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County Wicklow, in all its picturesque beauty, is known as The Garden of Ireland. It offers a scenic coastline, soaring mountains and peaceful forests. Its pristine beaches are popular for swimming and relaxing, and also contain hidden and isolated areas that are perfect for exploration.
Rich in ancient religious and more recent military history, County Wicklow, which is located just south of Dublin, was established in 1606 — the last county to be founded. Annual festivals are popular with the large numbers of visitors who pass through each year.

Highlights

The seaside resort of Bray is famous for its Victorian promenade and scenic views, as well as indoor marine attracts that will delight the entire family.
Nearby Blue Flag beaches along Brittas Bay are popular destinations for day trips from Dublin, and unique dunes that support a wide variety of coastal wildlife adorn them.
For those who enjoy the wilder, more untamed areas of the Irish coastline, Kilmichael Point is an interesting area, offering rocky pools inhabited by small sea creatures, and opportunities for fishing and snorkeling as opposed to peaceful bathing.
For an elegant change of pace, visitors enjoy the refined scenery at Powerscourt Gardens and Waterfall, a formally designed horticultural attraction that includes Japanese gardens, groves of exotic trees and Victorian flowerbeds—all surrounding the elegant eighteenth century manor house. Nearby Powerscourt waterfall is the highest in the British Isles, and the perfect place to spend the day relaxing and rejuvenating.

History

The name of County Wicklow (and the town as well) is taken from the Irish ‘Cill Mhantain’ –or ‘Church of the Toothless One”. It was established by the Vikings some time in the latter half of the ninth century.
The story behind the name comes from an Irish folktale about Saint Patrick, in which he and his comrades, traveling by sea, tried to land at Wicklow and were assaulted by a group of local citizens. One of the group lost his front teeth in the skirmish, giving rise to the name of the locality.
Bronze Age settlements can be found in the area and serve as evidence of early human occupation.
The Normans, whose influence is still widely evident across the region, occupied County Wicklow extensively.
Common surnames in County Wicklow include: Kelly, Mc Keough, O’Byrne and O’Toole.