New Wicklow Town Heritage Trail opening soon

The new Wicklow Town Heritage Trail, which has been in planning for over 2 years will be opening shortly and will be a great addition to the tourist offering of the capital town.

The Heritage Trail, which is funded by the County Wicklow Partnership, has been a core project for the Wicklow Town Team and great work has been carried out by the Wicklow Town Tourism Team and Wicklow Municipal Council in ensuring that the project is close to completion.

The Heritage Trail will feature 24 points of interest, detailing the history of Wicklow Town, from the landing of St. Patrick in 432 to the end of the Civil War in 1922.

There will be 7 story-boards featuring the construction of St. Patrick’s church, which commenced in 1839, the story of the Franciscan Abbey, which dates back to the 12th Century, Robert Halpin’s achievement in laying the Trans-Atlantic cable, the story of Billy Byrne and the 1798 Rising, the history of the Black Castle, the attempted landing by St. Patrick at Travelahawk beach and all of the history relating to the Barrow Green including stories of the secret burials that took place there.

There is now a mural in place, painted by local artist Robert Teeling, at the top of Quarantine Hill, featuring a petty criminal in stocks, getting his punishment from the locals for the crime he had committed.

On all of the story-boards, there will be QR codes, which will enable each tourist to view a video with local actors at each site telling the significance of each site.

Currently there are 10,000 brochures being printed, which will be available at key tourist points throughout the county to promote the new Wicklow Town Heritage Trail.

Sincere Thanks is due to local historian, John Finlay for his expertise in assisting the accuracy and context of all the material featured in the videos and the printed brochures.

There will be a dedicated video channel on the WicklowTown.ie website in addition to all the text in relation to the significance of each of the 24 sites.

It is expected that the video channel will go live in mid-August when all of the other items in relation to the walk have been complete.

Wicklow Town is currently undergoing a real revival, with the development of Fitzwilliam Square and the Market Square. The new Wicklow Town Heritage Trail will now provide the town with a first class tourist attraction.