WICKLOW RIVERS

Samuel Lewis

A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland

1837

The rivers are numerous, but their courses rapid and short, except some of those which flow westward: the principal are the Liffey, the Slaney, the Ovoca, the Vartrey, and the Derry, Daragh, or Aughrim. The principal lines of road are of first-rate excellence: the new mail-coach road to Wexford, through the Glen of the Downs and the Vale of Ovoca, constructed by Grand Jury presentments, is a noble line. A new line of turnpike road on the western side of the county to Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, and Kilkenny, by Blessington and Baltinglass, has also been opened. The cross roads, too, are generally good and in sufficient number: so much has of late years been done in the cutting of new lines of road as to be a popular subject of complaint; but the result is the formation of excellent toll-free lines in every direction. The Military Road, which commences near Rathfarnham, a few miles south of Dublin, and extends southward through the midst of the mountain region, in a line selected with great skill, was planned in 1799, by order of Government, with the view of opening a direct and easy line of communication between the city of Dublin and the barracks of Glencree, Laragh, Drumgoff, and Aughavanagh, which were built after the insurrection in the preceding year: it obtained its name from having been made by some Scotch fencible regiments then quartered in the county.

County Wicklow | Wicklow Towns and Baronies | Wicklow Topography | Wicklow Climate | Wicklow Agriculture | Wicklow Geology | Wicklow Manufacturing | Wicklow Rivers | Wicklow Antiquities | Wicklow Society | Wicklow Town

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