Wicklow

Wicklow, a seaport, market town, and the county town of county Wicklow, Ireland, picturesquely situated at the mouth of a lagoon which receives the river Vartry and other streams, 284 m. S. of Dublin by the Dublin & South-Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 3288. The harbour, which is governed by commissioners and can accommodate vessels of 1500 tons, has two piers, with quayage. There is a considerable import trade in coal, timber, iron and slate; and some exports of grain and metallic ore, but the latter suffers by competition with the imports to Britain of sulphur ore from Spain. The town has county buildings, a parish church embodying a good Norman door from a previous structure, some ruins of a Franciscan abbey of the 13th century, and remains of Black Castle, on a commanding situation above the sea, founded in Norman times and rebuilt by William Fitzwilliam after capture by the Irish in 1301. The name shows the town to have been a settlement of the Norsemen. The cliff scenery to the S. towards Wicklow Head is fine, and the town has some claims as a seaside resort. It is governed by an urban district council.