160-575: County Wicklow ( / ˈ w ɪ k l oʊ / WIK -loh ; Irish : Contae Chill Mhantáin [ˈkɔn̪ˠt̪ˠeː ˌçiːl̠ʲ ˈwan̪ˠt̪ˠaːnʲ] ) is a county in Ireland . The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 , it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster . It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the east and the counties of Wexford to
320-582: A French émigré who walked the length and breadth of Ireland in 1796–97, was appalled to encounter in a cabin upon the banks of the lower Bann the same "nonsense on which the people of France fed themselves before the Revolution". A young labourer treated him to a disposition on "equality, fraternity, and oppression", "reform of Parliament", "abuses in elections", and "tolerance", and such "philosophical discourse" as he had heard from "foppish talkers" in Paris
480-678: A United Kingdom with Great Britain . Espousing principles they believed had been vindicated by American independence and by the French Declaration of the Rights of Man , the Presbyterian merchants who formed the first United society in Belfast in 1791 vowed to make common cause with their Catholic -majority fellow countrymen. Their "cordial union" would upend the landed Anglican Ascendancy and hold government accountable to
640-547: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There
800-725: A 24-hour period at Kippure on the Wicklow-Dublin border, the greatest daily rainfall total ever recorded in Ireland. The hurricane caused severe flooding and up to 1,000 homes had to be evacuated in Bray alone. Other major floods in Wicklow which resulted in loss of life occurred in 1886–87, 1931, 1965 and 2011. There are eight historic baronies in the county. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for administrative purposes. Their official status
960-595: A Volunteer Convention in 1779, boycotted a third in 1793. Under Ascendancy patronage they were already moving along with the Peep o' Day Boys , battling Catholic Defenders in rural districts for tenancies and employment, toward the formation in 1795 of the loyalist Orange Order . In 1793, the Government itself breached the principle of an exclusively Protestant Constitution. Dublin Castle put its weight behind Grattan in
1120-717: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of
1280-575: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It
1440-877: A bill presented by Grattan's patriot rival, Henry Flood , to abolish the proprietary boroughs and to extend the existing, Protestant , forty-shilling freehold county franchise. But the Volunteer moment had passed. Having accepted defeat in America, Britain could again spare troops for Ireland, and the limits of the Ascendancy's patriotism had been reached. Parliament refused to be intimidated. In 1784, beginning in Belfast (the "Boston of Ireland"), disappointed Volunteers in Ulster began taking Catholics into their ranks to form "united" companies. Belfast's First Company acted in
1600-482: A critically-debating public": the first signed Philoguanikos (probably the paper's founder, Arthur O'Connor ), the second signed Marcus (Drennan). While both appealed to women to take sides, Philoguanikos was clear that women were being asked to act as political beings. He scorns those "brainless bedlams [who] scream in abhorrence of the idea of a female politician". (Among those who took the Society test in response to
1760-478: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,
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#17327655718671920-524: A decade before. In 1793, a magistrate in that same area, near Coleraine , County Londonderry, had been complaining of "daily incursions of disaffected people... disseminating the most seditious principles". Until his arrest in September 1796, Thomas Russell (later celebrated in a popular ballad as The man from God-knows-where ) was one such agitator. Recruiting for the Society, he ranged from Belfast as far as Counties Donegal and Sligo . In recruiting
2080-553: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of
2240-731: A fight. During the Irish Rebellion of 1798, some of the United Irishmen insurgents took refuge in the Wicklow Mountains, resulting in clashes between British forces and rebels commanded by Joseph Holt near Aughrim and later at Arklow. The boundaries of the county were extended in 1957 by the Local Government Act which "detached lands from the County of Dublin and from the jurisdiction and powers of
2400-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in
2560-529: A gathering in a Belfast tavern in October 1791. With the exception of Thomas Russell , a former India-service army officer originally from Cork , and Theobald Wolfe Tone , a Dublin barrister , the participants who resolved to reform the government of Ireland on "principles of civil, political and religious liberty" were Presbyterians . As Dissenters from the established Anglican ( Church of Ireland ) communion, they were conscious of having shared, in part,
2720-508: A man named Naithi was opposed to these Christian missionaries. Despite this hostility however Palladius seems to have gained support elsewhere as he was able to erect those three churches in the Wicklow area. After a rather unsuccessful stay in the county St. Palladius departed Ireland and journeyed to Scotland. A large number of early Irish saints male and female founded churches, monasteries and convents in Wicklow. Among them were St. Kevin , St. Dagan , St. Ernan , St. Credan , St. Baotan and
2880-581: A matter of justice, men cannot be denied rights because an incapacity, whether ignorance or intemperance, for which the laws under which they are made to live are themselves responsible. History, in any case, was reassuring: when they had the opportunity in the Parliament summoned by James II in 1689, and clearer title to what had been forfeit not ninety but forty years before (in the Cromwellian Settlement ), Catholics did not insist upon
3040-646: A much wider section of Protestant society. In April 1782, with Volunteer cavalry, infantry, and artillery posted on all approaches to the Parliament in Dublin, Henry Grattan , leader of the Patriot opposition , had a Declaration of Irish Rights carried by acclaim in the Commons. London conceded, surrendering its powers to legislate for Ireland . In 1783 Volunteers converged again upon Dublin, this time to support
3200-585: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in
3360-655: A parliament in which "all the people" would have "an equal representation." Unclear, however, was whether the emancipation of Catholics was to be unqualified and immediate. The previous evening, witnessing a debate over the Catholic Question between the town's leading reformers (members of the Northern Whig Club) Tone had found himself "teased" by people agreeing in principle to Catholic emancipation, but then proposing that it be delayed or granted only in stages. Thomas Russell had invited Tone to
