Bringing Greystonians To Their Census

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or a town full of historians and self-love, it’s surprising how few events Greystones has every Heritage Week.

Is that because we’re too lazy, or is it Wicklow County Council stiffing us like the red-haired stepson once again…?

Looking over the hearty, heaving 2024 line-up for the county, it does feel that, yet again, Greystones is getting the short, strangely sticky end of the stick.

The six Heritage Week events hitting the town boast four at Greystones Library, with Lego Heritage with Jessica Farrell on Saturday 17th from 11am to 1pm, Out There Somewhere: The Graves Of The National Army on Tuesday 20th from 7.30pm to 8.30pm and Therese Hicks asking Who Were The Kennedys of Mount Kennedy? on Wednesday 21st from 3pm to 4.15pm, whilst Frances Browner will be leading the charge when The Poetry Chair comes to town on Sunday 18th from 3pm to 7pm and Monday 19th from 5.55am to 7pm. The other local events are a walk agus talk in the woods, basically, with The Urban Wilderness Project hitting Kindlestown Wood on Sunday 18th from 7.30pm to 9.30pm, plus there’s a Delgany Tidy Towns hike along the Delgany Heritage Trail & the Glen Of The Downs Nature Reserve on Saturday 17th, from 10am to 1pm, meeting at The Wicklow Arms car park.

And because that’s how the feckers roll, the Greystones Town Team have added two history walks around Greystones at the 11th hour – one on Greystones and the coming of the railways on Saturday 24th from 2pm to 3.15pm, then another on Ireland’s first planned housing estate, The Burnaby, on Sunday 25th from 2pm.

Other late additions include free entry to the Mount Usher Gardens in Ashford, from August 19th to 23rd, 10am to 5.30pm; a traditional Irish music session at The Fox in Dunlavin on Wednesday 21st from 8pm to 11pm and Walking With Bats with the Newcastle Biodiversity Group on Tuesday 20th from 8.30pm to 10pm. Oh, and there’s Birdwatching In County Wicklow, an online talk with Conor O’Brien on Friday 23rd from 7pm to 8pm, details here.

Close to home, Altidore Castle have house tours from Saturday 17th to Sunday 25th, 1pm to 5pm daily; the Babadooks at Killruddery House are hosting tours at 12pm, 1.30pm and 3pm daily from August 18th to 25th, with an adult ticket for the house and garden at €15.50 and a concession at €13; the Old Connaught Graveyard will be open on Sunday 18th and 25th from 11am to 2pm, as part of The Medieval Bray Project; the Bray Cualann Historical Society will be covering the Bandstand To The Harbour on Monday 19th from 11am to 12pm, Wednesday 21st from 3pm to 4pm and Friday 23rd from 7pm to 8pm, and finally, also in Bray, there will be Organ Music & Woodcarvings at Christ Church on Wednesday 21st from 11am to 12.15pm.

Just outta town, there’s a talk on the Dublin & Blessington Stream Tram on Saturday 17th from 10am to 4pm at the Blessington Tourist Office, plus a Nature Walk With Richard Nairn at Kilmacurragh from 2pm to 3.30pm and a Tinahely Heritage Market Day at the Courthouse Arts Centre from 12pm to 5pm; the following day, there’s the Tinahely Heritage Walk, heading from Market Square at 2pm; on the 17th, 18th, 24th and 25th, there are weekend tours of Nun’s Cross Church in Ashford from 2.30pm to 5pm. On the 17th and 18th, it’s free admission to the Glendalough Visitor Centre, open from 9.30am to 5.15pm; on Sunday 18th, there’s a Family Friendly Tour of Glendalough from 10am to 11am (although we’re pretty sure single people are allowed too) plus an ISL Tour of Glendalough’s Monastic Site from 11am to 12pm; later that day, there’s a Folklore Tour Of Glendalough, starting at Greenstone and running from 4pm to 5pm. Also on that Sunday (and the 25th), the National Botanic Gardens Kilmacurragh are hosting Garden Quest: A Plant-Powered Adventure, running from 12pm to 1pm on both Sundays. Also on the 18th, there’s a heritage hike exploring Wicklow’s Hilltop Passage Tombs at Cloghleagh, from 11.30am to 4pm, plus an Open Afternoon at St Kevin’s Church from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. There are also Open Days at St Kevin’s Church Of Ireland in Hollywood on the 18th from 10.30am to 5pm, the Glenealy Parish Church on the 23rd from 10.30am to 8.30pm, and the Wicklow Head Lighthouse on the 25th from 10am to 4pm.

