WICKLOW, a maritime county in the province of Leinster, Ireland, is bounded N. by the county of Dublin, N.W. and W. by Kildare, S.W. by the county of Carlow, S. by the county of Wexford, and E. by the Irish Channel It lies between 52° 40' and 53° 14' N. lat., 6° and 6° 47' W. long.; its greatest length is 38 miles from north to south, and its greatest breadth nearly 33 miles. The area comprises 781 square miles, or 500,178 acres. In 1841 the population was 126,143; in 1851 it was 98,978.
Surface, Hydrography, and Communications—The county of Wick low is covered by the mountains which skirt on the south-east the great limestone plain of Central Ireland. The central part of the range consists of a mass of granite, protruding through the slate rocks. The slate rocks occupy the rest of the county on each aide of the granite, and form mountains of somewhat less elevation on its flank, extending from the central part. of the range on the one hand towards the sea; and on the other, towards the great central limestone plain, no part of which is in the county. Wicklow is altogether occupied by crystalline or schistose rocks.
The eastern flank of the Wicklow Mountains presents a varied aspect, being worn into deep glens and dells, which arc lined with abrupt precipices or occupied by lakes, from which begin those narrow trans verse valleys whose general course to the south-east is distinguished by the most beautiful and romantic scenery. The western flank, on tho other hand, presents less variety, the glens and valleys, which exhibit fewer features of attraction, being more rounded and expanded. The rivers which arise in these have a general tendency towards a north west direction ; but on both sides of the central range the transverse valleys either merge into or cut across more expanded longitudinal vales by which the central range is flanked, and beyond which arise offsets or detached groups and pas allei ranges of lower bills.
This mountain range cannot be considered as having a clearly-defined crest or ridge extending longitudinally, but it is intersected by its transverse valleys, so that the mountains which compose it are sepa rated into groups. Their principal summits are as follows :—Kippurs, 2473 feet ; Seeflngan, 2364 feet ; Tonduff, North, 2043 feet; Tonduff, South, 2107 feet ; Moan Bane, 2313 feet ; Oravale, 2352 feet ; Duff Hill, 2364 feet; Multaghcleevaun, 2783 feet; Tonelagee, 2307 feet; Carrigeenduff, 2105 feet ; Little Sugar-Loaf, 1120 feet, aud Great Sugar-Loaf, 1651 feet ; Douce, 2384 feet ; Table Mountain, 2302 feet ; hill south-east of Table Mountain, 2495 feet ; Lugnaquilla, the highest mountain in the county, 3039 feet ; Croaghan Moira Mountain, 2175 feet, near Lugnaquilla; Keadeen, 2143 feet; and Croghau Kinshela, 1399 feet.
The outline of the coast is tolerably even. Jost at the mouth of the Dargle, which separates the county of Wicklow from that of Dublin, is a shelving shore, on which, near Bray, are two Martello towers. About a mile south of the Dargle the coast rises into low cliffs, forming the little promontory of Bray Head. Along the remainder of the coast occur low cliffs, headland; and sand-bills. The whole length of the coast may be estimated at about 36 miles. The only harbours are formed by the mouths of the rivers Dargle, Vartry, and Ovoce, and they are all unimportant.
The scenery of the county of ‘Vicklow is pre-eminent for picturesque beauty. The Glen of the Dargle, a deep dark cleft or hollow, between two mountains, the sides of which are richly wooded, is a much admired spot, and, owing to its easy distance from Dublin, is much frequented. The Glenisloreane, a feeder of the Dargle, forms a beau tiful waterfall as it passes through the demesne of Poweracourt. The stream falls over a perpendicular rock at an elevation of 300 feet; it is more striking from its elevation and the rich verdure of the sur rounding scenery than from the volume of water. The Glen of the Downs, about 4 miles from Bray, is a romantic opening between two mountains, the sides of which are covered with rich hanging woods, interspersed with rugged cliffs. The view np the glen northward is closed by the picturesque form of the Great Sugar-Loaf Mountain, the summit of which commands a noble view in every direction. The
Devil's Glen, near Ashford Bridge, is a narrow pass between two mountains rising precipitously on each side of it, and has little more width than suffices for the passage of the river Vartry, which here flow. in an eastward direction. The northern side of the glen is occupied by rich woods, with masses of rocks occasionally breaking through the foliage. The two sides of the glen present in their geological structure and appearance a marked correspondence. The glen, from its depth and narrowness, is dark and sombre in its cha racter. At its upper or western extremity is a noble waterfall; the Vartry throws itself over a ledge of rock 100 feet high in one unbroken sheet into the hollow beneath, and presents, particularly when the stream is swollen by rains, a spectacle of great magnificence. Glen macanass is a valley amid the mountains, of which Tonelagee is the highest. A curved precipice partly inclose, a vast hollow into which the river Avon-More (which waters the valley) falls over the brow of the precipice. Above the waterfall at some distance Tonelagee is broken into many bold granitic precipices. Under one of these precipices, from 400 to 500 feet high. is the small circular lake or tarn Ouler, at an elevation of 1823 or 1830 feet above the level of the sea. The military road made after the insurrection of 1798 runs through this valley. The valley of Glendalough is watered by the Glenealo, which joins the river Glendassan, and falls with it into the Avon More. The valley extends east and west, and is inclosed on the north and south sides by lofty, barren, and inaccessible mountains, which unite and close the western or upper end of the valley, presenting granitic or mica-slato precipices 500 feet high. The river tumbles over the rocks at the west end so as to form a cascade, and then expands into two lakes : the upper lake is about a mile long nod nearly a quarter of a mile wide, and about 440 feet above the level of the sea; the lower lake is about 435 feet above the level of the sea, only about a quarter of a mile long, and about half that distance wide. Adjacent to this lake, at its lower end, are the ruins of the seven churches of Glendalough and various other antiquities. Glendassan opens into the valley of Glendalough, or rather the three valley; Glenmacanass, Glendassan, and Glendalough, all open near the same point into the wider valley of the Avon-More, which may be regarded, with reference to its direction, as a prolongation of Glenmacanass. Glendassan is inclosed on both sides by steep and lofty hills; near its upper end is the lake or tarn Nahanagan, half a mile long, and nearly as wide, about 1390 feet above the level of the sea. Glenmalure is to the south-west of the three glens just noticed. It extends 8 or 10 miles in a south-eastern direction, having the Table Mountain at its upper or north-west end, and on the west the mountains of Croghan Moira. The mountains rise with considerable steepness 600 or 800 feet above the valley, and more than 2000 feet above the level of the sea, Lugnaquilla rises on the aouth-west of the valley, but not immediately adjacent to it, 2500 feet above the bottom of the valley at the lead works, or more than 3000 feat above the level of the sea, having at its top • cromlech called 'Pierce's Table.' Near the upper end of the glen is a waterfall formed by the Avon-Beg (or, as it is called in the upper part of its course, the Ess), which waters the valley. The fall is broken by projecting crags, and loses itself in a succession of rapids in the hollow beneath. Glenmalure is characterised by the absence of trees, which imparts to it an air of peculiar sterility and desolation. There are lead-mtues in Glcomalure. A bridle road over a gap in Table Mountain leads from Glenmalure to the Glen of 'male, a circu lar valley, surrounded by lofty heights, Lugnaquilla being the highest, and T1altioglasa Hill (1256 feet) the lowest. This valley is about 3 miles in diameter, and Is a scene of calm and rich beauty, nearly all the surface being made available, the upper parts of the mountains for pasturage, the bottom for arable. From a tarn high up the northern side of Lugnaquilla, the Slaney issues and flows through the glen.