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#17327655718673520-575: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on
3680-475: A public debate on An Address to the People of Ireland, William Bruce and others proposed hedging the commitment to an equality of "all sects and denominations of Irishmen". They had rather anticipate "the gradual emancipation of our Roman Catholic brethren" staggered in line with Protestant concerns for security and with improving Catholic education. Samuel Neilson "expressed his astonishment at hearing... any part of
3840-409: A reformed Parliament. As it radiated out from Belfast and from Dublin, the society drew on the structure and ritual of freemasonry to recruit among tradesmen, artisans and tenant farmers, many of whom had been organised in their own clubs and secret fraternities. Following its proscription in 1794, its goals were restated in uncompromising terms. Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform became
4000-625: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by
4160-529: A response in what had been the United heartlands in the north, and misfired with an aborted rising in Dublin . Since the rebellion's centenary in 1898, Ireland's major political traditions, unionist , nationalist and republican , have claimed and disputed the legacy of the United Irishmen, and of the union they sought to effect between Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter. The Society was formed at
4320-418: A strain on the county's infrastructure and degrade its natural environment. The climate of Wicklow is temperate oceanic ( Köppen climate classification Cfb in most areas, and Cfc oceanic subpolar in some highland areas), with cool, humid summers, and mild, wet winters. The climate of the eastern portion of the county is moderated by the Irish Sea and averages milder winters and cooler summers, while
4480-771: A wholesale return of their lost estates. As to the existing Irish Parliament "where no Catholic can by law appear", it was the clearest proof that "Protestantism is no guard against corruption". Tone cited the examples of the American Congress and French National Assembly where "Catholic and Protestant sit equally" and of the Polish Constitution of May 1791 (also celebrated in Belfast) with its promise of amity between Catholic, Protestant and Jew. If Irish Protestants remained "illiberal" and "blind" to these precedents, Ireland would continue to be governed in
4640-545: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss
4800-599: Is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as a result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022
4960-452: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of
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5120-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years
5280-486: Is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, where official Irish names of baronies are listed under "Administrative units". The largest barony in Wicklow is Lower Talbotstown, at 88,704 acres (359 km), and the smallest barony is Rathdown, at 33,463 acres (135 km). As of the 2016 census , the resident population of Wicklow was 142,425, a 4.2% increase since the Census of Ireland 2011 . The county's population
5440-576: Is one of the fastest growing in the country, increasing 38.7 percent in the 20 years between 1996 and 2016. However, its share of the Mid East 's population has steadily fallen as Meath and Kildare have experienced even more rapid population growth. While Bray remains by far the largest town in the county, improved transport links to Dublin such as upgrades to the M11 and the completion of the M50 in 2005 encouraged
5600-587: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described
5760-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it
5920-601: Is the county's most prominent coastal headland, and is also the most easterly mainland point of the Republic of Ireland. Wicklow's east coast is a popular domestic summer holiday destination, and the county has numerous beaches including Brittas Bay , Clogga Beach, The Cove, Silver Strand Beach, Sallymount Bay Beach, Ennereilly Beach, Newcastle Beach, Arklow's Porter's Rock Beach and South Beach, Greystones North and South Beaches, Bray Strand, and Magheramore Beach. The county has roughly 37,500 hectares (93,000 acres) of wooded area,
6080-515: Is the largest of Wicklow's lakes, covering 2,226 hectares (5,500 acres) in the west of the county. It is the largest artificial lake in Ireland and was created following the damming of the River Liffey at Poulaphouca in 1940. The village of Ballinahown was completed submerged by the reservoir and its 70 families were relocated. Ruins of the old village including buildings, fences and farm machinery can be seen during droughts when water levels in
6240-514: Is the snowiest part of Ireland and can experience 50 or more days of snowfall each year. The county experiences a narrow annual temperature range. Typical daytime highs range from 17–22 °C (63–72 °F) throughout the county in July and August, with overnight lows in the 11–14 °C (52–57 °F) range, although temperatures in the mountains can be 5–10 °C (41–50 °F) lower. Mean January temperatures range from 7 °C (45 °F) on
6400-472: Is the tallest peak in the range, the highest mountain in Ireland outside of County Kerry , and Ireland's 13th-highest mountain overall. The Wicklow Mountains National Park , located in the middle of the county, is a dedicated protected area covering 205 square kilometres (50,657 acres), making it the largest national park in Ireland. The Wicklow Way was the first long-distance trail in the State, and crosses
6560-423: Is very sparsely populated, with only a few small settlements located in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains such as Rathdrum , Laragh , Roundwood and Tinahely . Most small areas in central Wicklow have a population density of less than 20 people per km2, compared with an average of 77 people per km2 in the county as a whole. The gender makeup of the county in 2016 was 50.74% female and 49.26% male. 29.0% of
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6720-666: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act
6880-758: The Rights of Man (of which the new society was to distribute thousands of copies for as little as a penny apiece), had won the argument. Three months before, on 14 July, the second anniversary of the Fall of the Bastille was celebrated with a triumphal Volunteer procession through Belfast and a solemn Declaration to the Great and Gallant people of France: "As Irishmen, We too have a country, and we hold it very dear – so dear... that we wish all Civil and Religious Intolerance annihilated in this land." Bastille Day
