West Wicklow Historical Society

11/04/2026

The WWHS AGM was held on Friday, April 10 in the Lalor Centre. A quorum of 12 members were present allowing the meeting to certify a new Constitution that had been drafted by committee members.

Officers elected were: Paul Gorry as Chairperson, John Glennon as Vice Chairman, Cora Crampton as Secretary, Fergal Hennigan as Treasurer and Orla O'Sullivan as PRO. The Chairman thanked Chris Lawlor for his work as Treasurer for the last number of years and gave special mention to the work of Cora Crampton as Secretary. He also congratulated Fergal Hennigan on his Colm Lennon award from Maynooth University and Chris on his recent book 'The Little History of Wicklow' (available to buy in Veronica's Card and Gift Shop).
The Secretary's report outlined the 16 events held by the Society during the year, also noted was the development of a shop on the website, the publication of the 13th Journal and the increase in membership.
The Society looks forward to the next event this month (watch this space) and an exciting summer programme.
To become a member of the society to be informed of up and coming events log on to https://westwicklowhistoricalsociety.ie. €20 for single membership, €10 for a student, and €30 for a family.

11/04/2026

WWHS was delighted to facilitate a presentation on March 27 by Dr Dirk Brandherm from Queen's University, Belfast on his recent research on Brusselstown Hill. The event was a collaboration with Wicklow Uplands Council with funding from Wicklow County Council.

This talk was a follow up to a fascinating field trip by members up to Brusselstown Ring the weekend before, with archaeologist Robert Hanbidge pointing out areas of significance along the way.

Attendees at the talk heard about the excavation of 4 test trenches on the Brusselstown enclosure dating internal occupation to the late bronze age (1210-780BC) with continued occupation into the Iron Age (750-400BC). Aerial surveys have identified 98 potential roundhouses within the inner enclosure with possibly a further 509 potential houses between the inner and outer enclosing elements making it the largest nucleated settlement in pre-historic Ireland and Britain. The significance of this discovery could challenge the theory that the Vikings built the first towns in Ireland.

Many thanks to Dr. Dirk Brandherm for his time and effort to present in Baltinglass and to Wicklow County Council for funding it and of course to Wicklow Uplands Council for arranging the event in partnership with WWHS, and for providing refreshments on the night.

19/03/2026

Ordnance Survey Name Books of County Wicklow — Online!
Discover the stories behind Wicklow’s townlands and place names with the digitised Ordnance Survey Name Books. Compiled during the first Ordnance Survey in the 1830s, these records capture original Irish place names, spelling variants and detailed descriptions of the local landscape and landmarks.

A fantastic resource for local history, genealogy and research available to explore online through Wicklow Local Studies Library.

👉 Explore here:
https://heritage.wicklowheritage.org/new-contributions/ordnance-survey-name-books-of-county-wicklow-now-digitised

08/03/2026

Extraordinary work being done by the Virtual Treasury

22/02/2026

A power cut in Dunlavin did not stop the launch of Chris Lawlor's 'The Little Book of Wicklow' in The Fox pub last week.

Ok, so there was no hot food but the atmosphere was delightful as the staff scrambled for candles to keep the show on the road.

Joan Kavanagh, author of 'Van Diemen´s Women: A History of Transportation to Tasmania' launched the book and praised Chris as a Champion of Wicklow History, impressed that he managed to get 500 years of Wicklow history into 50,000 words of the book, with 21 pages of references showing the extent of Chris's research.

Chairman of WWHS, Paul Gorry, Genealogist acted as MC on the night referring to Chris's impressive repertoire of books to date.

The book is available to buy at all good book shops in both hardback and paperback.

Congratulations to our Treasurer for another successful launch of a book.

12/02/2026

Looking forward to the launch of Chris Lawlor book this evening in the Fox in the Bunditch in Dunlavin at 8pm. Books on sale from 7pm.

07/02/2026

Members will remember the excellent lecture last autumn on Wicklow census returns by Dr. Brian Gurrin of the Virtual Record Treasury. Evidently he has made great progress with uncovering early census fragments recently.

Virtual Treasury
Our Wicklow Heritage
Kildare County Archives & Local Studies
Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society
Federation of Local History Societies

01/02/2026

BOOK LAUNCH.

The West Wicklow Historical Society is delighted to support the launch of Chris Lawlor's new book THE LITTLE HISTORY OF WICKLOW in The Fox Dunlavin on Thursday 12th February. Books will be on sale at €18 each. ALL WELCOME ON THE NIGHT.

08/01/2026

Brusselstown is getting a lot of attention in recent days following the publication in Antiquity (Nov 2025) on new findings. These identify primary habitation on the hill in the Late Bronze Age and likely reuse of the location in the Early Iron Age.

The hillfort of Brusselstown Ring, Co. Wicklow 🇮🇪 annotated with the locations of new test trenches
Excavation and aerial survey suggest the presence of hundreds of roundhouses, indicating a huge prehistoric settlement at the site.

Learn more 🆓 via the link in our comment 👇

30/12/2025

Chris Lawlor's latest ...

This is the full of the county of Wicklow, covering pre-Christian sites all the way up to modern times, condensed into one easy-to-read volume.

'The Little History of Wicklow' by Chris Lawlor is out this . Pre-order here📗: https://buff.ly/nOXlP7x

19/12/2025

A very successful end of year event for the WWHS. John Hughes's documentary on the heritage of Baltinglass Hill and its Holy Year Cross (erected in December 1950) was warmly received by an audience of nearly 100 people. We were very pleased to host the event. Thanks to the Lalor Centre for making the venue available.