Take A Local Link To The Past is at the Glendalough Visitor Centre, from August 19th to 23rd, 9.30am to 5.15pm; also running from the 19th to 23rd is the ESB Turlough Hill 50th Anniversary Tour, from 9.30am to 2pm daily, plus the Wicklow War Of Independence Exhibition at Carnew Library (19th from 4pm-8.30pm, 20th and 22nd 11am-4.30pm, 23rd 2pm-8.30pm), along with, on the 19th and 20th, tours of Wicklow’s Historic Gaol, from 10.30am to 3.30pm. Also on the 19th, there’s Wicklow’s Military Road: Connecting Landscape, People & Place at The Brockagh Resource Centre from 7pm to 9pm.

Therese Hicks’ talk about life in late 1600s Wicklow Town, A Book Lost In Time: Rediscovered, on Tuesday 20th from 7pm to 8.15pm at Wicklow Library. Also on Tuesday, there’s a talk on Dry Stone Walls; Our Perceptions; Our Ecology at the Annamoe Community Centre from 7pm to 8.30pm. Plus, on the 20th from 1.30pm to 8pm, the 21st from 10.30am to 5pm, the 22nd from 10.30am to 5pm and the 24th from 10.30am to 1.30pm, Tinahely Library will be hosting the Wicklow Gaol Comrades Exhibition.

At the Kilmacurragh Botanic Gardens on Wednesday 21st from 12pm to 1pm, they’re Connecting People, Plants and Place; also on the 21st, Russborough House & Parklands are hosting one A-MAZE-ing Heritage Day from 10am to 4pm, whilst Wicklow Barn Owls are the subject of Connecting Pellets, Poo And Library Cards at Rathdrum Library from 6pm to 8pm, and the Knocksink Wood Education Centre in Enniskerry Library will be looking at Invasive Species And How We Can Help Our Nature Reserves from 2.30pm to 4pm. Late on the 21st, there’s the Donard Village Evening Bat Walk, flying low from 8.15pm to 9.45pm. 

Wicklow Town Library will be exploring The Belly Of The Beast: Tales From Wicklow’s Historical Jail on Thursday 22nd from 7pm to 8.15pm, whilst up at the Glen Of Imaal Mountain Rescue Base from 7.30pm to 9pm, there’s a Medieval Pilgrimage To Glendalough. 

Liz Tiernan will be exploring Irish Trees & Ogham Art at the Blessington Library on Monday 19th from 2.30pm to 3.30pm, then on Wednesday 21st, at Baltinglass Library from 11am to 12pm and Dunlavin Library from 2.30pm to 3.30pm.

Ita O’Boyle will be offering a Family History Clinic in 30-minute slots at Rathdrum Library on Tuesday 20th from 1.30pm to 4.30pm, Arklow Library on Thursday 22nd from 4pm to 7pm and Friday 23rd at Blessington Library from 1.30pm to 4.30pm.

Kilmacurragh Gardens looks at Rebuilding The Collections on Friday 23rd, from 2pm to 3.30pm, whilst from 11am to 1pm at the Heritage Office in Wicklow Library, it’s Wicklow’s Historic Graveyards: Connecting Our Communities. The ever-popular Glendalough In Lego returns to the visitor centre on Saturday 24th from 10.30am to 12.30pm and 2.30pm to 4.30pm, designed specifically for neurodivergent families; also on Saturday 24th from 2pm to 4pm, Brian White is at St Mary’s Church to reveal What You Didn’t Know About Enniskerry Parish. Earlier that day, Enniskerry Tidy Towns are taking everyone on a Heritage Stroll from 11am to 12.15pm, whilst this busy Saturday also has a heritage hike up Church Mountain outside St Kevin’s Church, from 12pm to 3pm.

On Sunday 25th, All Paths Lead To Glendalough is a hiking celebration of Saint Kevin’s Way, happening from 1.30pm to 5.30pm; earlier, Exploring The Vartry celebrates Water Day from 10am to 12pm; also on the 25th, Junior Hydro Engineer is a Turlough Hill Tour for the younger ESB fan, running from 10am to 12.30pm.

And, hey, that is one great big list of goodies Heritage Week. If you know of any other events, please let us know on email here info@greystonesguide.ie, and we’ll add it to de pile.