7040-773: The Avoca River at the Meeting of the Waters in the Vale of Avoca. The River Derreen in the south of the county defines a section of the border with Carlow. Most of the county's lakes (or loughs) are glacially derived ribbon and corrie lakes found in scenic trough valleys surrounded by mountains, making them popular with tourists. Notable lakes in the county include Glendalough Upper Lake , Lough Tay ('The Guinness Lake'), Lough Ouler ('The Heart-shaped Lake'), Lough Bray, Lough Dan and Lough Nahanagan. Poulaphouca Reservoir
7200-576: The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly , where it is part of the Eastern Strategic Planning Area. County Wicklow was formerly divided into the rural districts of Baltinglass No. 1, Rathdown No. 2, Rathdrum, and Shillelagh, and the urban districts of Arklow , Bray and Wicklow . The rural districts were abolished in 1925. Greystones , in the former rural district of Rathdown No. 2, was given town commissioners in 1984. The urban districts of Arklow, Bray and Wicklow and
7360-658: The Irish gleann ) such as Glenmacnass , Glen of the Downs , Glenmalure , Glen of Imaal , Glencree and Glendalough . The Irish Sea Ice-Sheet began to retreat shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum ca. 20,000–23,000 years ago but significant ice masses persisted in the Wicklow Mountains for another 4,000–7,000 years. Major rivers include the 132-kilometre (82.0 mi) River Liffey , Ireland's 8th-longest river, which rises near Tonduff mountain and flows through
7520-476: The O'Byrnes . The Military Road , stretching from Rathfarnham to Aghavannagh crosses the mountains, north to south, and was built by government forces to assist them in defeating the rebels still active in the Wicklow Mountains following the failed Irish Rebellion of 1798 . It provided them with access to an area that had been a hotbed of Irish rebellion for centuries. Several barracks to house
7680-631: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")
7840-461: The Star positively urged unions for labourers and cottiers ), McCracken, and Emmet , the only United Irish leaders "perfectly" understood the real causes of social disorder and conflict: "the conditions of the labouring class". Observing that property was "merely the collection of labour", in a handbill of March 1794 Dublin United Irishmen had argued that "the scattered labour of the lowest ranks"
8000-643: The United Kingdom are by far the largest immigrant group, comprising 5.9% of Wicklow's population (8,388 people). Of this group, only around half (4,045 people) stated that they were either UK or dual Irish-UK citizens. The Poles are the second largest immigrant group, constituting 2.0% of the county's population. The census recorded 2,905 Polish citizens in Wicklow, of which 2,759 were born in Poland . The fastest growing major immigrant groups between 2011 and 2016 were Romanians , Indians and Filipinos . There
8160-603: The civil and political disabilities of the Kingdom's dispossessed Roman Catholic majority . Although open to them as Protestants, the Parliament in Dublin offered little opportunity for representation or redress. Two-thirds of the Irish House of Commons represented boroughs in the pockets of Lords in the Upper House . Belfast's two MPs were elected by the thirteen members of the corporation , all nominees of
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#17327655718678320-585: The tithes , rack rents and sacramental tests of this Ascendancy , and with the supremacy of the English interest, Presbyterians had been voting by leaving Ireland in ever greater numbers. From 1710 to 1775 over 200,000 sailed for the North American colonies . When the American Revolutionary War commenced in 1775, there were few Presbyterian households that did not have relatives in America, many of whom would take up arms against
8480-400: The "Garden of Ireland" for its scenery—which includes extensive woodlands, nature trails, beaches, and ancient ruins while allowing for a multitude of walking, hiking, and climbing options—it is the 17th largest of Ireland's 32 counties by area and the 16th largest by population. It is also the fourth largest of Leinster's 12 counties by size and the fifth largest in terms of population. During
8640-522: The "Irish Jacobins" as an established democratic party in Belfast [they had issued an address calling for a universal franchise in December 1792] composed of "persons and rank long kept down" and [although joined in their proceedings by well-to-do United Irishmen such as the banker William Tennant ], chaired by a "radical mechanick" (sic). When April 1795 the new Lord Lieutenant , Earl Fitzwilliam , after publicly urging Catholic admission to parliament
8800-445: The "female societies." No women with "rational ideas of liberty and equality for themselves", she objected, could consent to a separate organisation. There could be "no other reason having them separate, but keeping the women in the dark" and making "tools of them". In final months before the rising, the paper of the Dublin society, The Press , published two direct addresses to Irish women, both of which "appealed to women as members of
8960-481: The 1798 uprising they came forward in many capacities, some, as celebrated in later ballads ( Betsy Gray and Brave Mary Doyle, the Heroine of New Ross ), as combatants. Under the command of Henry Luttrell , Earl Carhampton (who, in a celebrated case in 1788, Archibald Hamilton Rowan had accused of child rape), troops treated women, young and old, with great brutality. Jacques-Louis de Bougrenet de La Tocnaye,
9120-400: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English
9280-604: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as
9440-400: The 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
9600-419: The 5th century Saint Palladius, a bishop from Britain or Gaul was sent to 'the Irish believing in Christ.' He and his companions landed at Wicklow harbour in the year 431 AD. Palladius founded three ancient churches at Donard, Tigroney and Colbinstown. Along with him came two clerics named St. Sylvester and Solonius who died and were buried at Donard. The local tribe in the area were called Cualann and their chief,
9760-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which
