Woodenbridge An Droichead Adhmaid | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 The R747 over theAughrim River, the former "Woodenbridge" | |
  Woodenbridge Location in Ireland | |
| Coordinates:52°50′05″N6°14′40″W / 52.834771°N 6.244445°W /52.834771; -6.244445 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | County Wicklow |
| Elevation | 25 m (82 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-1 (IST (WEST)) |
Woodenbridge (Irish:an Droichead Adhmaid)[1] is a small village inCounty Wicklow,Ireland. It lies betweenArklow andAvoca, at the meeting of theAvoca,Aughrim andGoldmine rivers. The village is located at the junction of theR747 andR752 roads. The R747 crosses theAughrim on the stone bridge which is still called "Wooden Bridge".
The village was historically calledGarrynagowlan, Garragowlan andGarnagowlan (fromIrishGarrán an Ghabhláin, meaning 'grove of the little forks') after thetownland it occupies.[1][2]
Woodenbridge Golf Course is located here,[3] as are two hotels. The entire golf course was flooded to a depth of several feet duringHurricane Charley in August 1986, which also destroyed a number of bridges over theRiver Avoca and its tributaries.
The Woodenbridge Hotel & Lodge was established in 1608.[4] Future Taoiseach and PresidentÉamon de Valera andSinéad de Valera stayed at the hotel on their honeymoon in 1910.[5] The restaurant at the hotel is named the Goldmines Bistro after the Goldmines River andWicklow gold rush of 1795.[6]
The remains of an abandoned railway station on the mainline railway betweenDublin andRosslare Harbour can be seen beside the golf course. Woodenbridge railway station opened on 22 May 1865 and finally closed on 30 March 1964.[7]Bus Éireann route 133 serves Woodenbridge four times a day on weekdays and twice on Sundays linking it toArklow,Avoca,Rathdrum,Wicklow and Dublin.[8]
At Woodenbridge on 24 September 1914,John Redmond, the leader of theIrish Parliamentary Party,addressed a muster of theIrish Volunteers, exhorting them to join theBritish Army. This precipitated a split between the majority "National Volunteers" who supported Redmond and of whom many enlisted, and the rump "Irish Volunteers", influenced by theIrish Republican Brotherhood, which led theEaster Rising and evolved into theIrish Republican Army.[9]
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