Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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principal leaders, in order to restore tranquillity to the
country, and cut roads through the wildest districts,
and erected barracks at different places in them, which
have effected the object proposed, and also tended much
to improve the country by facilitating the means of
communication through a district previously almost im-
passable.
The county is partly in the diocese of Ferns, but
chiefly in that of Dublin. For purposes of civil juris-
diction it is divided into the baronies of Arklow, Bal-
linacor, Newcastle, Half-Rathdown, Shillelagh, Lower
Talbotstown, and Upper Talbotstown. It contains the
incorporated sea-port, market and assize town of Wick-
low; the incorporated market-town of Baltinglass; the
sea-ports and market-towns of Arklow and Bray; the
disfranchised borough, market and post-town of Bles-
sington; the market and post-towns of Rathdrum, Car-
new, Dunlavan, Tinahely, and Stratford-upon-Slaney;
the post-towns of Newtown-Mount-Kennedy, Enniskerry,
Ashford, Annamoe, Delgany, Glanealy, and Newbridge;
and the disfranchised borough of Carysfort: the prin-
cipal villages are Bolinolea, Rathnew, Donard, Kilcoole,
Roundwood, and Redcross. It sent ten members to the
Irish parliament; two for the county, and two for each
of the boroughs of Wicklow, Baltinglass, Blessington,
and Carysfort: since the union the two returned for the
county at large to the Imperial Parliament have been its
sole representatives. The constituency, as registered up
to Hilary term, 1837, consists of 330 £50, 168 £20, and
1154 £10 freeholders; and 41 £20 and 156 £10 lease-
holders; making a total of 1849 registered electors: the
election takes place at Wicklow. The county is included
in the Home circuit: the assizes are held at Wicklow,
and there are general sessions held there and at Baltin-
glass. The county court-house and county gaol are at
Wicklow, and there is a district bridewell at Baltinglass.
The local government is vested in a lieutenant, 12 de-
puty-lieutenants, and 71 other magistrates; besides
whom there are the usual county officers, including 5
coroners. There are 24 constabulary police stations,
having in the whole a force of 4 chief and 23 subordi-
nate constables, and 116 men, with 5 horses. The
District Lunatic Asylum is in the city of Dublin: there
are infirmaries, with dispensaries attached, at Wicklow
and Baltinglass; fever hospitals with dispensaries at
Arklow, Newtown-Mount-Kennedy, Stratford - on - Sla-
ney, and Enniskerry; and dispensaries at Bray, Kilte-
gan, Rathdrum, Blessington, Carnew, Coollattin, Tina-
hely, Dunlavan, Delgany, Dunganstown, and Redcross.
The Grand Jury presentments for 1835 amounted to
£21,706. 16. 7¾., of which £744. 10. 4. was for roads,
bridges, &c., being the county charge; £10,920. 0. 5¼.
for roads, bridges, &c., being the baronial charge;
£5401. 2. 3½. for public buildings, charities, officers’
salaries, and incidents; £3743. 13. 11. for the police;
and £897. 9. 8. for repayment of advances made by
Government. In the military arrangements the county
is included in the eastern district; it contained several
barrack stations for infantry, which have been converted
to the use of the constabulary force and other purposes,
except, that at Baltinglass, which is still occupied as a
military barrack, and contains accommodation for one
officer and 25 men.
The county is somewhat of a rectangular form, about
40 English miles in length from north to south, and 33
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in breadth. A vast tract of mountains, composing almost
the whole of the baronies of Ballinacor and Upper Tal-
botstown, with parts of Lower Talbotstown, occupies its
entire central portion from the confines of Dublin to
those of Carlow, and nearly cuts off all communication
between its opposite sides, where there are more fertile
districts, thickly inhabited, as the barony of Newcastle
on the east, bordering on the sea, and the vales of Bles-
sington and Baltinglass, on the confines of Kildare and
Carlow. Its natural divisions are four, the central
mountain region, the fertile districts on the east and on
the west, and the barony of Shillelagh to the south.
The general direction of the mountain ranges is from
north-east to south-west: the declivities towards the
north and west are mostly abrupt; while on the south
and east, where their ascent is commonly more gradual,
basins and hollows are scooped out, forming the most
romantic glens. These mountains constitute a splendid
background to most of the extensive prospects in this
and the adjacent counties, and some of their summits
command views of superior magnificence. The moun-
tains do not form extended chains, but are assembled in
lofty groups separated by precipitous ravines, usually
narrow and straight. The groups are eight, that of Kip-
pure on the north; those of Djouce, Thonelagee, Coma-
derry, and Lugnaquilla in the centre; those of Slieve
Gadoe and Cadeen on the west; and that of Croghan
Kinshela to the south. The summit of Lugnaquilla, the
highest in the county and in the south-east of Ireland,
is 3070 feet above the level of the sea; that of Djouce is
2392; of Kippure, 2527; of Thonelagee, 2696; of
Slieve Gadoe, 2200; of Cadeen, 2158; and of Croghan
Kinshela, 2064. The interior of this large tract, though
almost uninhabited, has been rendered accessible by the
military road; and on its eastern side are the celebrated
scenes of Lough Bray, Luggelaw, Lough Dan, Glen-
dalough, and Glenmalur, all embosomed in mountainous
recesses of vast depth, and characterised by wildness
and sublimity. To the east of the mountain range, and
at the northern extremity of the county, rise two conical
mountains called the Great and Little Sugar-loaf, the
former 2004 feet high; and Bray Head, a vast mass
with a remarkable broken outline, 870 feet high, which
projects into the sea to the south of the town of Bray.
From the Little Sugar-loaf commences a mountain
range of secondary elevation, cultivated in some parts
to the very summit, and extending in a direction south
by west to the rugged heights of Carrickmacreilly, near
Glanealy; and thence sweeping eastward, it joins the
range that, to the south of Wicklow, forms the elevated
promontory of Wicklow Head. Between this range and
the more elevated mountain chain is a cheerless table
land, watered by theVartrey river, and formerly entirely
overspread with bogs and rocks, which yet occupy great
portions of it, though cultivation has made considerable
advances near the lines of road by which it is now inter-
sected. The most conspicuous of the secondary range
are the Downs mountain, Dunran, and the mountains
above Glanealy. Encircled by these mountains from
Bray Head to Wicklow Head, and extending to the
coast between those promontories, lies a tract distin-
guished for its fertility and beauty, which justly entitle
it to be called the garden of the county. At an eleva-
tion greatly below that of the sheltering range, it is
diversified by extensive swells and fertile vales enriched