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#17327655718679920-439: The 8th highest total forest cover in Ireland. In terms of forest cover as a proportion of land area, Wicklow ranks second in the country, at 18.5%. Known as the "Garden of Ireland", Wicklow was historically the county with the highest percentage of woodlands. The 2017 National Forestry Inventory revealed that County Leitrim had overtaken it for the first time. Wicklow is in a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome , although
10080-466: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme
10240-551: The Belfast gathering in October 1791 as the author of An Argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland . In honour of the reformers in Belfast, who arranged for the publication of 10,000 copies, this had been signed A Northern Whig. Being purportedly of French Huguenot descent, Tone may have had an instinctive empathy for the religiously persecuted, but he was "suspicious of the Catholics priests" and hostile to what he saw as "Papal tyranny". (In 1798 Tone applauded Napoleon 's deposition and imprisonment of Pope Pius VI ). For Tone
10400-430: The Chichesters, Marquesses of Donegall . Swayed by Crown patronage, parliament, in any case, exercised little hold upon the executive, the Dublin Castle administration which through the office of the Lord Lieutenant continued to be appointed by the King's ministers in London. Ireland, the Belfast conferees observed, had "no national government". She was ruled "by Englishmen, and the servants of Englishmen" Faced with
10560-401: The Council of the County of Dublin" near Bray and added them to the County of Wicklow. Wicklow was the first county in Ireland to lose the Irish language , with only around 2% of people speaking it in the 1770s. It was spoken on the Western slopes of the Wicklow Mountains in the 1790s. Andrew and Hannah Byrne of Glenealy , who both died in 1830, were among the last native speakers speaker in
10720-434: The Crown . Most of the Society's founding members and leadership were members of Belfast's first three Presbyterian churches, all in Rosemary Street. The obstetrician William Drennan , who in Dublin composed the United Irishmen's first test or oath, was the son of the minister of the First Church; Samuel Neilson , owner of the largest woollen warehouse in Belfast, was in the Second Church; Henry Joy McCracken , born into
10880-404: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish
11040-468: The Greatest Happiness of the Greater Number its end — its general end Real Independence to Ireland, and Republicanism its particular purpose." When Drennan's friends gathered in Belfast, they declared that in a "great era of reform, when unjust governments are falling in every quarter of Europe; ... when all government is acknowledged to originate from the people," the Irish people find themselves with "NO NATIONAL GOVERNMENT — we are ruled by Englishmen, and
11200-425: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but
11360-415: The Irish nation in parliament" was too vague and compromising. But within two years, the Dublin society had agreed on reforms that went beyond the dispensation they had celebrated in the French Constitution of 1791 . In February 1794, they published, in the Dublin Evening Post and the Northern Star , a call for universal manhood suffrage . In the exercise of political rights, property, like religion,
11520-705: The Presbyterians of Ulster as Americans "in their hearts". For the original members of the Society, the Irish Volunteers were a further source of prior association. Formed to secure the Kingdom as the British garrison was drawn down for American service, Volunteer companies were often little more than local landlords and their retainers armed and drilled. But in Dublin, and above all in Ulster (where they convened provincial conventions) they mobilised
11680-564: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,
11840-684: The Rights of Man and of the Citizen France and Civil Constitution of the Clergy , the greatest of the Catholic powers, was seen to be undergoing its own Glorious Revolution . In his Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Edmund Burke had sought to discredit any analogy with 1688 in England. But on reaching Belfast in October 1791, Tone found that Thomas Paine 's response to Burke,
12000-685: The Rights of Woman (1792). But the call was not made for women's civic and political emancipation. In publishing excerpts from Wollstonecraft's work, the Star focussed entirely upon issues of female education. In the rival News Letter , William Bruce argued that this was disingenuous: the "impartial representation of the Irish nation" the United Irishmen embraced in their test or oath implied, he argued, not only equality for Catholics but also that "every woman, in short every rational being shall have equal weight in electing representatives". Drennan did not seek to disabuse Bruce as to "the principle" – he had never seen "a good argument against
12160-618: The Scottish Covenanting tradition. Of those who – bowing to "no king but Jesus" – were elected to preach by the Reformed Presbytery in Ulster , it is estimated that half were implicated in the eventual rebellion. In Antrim thousands filled fields to hear the itinerant Reformed preacher William Gibson prophesy – in the tradition that saw the Antichrist defeated in
12320-590: The Society. As were the Presbyteries, Volunteer companies and Masonic lodges through which they recruited, the United Irishmen were a male fraternity. In serialising William Godwin 's Enquiry Concerning political Justice (1793), the Northern Star had advised them of the moral and intellectual enlightenment found in an "equal and liberal intercourse" between men and women. The paper had also reviewed and commended Mary Wollstonecraft 's Vindication of
12480-475: The abolition of bigotry in religion and policies, and the equal distribution of the Rights of Man through all Sects and Denominations of Irishmen". The "conspiracy", which at Tone's suggestion called itself the Society of the United Irishmen, had moved beyond Flood's Protestant patriotism. English influence, exercised through the Dublin Castle Executive , would be checked constitutionally by
12640-426: The address called a Catholic question." The only question was "whether Irishmen should be free." William Steel Dickson , with "keen irony", wondered whether Catholics were to ascend the "ladder" to liberty "by intermarrying with the wise and capable Protestants, and particularly with us Presbyterians, [so that] they may amend the breed, and produce a race of beings who will inherit the capacity from us?" The amendment
12800-418: The appeal were the writers Henrietta Battier and Margaret King ). The letters of Martha McTier and Mary Ann McCracken testify to the role of women as confidantes, sources of advice and bearers of intelligence. R.R. Madden, one of the earliest historians of the United Irishmen, describes various of their activities in the person of an appropriately named Mrs. Risk. By 1797 the Castle informer Francis Higgins
