Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [126]
Birchdale House ( 0404-46061; tmoylan@wicklowcoco.ie; Greenane; s/d €38/65) and Woodside ( 0404-43605; www.woodsideglenmalure.com; Greenane; s/d €50/80) are two comfortable, modern homes in Greenane, towards the southern end of the valley.
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WESTERN WICKLOW
As you go west through the county, the landscape gets less rugged and more rural, especially towards the borders of Kildare and Carlow. The wild terrain gives way to rich pastures; east of Blessington the countryside is dotted with private stud farms where some of the world’s most expensive horses are trained in jealously guarded secrecy.
The main attraction in this part of Wicklow is the magnificent Palladian pile at Russborough House, just outside Blessington, but if it’s more wild scenery you’re after, you’ll find it around Kilbride and the upper reaches of the River Liffey, as well as further south in the Glen of Imaal.
Blessington
pop 4018
There’s little to see in Blessington; it’s basically made up of a long row of pubs, shops and 17th- and 18th-century town houses. It’s the main town in the area, and as such makes a decent exploring base. Just outside Blessington is the Poulaphouca Reservoir, created in 1940 to drive the turbines of the local power station to the east of town and to supply Dublin with water.
The tourist office ( 045-865 850; Blessington Craft Centre, Main St; 9.30am-4pm Mon-Fri) is across the road from the Downshire House Hotel.
SIGHTS
Magnificent Russborough House ( 045-865 239; www.russborough.ie; Blessington; adult/child/student €10/5/8; 10am-6pm May-Sep, Sun & bank holidays only Apr & Oct, closed rest of year) is one of Ireland’s finest stately homes, a Palladian pleasure palace built for Joseph Leeson (1705–83), later the first Earl of Milltown and, later still, Lord Russborough. It was built between 1741 and 1751 to the design of Richard Cassels, who was at the height of his fame as an architect. Poor old Richard didn’t live to see it finished, but the job was well executed by Francis Bindon. Now, let’s get down to the juicy bits.
The house has always attracted unwelcome attention, beginning in 1798 when Irish forces took hold of the place during the Rising; they were soon turfed out by the British army who got so used to the comforts of the place that they didn’t leave until 1801, and then only after a raging Lord Russborough challenged their commander, Lord Tyrawley, to a duel ‘with blunderbusses and slugs in a sawpit’. Miaow.
The house remained in the Leeson family until 1931. In 1952 it was sold to Sir Alfred Beit, the eponymous nephew of the co-founder of the de Beers diamond-mining company. Uncle Alfred was an obsessive art collector, and when he died his impressive haul – which includes works by Velázquez, Vermeer, Goya and Rubens – was passed on to his nephew, who brought it to Russborough House. The collection was to attract the interest of more than just art lovers.
In 1974 the IRA decided to get into the art business by stealing 16 of the paintings. They were eventually all recovered, but 10 years later the notorious Dublin criminal Martin Cahill (aka the General) masterminded another robbery, this time for Loyalist paramilitaries. On this occasion, however, only some of the works were recovered and of those, several were damaged beyond repair – a good thief does not a gentle curator make. In 1988 Beit got the picture and decided to hand over the most valuable of the paintings to the National Gallery; in return for the gift, the gallery agreed to lend other paintings to the collection as temporary exhibits. The sorry story didn’t conclude there. In 2001 two thieves took