Annamoe means ‘ford of the cows’ – Áth na mBó – after the river crossing the village grew up around. That crossing is now a single-arched stone humpback bridge over the Avonmore, built in 1746; Hurricane Charlie put it under water in August 1986 and it was repaired afterwards. For most of the traffic on the R755 between Roundwood and Laragh, the bridge is the whole reason to slow down.
The village sits about 32 km south of Dublin, a few minutes short of Glendalough beyond Laragh. One thing to sort before you build a day around it: Annamoe has no pub, no shop and no post office. Buy the sandwiches and fill the tank first.
The trout fishery
If you have a couple of hours and children in the car, this is the thing to do in Annamoe. The Annamoe Trout Fishery works a four-acre lake stocked with brown and rainbow trout, and takes both fly and bait anglers. A separate shallow children’s pond is what makes it a proper family outing rather than a serious angler’s morning, small hands can land a stocked trout without a long wait. It is listed as open from 10am, but the hours shift with the season, so ring ahead on 0404 45470 before you drive out.
Woodpeckers
The woods around Annamoe are one of the best places in Ireland to find the great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), the country’s newest breeding bird. It crossed from Britain and colonised Wicklow within the last couple of decades, and the Annamoe area is now a breeding stronghold. Come early. You are far more likely to hear the drumming carry through the bare oak and ash than to catch sight of the black-and-white bird itself.
Castle Kevin
Close to the village lie the earthworks of Castle Kevin, an Anglo-Norman motte-and-bailey that once formed part of Dublin’s medieval defences against the O’Toole clan. On the ground it is grassed-over banks and ditches rather than standing walls, but a community conservation project has surveyed it with LiDAR and geophysical scanning, mapping a layout the eye cannot read for itself.
The boy who went through the waterwheel
In 1720 a seven-year-old fell into a millrace at Annamoe and was carried clean through the turning waterwheel, and climbed out unharmed. The boy was Laurence Sterne, who grew up to write Tristram Shandy and set the escape down in his memoirs as a wonder the neighbourhood talked about for years.
Notable residents
For its size, Annamoe has drawn a striking roll-call of residents: playwright J.M. Synge, the Chieftains’ piper Paddy Moloney, film director John Boorman, actor Daniel Day-Lewis, U2’s manager Paul McGuinness, film-maker Rebecca Miller and the writer and broadcaster Paolo Tullio. Erskine Childers is buried nearby at Derrylossery.
Getting there and around
By car it is roughly 45 minutes from Dublin on the M50 and R755. Public transport is thin: the nearest buses run from Roundwood and Laragh rather than the village itself. There is free parking by the bridge and beside the fishery, but the handful of spaces fill on fine summer weekends, so come early.
Nearby
- Glendalough – south beyond Laragh, the monastic city with its round tower, cathedral ruins and two glacial lakes.
- Powerscourt – about 20 minutes north at Enniskerry, for the terraced gardens and Ireland’s tallest waterfall.