12960-406: The area, or have lived there for a period of 10 years" and must also demonstrate that the house is for their own housing needs, rather than for resale. Further, potential buyers in rural areas must be approved by the council before the homeowner is allowed to sell to them. The primary justification for these restrictions is to avoid one-off housing or other poorly planned developments which could put
13120-703: The argument on behalf of the Catholics was political. The "imaginary Revolution of 1782" had failed to secure a representative and national government for Ireland because Protestants had refused to make common cause with Catholics. In Belfast, the objections to doing so were rehearsed for him again by the Reverend William Bruce . Bruce spoke of the danger of "throwing power into hands" of Catholics who were "incapable of enjoying and extending liberty," and whose first interest would be to reclaim their forfeited lands. In his Argument Tone insisted that, as
13280-693: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He
13440-475: The bricklayers, carpenters and other trades. In the face of "demands made in a tumultuous and illegal manner", Samuel Neilson (who had pledged his woollen business to the paper) proposed that the Volunteers assist the authorities in enforcing the laws against combination. James (Jemmy) Hope , a self educated weaver, who joined the Society in 1796, nonetheless was to account Neilson, along with Russell (who in
13600-560: The call for universal manhood suffrage and a republic. Sharing a common democratic programme, and trading on the prospect of French assistance, agents were active in organising "United" societies in Scotland and in England with whom it was hoped action might be co-ordinated. Beginning in May 1798, martial-law seizures and arrests forced the conspiracy in Ireland into the open. The result
13760-796: The centre of Dublin City , reaching the Irish Sea at Dublin Bay . Its biggest tributary by volume, the River Dodder , rises along the northern slope of Kippure in the far north of the county, while the Kings River joins at Blessington Lakes. Multiple other Liffey tributaries flow within the county. The 117.5-kilometre (73.0 mi) River Slaney , which starts at Lugnaquilla, flows west and then south before reaching St George's Channel at Wexford town. The Avonmore and Avonbeg rivers join to form
13920-526: The coast to 0 °C (32 °F) at high elevations. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, although the wettest months (October and November) receive roughly twice as much rain as the driest months (February, March and April). The driest area of Wicklow is the northeast corner of the county, which is protected from the prevailing south-westerly winds by the Wicklow Mountains and receives around 750 mm (30 in) of rainfall per year. The coastal region of County Dublin immediately to
14080-671: The county are the quartzites of the Bray Group that include Bray Head and the Little Sugar Loaf and Great Sugar Loaf mountains. These metamorphosed from sandstone deposited in the deep waters of the primeval Iapetus Ocean during the Cambrian period (542-488 million years ago). As with much of Ireland, Wicklow's terrain was sculpted by successive periods of glaciation during the quaternary . Weathering and erosion by ice carved out long valleys known as glens (from
14240-439: The county's largest urban areas are clustered in this region along an axis stretching from Bray to Newtownmountkennedy , which incorporates Greystones , Delgany , Enniskerry , Kilmacanogue , Kilpedder and Kilcoole . Outside of this region, Wicklow , Rathnew and Arklow are the only sizable towns in the eastern portion of the county, while Blessington is the only large settlement in west Wicklow. The county's interior
14400-430: The county. Wicklow is part of the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster . It is bounded by four counties, Dublin to the north; Kildare and Carlow to the west; Wexford to the south; and the Irish Sea to the east. Wicklow is the 17th largest of Ireland's 32 traditional counties by land area, and the 16th most populous. It is the fourth largest of Leinster's 12 counties by size and
14560-474: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as
14720-450: The exclusive interests of England and of the landed Ascendancy. The Belfast Catholic Society sought to underscore Tone's argument. Meeting in April 1792 they declared their "highest ambition" was "to participate in the constitution" of the kingdom, and disclaimed even "the most distant thought of [...] unsettling the landed property thereof". On Bastille Day 1792 in Belfast, the United Irishmen had occasion to make their position clear. In
14880-468: The fifth most populous. The county is named after the town of Wicklow , located approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Dublin , the capital city of Ireland. The Wicklow Mountains are Ireland's largest continuous upland area and occupy a significant portion of the county, spanning the entire centre of Wicklow and stretching into Dublin and Wexford at their southern and northern fringes. Lugnaquilla , at 925 metres (3,035 ft) above sea level,
15040-435: The firm conviction that "a general Union of all the inhabitants of Ireland is necessary to the freedom and prosperity of this kingdom". The town's Blue Company followed suit, and on 30 May 1784 both companies paraded before St Mary's Chapel , Belfast's first Catholic church, to mark its inaugural mass. With the news in 1789 of revolutionary events in France enthusiasm for constitutional reform revived. In its Declaration of
15200-560: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of
15360-430: The first societies among the tenant farmers and market-townsmen of north Down and Antrim, Jemmy Hope made conscious appeal to what he called "the republican spirit" of resistance "inherent in the principles of Presbyterian community". While presbyteries were divided politically, as they were theologically, leadership was found among church ministers and their elders, and not least from those who were foremost in championing
15520-481: The following year was greeted with similar scenes and an address to the French National Assembly hailing the soldiers of the new republic as "the advance guard of the world". It was in the midst of this enthusiasm for events in France that William Drennan proposed to his friends "a benevolent conspiracy — a plot for the people", the "Rights of Man and [employing the phrase coined by Hutcheson]
