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Town in County Wicklow, Ireland
Photo: Amanda Susan Munroe, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Enniskerry (Irish Áth na Sceire, "rocky ford") is a village in County Wicklow, best known for Powerscourt House, gardens and waterfall. It was created in the 1840s as a planned village for tenants of Powerscourt estate. It's also a base for exploring the Wicklow Mountains, and being within an hour's travel of central Dublin can get crowded at weekends, but suburban sprawl has been kept at bay. Enniskerry had a population of 2000 in 2022.
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The grand house is now a hotel, see Sleep. So it's the magnificent gardens you visit, looking towards the Wicklow mountains and the distant waterfall. Laid out 1860-80, their highlights include Tower Valley with the Pepperpot Tower, the Japanese gardens, the winged horse statues, Triton Lake, the pet cemetery, Dolphin Pond, walled gardens, Bamberg Gate and the Italian Garden. The gardens ticket doesn't include the waterfall.
The Powerscourt lands once stretched 7 km from house to here; they no longer do so but the waterfall remains part of the estate. It's not a pure drop, but a steep slope where the River Dargle cascades 121 m into a corrie etched out by glaciation. It fans out so the cataract can be seen from a great distance, year-round thanks to the rainfall on the mountains, so it's long attracted painters and photographers. In 1821 when King George IV visited, the Viscount dammed the upper river so that it would form a dramatic torrent when he and the king came to admire it. But the king lingered at dinner and didn't come, just as well as the torrent when released swept away the bridge they were to stand on. (Actually George IV didn't so much linger at dinner as gorge and sluice mightily, so the bridge was at risk from his bulk anyway.) The ticket doesn't include the estate gardens, they don't do a combi.
This Church of Ireland (Protestant) church was built in 1861, funded by the 7th Viscount to replace the old Stagonil church which stood on his estate. (That old church was less convenient for parishioners once the village moved from Stagonil to Enniskerry; its ruin is hidden in the woods of the estate, and some of its masonry was re-used for the Pepperpot Tower.) The new church has attractive stained glass windows and a bosky graveyard.
Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Glencree
There are 134 graves, mostly air force and navy personnel from World War II, in a moving setting. The spy Hermann Görtz is among them: he was about to be deported at the end of the war and, fearing he'd be handed over to the Soviets, he swallowed poison. The single free-standing stone cross in the rear right hand corner of the cemetery was carved by him during his wartime internment, with the same care and skill that he'd used for sketching RAF airfields.
They offer riding lessons, treks, pony camp and livery service.
Good Italian fare.
Small deli and cafe, good food and gets crowded at lunchtime, as do the bike racks outside.
Dating from 1798, the highest pub in Ireland serves great trad fare in a lively atmosphere. By a margin of 1 km it's in County Dublin, but easier to reach from County Wicklow. Can feel touristy, but welcoming and at night live music and a grand view of Dublin from the hill road.
Old-fashioned hotel, with a spa on its impressive grounds. Comfy and well-run, often does weddings.
The grand house was built by Cassells 1730-40, and the gardens were laid out in the 19th century. It's been owned by the Slazenger sportswear family since 1961 but was gutted by fire in 1974; renovation took till 1996. It's nowadays an upscale hotel and spa, managed by the Marriott group.
By road follow M11 / N11 and exit onto R117 at Kilroney Cross; follow the river valley up to Enniskerry.
Read in the guidePowerscourt is a short walk from the village, but you need wheels to reach the waterfall or explore Glencree.
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