Newtownmountkennedy: History, Forest and Good Food

Local history, woodland and Irish flavours

Newtownmountkennedy offers a variety of ways to spend your stay: local history, trails through woodland landscapes and culinary experiences. If you’re looking for a holiday rental in Newtownmountkennedy, consider which of these aspects you’d like to shape your travel plans. Historic places and stories sit alongside opportunities to cook and enjoy tastings, as well as natural attractions such as Mount Kennedy Wood.

A place steeped in history

The Battle of Newtownmountkennedy took place on 30 May 1798. It was an early and significant engagement in the United Irishmen’s nationwide rebellion. The date and connection to the rebellion give the town a distinct place in Irish history. If you’re particularly interested in the past, you can take this part of the town’s identity into account when planning your trip.

St. Matthew’s Church of Ireland stands on a hill near the northern entrance to Newtownmountkennedy. The church was consecrated in 1895 and served as a chapel for Newcastle. Among its notable historical objects is a wooden communion table traditionally known as “Ridley’s Altar”. It probably dates from the 16th century. William Sewells, one of the founders of St. Colomba’s College, brought the altar to Ireland; it was later acquired by a rector of Newtownmountkennedy. It is considered a unique historical artefact of national importance.

Cooking and tastings

Newtownmountkennedy also offers some distinctive culinary discoveries. The Firehouse Cookery School runs hands-on cooking classes at its bakery in Newtownmountkennedy, Wicklow. This is a dedicated option for travellers who’d like to spend some of their holiday cooking. Móinéir by Wicklow Way Wines offers guided tastings of Irish strawberry, blackberry and raspberry wines, accompanied by Irish cheese and chocolate. This pairing of fruit wines with local accompaniments is quite different from a cooking class and offers another culinary highlight to consider when choosing where to stay.

Trails and woodland landscapes

There are several different options for getting active and enjoying nature. The “Mountains to the Sea” recreational route passes through Newtownmountkennedy. The Mount Kennedy Wood Loop is a trail managed by Coillte that runs through a narrow valley home to more than 17 tree species. The Heritage Walk has a different focus: it connects local history with the natural surroundings and passes through landscaped woodlands and along old boundary walls of the former estate. If you’d like to include walks in your trip, you can choose between a forest trail with a diverse range of trees and a loop that brings history and landscape together.

Mount Kennedy Wood is also part of an official partnership between Coillte and the local community to create a wildlife corridor. The wood is home to a pedunculate oak with a trunk circumference of 6.2 metres, estimated to be more than 200 years old. These details also make the wood interesting from the perspective of natural and landscape history. Carriggower Bog lies 4 km from Newtownmountkennedy town centre and is protected as a Special Area of Conservation.

What suits your trip

These different themes can help guide your choice of accommodation: if you’d like to focus your stay on local history, the 1798 battle and the church with its historic altar take centre stage. Cooking classes and guided fruit wine tastings offer culinary highlights, while trails, woodland landscapes and the wildlife corridor lend themselves to a nature-focused itinerary. Newtownmountkennedy & District Tidy Towns worked on creating the Newtownmountkennedy Map & Heritage Guide from 2018 to 2020. This adds a local connection to the town’s history through the creation of a map and heritage guide.

If you’d like to discover more places: Avoca, Ashford, Aughrim, Blessington, Rathnew, Greystones, Bray and An Láithreach.

For the broader travel overview: County Wicklow.