15680-421: The forms that such redress might take in a democratic national assembly. Operating on the principle that they should "attend those things in which we all agree, [and] to exclude those in which we differ", the Society did not itself tie the prospect of popular suffrage to an economic or social programme. Given the central role it was to play in the eventual development of Irish democracy, the most startling omission
15840-411: The growth of towns further south. Between 2002 and 2016 Bray grew by 5.3 percent. By contrast, over the same period Arklow grew by 32.2 percent, Greystones grew by 53.3 percent and Rathnew grew by 133.9%. The most densely populated areas of the county are concentrated in the northeast, with over 50 percent of Wicklow's residents living within 15 kilometres (9 mi) of the Dublin border. Many of
16000-402: The holy women St. Cainnear , St. Ceoltigherna, St. Fledh, St. Tartinna, St. Coine and St. Croine. The ancient monastery of Glendalough is located in the county. County Wicklow was the last of the traditional counties of Ireland to be shired in 1606 from land previously part of counties Dublin and Carlow . Established as a distinct county, it was aimed at controlling local groups such as
16160-716: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has
16320-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of
16480-425: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,
16640-526: The largest Church of Ireland affiliation of any county in the Republic of Ireland, at 6.2%, although this figure was historically much higher. The 1901 census recorded that just under 20% of Wicklow's population was affiliated with the Church of Ireland. In 2016 Greystones had the highest percentage of Protestants in the State (10.5%), and was also Ireland's least religious town, with 18.3% of residents stating they did not follow any religion. Just over 0.5% of
16800-500: The legislature, AND BY SUCH A MEASURE ONLY. In the "explosion" of handbills, pamphlets and newspapers in 1790s, a small number of tracts "directly addressed economic inequalities". Union doctrine; or Poor man's catechism (1796?) proposed he confiscating the lands of the Established Church to finance care for pregnant women and the elderly, and education for the young. As a body, however, United Irishmen did not propose
16960-400: The majority of Wicklow's forests are commercial conifers . The economic tree line in the region is around 400 metres (1,300 ft), above which hill farming and blanket bog dominates. In terms of urban development, Wicklow County Council imposes the most stringent planning restrictions in Ireland. In order to build a house outside of the main towns, a person must be "born and bred in
17120-526: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed
17280-580: The mountains, providing amenity access to the county's interior. Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and
17440-804: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to
17600-469: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them
17760-600: The new republics, for the violence of the American and French Revolutions. Denounced as a "violent republican", Martha McTier was the immediate suspect, but denied any knowledge of the society. The true author may have been her friend Jane Greg , described by informants as "very active" in Belfast "at the head of the Female Societies" (and by General Lake as being "the most violent creature possible"). Mary Ann McCracken took Drennan's test but stood aloof from
17920-518: The north is the driest location in all of Ireland as a result of the rain shadow created by the mountains. Easterly winds can occur between February and May, and are often associated with extreme snowfall events such as the 2018 " Beast from the East " and the " Big Snow of 1947 ". Much of Wicklow is very vulnerable to heavy snowfall and the county is typically the hardest hit by such events, with some areas recording over 2 feet (61 cm) of snow. During
18080-655: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as
18240-575: The only popular resolution in favour of "a reform" of the Irish Commons to include "persons of all religious persuasion" was from freeholders gathered in Wexford town. Beyond the inclusion of Catholics and a re-distribution of seats, Tone and Russell protested that it was unclear what members were pledging themselves to in Drennan's original "test": "an impartial and adequate representation of
18400-503: The open countryside outside of any designated settlements, while 9 percent (13,032 people) live in settlements with less than 1,500 people. According to the CSO report Urban and Rural Life in Ireland 2019 , Wicklow (alongside Kildare) has the highest proportion of residents living in satellite towns . The 10 largest settlements in the county are listed below. The county town is marked in bold . As of 2016, around 85% of Wicklow's population
18560-503: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish
18720-448: The passage of a Catholic Relief Act . Catholics were admitted to the franchise (but not yet to Parliament itself) on the same terms as Protestants. This courted Catholic opinion, but it also put Protestant reformers on notice. Any further liberalising of the franchise, whether by expunging the pocket boroughs or by lowering the property threshold, would advance the prospect of a Catholic majority. Outside of Ulster and Dublin City, in 1793
18880-596: The people of Ireland", and to drop the reference to the Irish Parliament (with its Lords and Commons ). This Painite radicalism had been preceded by an upsurge in trade union activity. In 1792 the Northern Star reported a "bold and daring spirit of combination" (long in evidence in Dublin) appearing in Belfast and surrounding districts. Breaking out first among cotton weavers, it then communicated to
19040-557: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After
19200-499: The population adhered to smaller Protestant denominations such as Presbyterian , Apostolic and Pentecostal . A further 1.05% of respondents stated that they were "Christian" but did not specify any denomination. Eastern Orthodox is the fastest growing of the major Christian denominations, increasing from 840 adherents in 2011 to 1,317 in 2016, a 56.7% increase. The largest non-Christian religions were Islam (0.4%) and Hinduism (0.16%). All other stated religions constituted 2.5% of
19360-523: The population were under the age of 19; 58% were between the ages of 19 and 64; and 13.0% were 65 years of age or older. Whites of any ethnic background constituted 95.2% of the population in 2016: 86.0% were White Irish, 0.6% Irish Traveller , and 8.6% White of any other background. Asians were the second largest ethnic group, comprising 1.6% of the county's population, followed by mixed race or other backgrounds at 1.2%. Just over 2,300 people (1.6%) did not state their ethnicity. Accounting for just 0.4% of
