films festivals and many more art events. Two of traditional arts festivals take place in Arklow called Arklow Music Festival and Seabreeze Festival.
Arts in the County Wicklow
A famous film studio in Bray, Ardmore Studios, produces many movies. ‘Excalibur’, and ‘In the Name of the Father’ are two of them and the latter won an Oscar in the recent past. John Boorman, Jim Sheridan, and Neil Jordan hold top ranks of filmdom in the county. The famous BBC series called Ballykissingel was filmed in the county as well. Many famous film and TV directors have used The Mountain National Park of Wicklow as one of their major film locations.
In 2010, the Wicklow News came to exist, which is now a major news site in the country. The East Coast FM and Radio Nova are two of the popular Radio stations in the country. The Bray People, Wicklow People, and Wicklow Times hold the major newspaper circulation in the country.
Thousands of tourists visit Wicklow County on a daily basis. Some of the popular tourist destinations in the county include Glendalough, Powerscourt Estate, Wicklow Way, Powerscourt Waterfall, Russborough House, and the Wicklow Mountains. The latter is the largest mountain range in Ireland which reaches as far as counties Carlow, Wexford and Dublin. The highest point of the region is called Lugnaguillaat (925m).
The Powerscourt Waterfall falls to the River Dargle and the Mountain Djouce, and Great Sugar Loaf surrounds it. This waterfall is the tallest waterfall in Ireland (121 m), and the waterfall is owned by the Powerscourt Estate now.
