Glen of the Downs
The Glen of the Downs is a wooded, glacial valley a mile and a half long with steep sides rising to almost 820 feet on the east coast of County Wicklow.[1] It contains a designated Nature Reserve extending over 146 acres, and is a 'Special Area of Conservation'.[2]
Location
The Glen is located in the north of County Wicklow, to the south of Dublin, between the villages of Kilmacanogue to the north and Kilpedder to the south. From the northern end both the Great Sugar Loaf and Little Sugar Loaf hills are visible. The village of Delgany is just a mile to the east.
The N11, a National Primary Route, passes along the floor of the Glen as a dual carriageway between Junctions 9 and 10. The upgrade to this road, completed in 2003, was delayed by protesters opposed on environmental grounds.[3]
Geography
The valley was formed by the meltwater from a massive ice sheet. The rocks forming the sides of are the same quartzite of the two Sugarloaf hills to the north.[4] The Three Trouts River, a modest stream, flows from the Great Sugarloaf (three sources), down through the wooded Glen from north to south before turning sharply East through Delgany village, forming a smaller glen (Glenowen), on through Farrenkelly and Charlesland floodplains / reclaimed marshes, and entering the sea at Greystones South Beach, Greystones.[5] The River receives numerous tributaries and springs along the way, from both sides, including the Brown Trouts Stream and Delgany (Monastery) Stream in Delgany Village. While the river often seasonally runs dry (overground) through the Glen nature reserve (by the N11 car park), the springs immediately downstream mean that it has never run dry through the bottom of the nature reserve and downstream. Because of its small size, and isolation, the nature reserve is completely dependent on surrounding wooded hills and agricultural glens, currently unprotected, and linked mainly by the narrow streams and hedges.
Nature
The tree canopy is made up of broadleaf trees such as oak, cherry, rowan and ash.[6] Beneath this canopy grow bilberry, bramble, wild garlic, holly, honeysuckle, ivy, woodrush and wood sage.
Birds include blackbird, blackcap, chaffinch, jay, robin, sparrowhawk, Eurasian blue tit|blue tit, great tit, grey wagtail, woodpecker, dipper, owl, buzzard, and wren. Sightings of kites are increasing. Some years, the rare wood warbler visits. Red squirrels are common as are sika deer, fox, otter, pine marten, hedgehog, and badger.[7]
History
The Glen has been written about since Victorian]] times with the view from the nearby Bellevue House described as 'a scene of luxurious softness, combined with grandeur and significance'. Bellevue House was the home of the La Touche family who settled in Ireland as Huguenot refugees. Their name derives from the La Touche in France.
Pictures
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Glen of the Downs) |
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19th century painting of Glen of the Downs by French artist Alphonse Dousseau -
The N11 road cutting through the valley
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1919313.jpg)
Location
- Location map: 53°7’58"N, 6°6’48"W
References
- ↑ The illustrated road book of Ireland. Automobile Association. 1970.
- ↑ "Glen of the Downs SAC". National Parks & Wildlife Service. https://www.npws.ie/protected-sites/sac/000719. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
- ↑ Valerie Cox (2000-01-28). "Early swoop on trees surprises `warriors'". The Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/early-swoop-on-trees-surprises-warriors-386028.html. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
- ↑ "Glen of the Downs: Landscape". http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/environment-geography/flora-fauna/wild-wicklow/glen-of-the-downs/. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
- ↑ The neighbourhood of Dublin
- ↑ "Bray and the Glen of the Downs, County Wicklow". LibraryIreland. c. 1841. https://www.libraryireland.com/SceneryIreland/VII-5.php. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ↑ "Glen of the Downs: Wildlife". Archived from the original on 22 November 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20071122010724/http://askaboutireland.ie/show_narrative_page.do?page_id=777. Retrieved 2009-01-06.