19520-571: The population, Wicklow has by far the lowest percentage of black residents in the Greater Dublin Area . The 2016 census recorded 524 black residents in Wicklow, of which 408 (78%) were of African descent and 116 (22%) were of other black backgrounds. The 2016 census recorded that 65 percent of Wicklow's residents lived in urban areas (settlements with a population greater than 1,500) and 35 percent lived in rural areas. Of Wicklow's rural population, roughly 26 percent (36,800 people) live in
19680-489: The population, and 1.8% of respondents did not state their religion. Wicklow is home to several major water supply and hydroelectric facilities. The Turlough Hill pumped-storage scheme , a significant civil engineering project, was carried out in the mountains in the 1960s and 1970s. Wicklow, often called "The Garden of Ireland", has been a popular tourist destination for many years, due to its scenery, beaches, walking, hiking and climbing options, and attractions including
19840-470: The range for 131 kilometres (81 mi). The Wicklow Mountains are centred on the Leinster batholith and are primarily composed of granite surrounded by an envelope of mica - schist and much older rocks such as quartzite . Covering 1,500 square kilometres (580 sq mi), the Leinster batholith is the most expansive mass of intrusive igneous rock in Ireland or Britain . The oldest rocks in
20000-492: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )
20160-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need
20320-398: The reservoir diminish. The lower Vartry Reservoir , constructed between 1862 and 1868, is the county's second largest lake. Wicklow has a relatively short coastline , at 64 kilometres (40 miles) in length. Wicklow's coastline is mostly straight, with few sizable bays or inlets and no offshore islands, giving it a shorter coastline than smaller counties like Louth and Dublin. Wicklow Head
20480-647: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in
20640-441: The right of women to vote". But in a plea that recalled objections to immediate Catholic emancipation, he argued for a "common sense" reading of the test of which he was the author. It might be some generations, he proposed, before "habits of thought, and the artificial ideas of education" are so "worn out" that it would appear "natural" that women should exercise the same rights as men, and so attain their "full and proper influence in
20800-558: The ruins of the monastic city of Glendalough, Wicklow Gaol and water-based activities on reservoirs and the coast. The Wicklow Way is the oldest waymarked long-distance walking trail in Ireland. The popular annual mass participation bike ride Wicklow 200 has taken place in the county every year since 1982. The local government authority is Wicklow County Council which returns 32 councillors from six local electoral areas : Arklow, Baltinglass, Bray East, Bray West, Greystones, and Wicklow. Wicklow County Council sends three members to
20960-491: The servants of Englishmen whose object is the interest of another country". Such an injury could be remedied only by "a Cordial Union among ALL THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND" and "by a complete and radical reform of the Representation of the People in Parliament". They urged their fellow countrymen to follow their example: to "form similar Societies in every quarter of the kingdom for the promotion of Constitutional knowledge,
21120-819: The soldiers were built along the route; in 1974 the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation was opened alongside the remains of Glencree barracks. Battalions of the Irish Army use firing ranges in County Wicklow for tactical exercises, especially the largest one in the Glen of Imaal which was previously used by the British Army prior to independence. During the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , local authorities immediately surrendered without
21280-403: The south, Carlow to the southwest, Kildare to the west, and South Dublin and Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown to the north. Wicklow is named after its county town of Wicklow , which derives from the name Víkingaló ( Old Norse for "Vikings' Meadow"). Wicklow County Council is the local authority for the county, which had a population of 155,258 at the 2022 census . Colloquially known as
21440-558: The teachings at Glasgow of the Ulster divine Francis Hutcheson) did, lead to acknowledgement from the pulpit of a right of collective resistance to oppressive government. In Rosemary Street's Third Church, Sinclare Kelburn preached in the uniform of an Irish Volunteer , with his musket propped against the pulpit door. Assessing security on the eve of the American War , the British Viceroy , Lord Harcourt , described
21600-475: The town commissioners of Greystones became town councils in 2002. All town councils in Ireland were abolished in 2014. The whole county is in the Dáil constituency of Wicklow (5 seats). Wicklow has a well-maintained network of regional roads which connect the county's western portion to its eastern portion, cross-cutting the Wicklow Mountains from east to west. Several north-south regional roads also traverse
21760-652: The town's leading fortunes in shipping and linen-manufacture, was a Third Church member. Despite theological differences (the First and Second Churches did not subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith , and the Third sustained an Old Light evangelical tradition), their elected, Scottish-educated, ministers inclined in their teaching toward conscience rather than doctrine. In itself, this did not imply political radicalism. But it could, and (consistent with
21920-726: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at
22080-462: The western inland portion along the Kildare border experiences warmer summers and colder winters. The county's upland interior experiences significantly lower temperatures and higher rainfall year-round. Snow typically falls from December to March, but most low-lying and coastal areas see only a few days of lying snow per year, or may see no snow at all during some winters. The Wicklow Mountains region
22240-480: The winter of 1947, residents of Rathdrum called upon the Irish Red Cross to drop them food parcels by plane as the village had been inaccessible by road for over a month due to heavy snow. Wicklow is occasionally affected by hurricanes , although they are usually extratropical storms by the time they reach Ireland. On 24 August 1986, during Hurricane Charley , 280 mm (11 in) of rain fell over
22400-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By
22560-504: The world". In Belfast Drennan's sister Martha McTier and McCracken's sister Mary-Ann , and in Dublin Emmett's sister Mary Anne Holmes and Margaret King , shared in the reading of Wollstonecraft and of other progressive women writers. As had Tone on behalf of Catholics, Wollstonecraft argued that the incapacities alleged to deny women equality were those that law and usage themselves impose. Mary Ann McCracken , in particular,
22720-500: Was "as real and ought to be as really represented" as the "fixed and solid property" that presently monopolised Parliament. In offering manhood suffrage, it made a direct appeal to these ranks, "the poorer classes of the community": Are you overloaded with burdens you are but little able to bear? Do you feel many grievances, which it would be too tedious, and might be unsafe , to mention? Believe us, they can be redressed by such reform as will give you your just proportion of influence in
22880-411: Was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within the education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to
23040-541: Was a series of local risings suppressed in advance of the landing, in August, of a small French expeditionary force. In the wake of the rebellion, the British government pressed a union with Great Britain upon the Irish Parliament and transferred its unreformed, exclusively Protestant, representation to Westminster . In 1803, a renewed republican conspiracy, organised on strictly military lines, failed to elicit
23200-495: Was a sworn association, formed in the wake of the French Revolution , to secure representative government in Ireland . Despairing of constitutional reform, and in defiance both of British Crown forces and of Irish sectarian division, in 1798 the United Irishmen instigated a republican rebellion . Their suppression was a prelude to the abolition of the Irish Parliament in Dublin and to Ireland's incorporation in
23360-414: Was also a large increase in the number of Brazilians (+107%), Italians (+59%) and Spaniards (+53%) living in Wicklow over this period. *Includes Hong Kong SAR The 2016 census showed that religious affiliation in Wicklow was as follows: Catholic 73%, Irreligion 13.3%, Other Christian 8.8%, Other stated religions 3.1%, and not stated 1.8%. The single largest religious denomination in 2016
23520-531: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from
23680-410: Was articulate in taking to heart the conclusion that women had to reject "their present abject and dependent situation" and secure the liberty without which they could "neither possess virtue or happiness". Women formed associations within the movement. In October 1796 the Northern Star published a letter from the secretary of the Society of United Irishwomen. This blamed the English, who made war on
23840-522: Was born within the Republic of Ireland, and a further 0.9% was born in Northern Ireland . Just over 38% of Wicklow's usually resident population was born within the county, making it the second least indigenous county in Ireland, after Meath. While around 35% of the county's population was born in neighbouring Dublin, it is likely that a significant portion of these are Wicklow natives who were born in one of Dublin's many hospitals. People born in
24000-480: Was defeated, but the debate reflected a growing division. The call for Catholic emancipation might find support in Belfast and surrounding Protestant-majority districts where already in 1784, admitting Catholics, Volunteers had begun to form "united companies". West of the River Bann , and across the south and west of Ireland where Protestants were a distinct minority, veterans of the Volunteer movement were not as easily persuaded. The Armagh Volunteers, who had called
24160-425: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
24320-500: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Society of United Irishmen Inactive Defunct The Society of United Irishmen
24480-403: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
24640-659: Was recalled and replaced by Ascendancy hard-liner, Earl Camden , these low-ranked clubists entered United Irish societies in still greater numbers. With the Rev. Kelburn (much admired by Tone as a fervent democrat), they doubted that there "was any such thing" as Ireland's "much boasted constitution", and had urged their "fellow-citizens of every denomination in Ireland, England, and Scotland," to pursue "radical and complete Parliamentary reform" through national conventions. In May, delegates in Belfast representing 72 societies in Down and Antrim rewrote Drennan's test to pledge members to "an equal, full and adequate representation of all
24800-466: Was reporting that "women are equally sworn with men" suggesting that some of the women assuming risks for the United Irish cause were taking places beside men in an increasingly clandestine organisation. Middle-class women, such as Mary Moore, who administered the Drennan's test to William James MacNeven , were reportedly active in the Dublin United Irishmen. On the role in the movement of peasant and other working women there are fewer sources. But in
24960-527: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in
25120-435: Was the Roman Catholic Church, with 103,947 adherents. This is a 4.4% decrease from the 2011 census. Catholicism in Wicklow reached its peak percentage in the 1961 census, when 87.5% of the population identified as Catholic. As of 2016, Wicklow is the second least Catholic county in the State, and among the most irreligious. Other Christian denominations comprised 8.8% of the population. As a proportion of population, Wicklow has
25280-454: Was the absence, beyond the disclaimer of wholesale Catholic restitution, of any scheme or principle of land reform . Jemmy Hope might be clear that this should not be "a delusive fixity of tenure [that allows] the landlord to continue to draw the last potato out of the warm ashes of the poor man's fire". But for the great rural mass of the Irish people this was an existential question upon which neither he nor any central resolution spoke for
25440-493: Was to be excluded from consideration. The new democratic programme was consistent with the transformation of the society into a broad popular movement. Thomas Addis Emmet recorded an influx of "mechanics [artisans, journeymen and their apprentices], petty shopkeepers and farmers". In Belfast, Derry , other towns in the North, and in Dublin, some of these had been maintaining their own Jacobin Clubs. Writing to her brother, William Drennan, in 1795 Martha McTier describes
25600-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,
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