Blessington Heritage Trail is reproduced with kind permission from Blessington Historical Society.


Photographs by Fr Kevin Lyon unless otherwise stated.

 


Blessington, a pleasant tree-lined estate town, complete with square and built by its landlords, the Boyles and the Hills. Blessington's founder was Michael Boyle, Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, who in 1667 acquired an estate of 17,000 acres and was given a charter to establish the town. The estate was inherited in 1778 by Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough, later the first Marquis of Downshire. The new town centre is situated in Boyle's original demesne and is the first major change to the layout of Blessington in 200 years.


Click a location on the map or scroll down the page


1. Site of Blessington House


Archbishop Boyle’s mansion, which a contemporary source described as one of the finest in the country. The house, built in 1673, was surrounded by a demesne, deerpark and formal gardens which included grand avenues and ponds and canals. The house was burnt during the rebellion of 1798 and never rebuilt. A heritage park is planned for the site of the original garden.


 


A lithograph of Blessington House c. 1675

2. Gate Piers



One pair links the new square to the old and the other is at the entrance to the County Council Offices (as seen in the photograph right). Both were originally at entrances to Blessington House; the first pair on the avenue which linked the mansion to St Mary's Church, the second more ornate pair at the original main avenue, which was located at the northern end of the town.
Site of Blessington House Gate Piers Gate Piers The Ulster Bank Four-Stone Tree Credit Union House Downshire Monument Tram Marker Toll House Church of Our Lady St Mary's Church of Ireland Downshire Agent's House Horseshoe Arch St Mark's Cross The Parish Schoolhouse. Ivy Terrace. St. Patrick's Well.
3. Ulster Bank

 



The Ulster Bank was built around 1830 and used in the nineteenth century as an inn.

4. Four-Stone Tree

 

 



The Four-Stone Tree is an old Blessington landmark recently refurbished comprising a lime tree surrounded by four round granite stones which originally were at the entrance to St Mary's Church.

5. Credit Union House




The Credit Union House was built as a market house and courthouse at the end of the 1830s by the third Marquis of Downshire. Stones from the ruin of Blessington House were used in the foundations.
6. Downshire Monument







The Downshire Monument commemorates the coming of age in 1865 of Arthur Hill the Downshire heir at the time. On the death of his father in 1868, Arthur inherited the family estates and became the fifth Marquis of Downshire. He died six years later aged 29.
7. Tram Marker






The Tram Marker for the steam tram which began operating in 1888 between Blessington and Terenure. Seven years later the tram was extended to Poulaphouca where the waterfall was a popular scenic spot and attracted many visitors. On one side of the marker are the letters DB [Dublin to Blessington] and on the other BP [Blessington to Poulaphouca]. The tram continued to operate until 1932.
8. Toll House

The Toll House is a well-preserved late Georgian building dating from around 1810. One of the main roads from Dublin to the south-east, the - present N81 was significantly improved under the third Marquis of Downshire. Toll houses were an integral part of road networks at
the time.

9. Church of Our Lady







The Church of Our Lady was built in 1981 to replace a smaller Roman Catholic Church which is now part of the adjoining primary school. The church contains paintings and stained glass by local artist, Turlough O'Donnell.
Photograph by Peterography
10. St Mary’s Church of Ireland

St Mary's is the only existing building associated with Archbishop Boyle and has been in regular use since it was dedicated in 1683. The building was enlarged in the 19th century with the addition of side aisles. The 17th century church tower contains the original bells, which bear Archbishop Boyle's coat of arms and the date 1682, as well as what is believed to be the oldest working turret clock in Ireland. The adjoining churchyard is the burial place of the nineteenth century diarist, Elizabeth Smith who lived in Baltiboys House, four kilometres from Blessington. Sir Alfred and Lady Beit of nearby Russborough, are also buried in the churchyard. 		 

11. Downshire Agent’s House



The Downshire Agent's House was built around 1820. Most landlords employed agents , to collect rents and to look after their affairs at local level. From this house, the Blessington agent sent continuous reports about the tenants to the headquarters of the Downshire estates in Ireland, situated in Hillsborough, Co Down.
12. Horseshoe Arch






The Horseshoe Arch dates from 1852 marked the entrance to a blacksmith's forge. In a pre-industrial era, the forge was an essential component of every community in Ireland. The granite archway is one of many examples of the work of local stonecutters found in lintels and door surrounds in the town.
13. St Mark’s Cross






St Mark's Cross is in Burgage cemetery, a granite high cross originally situated in an early Christian settlement at Burgage More outside the town and relocated to its present site when the reservoir was created.
14. Parish Schoolhouse

 

The Parish Schoolhouse is now The Grange Con cafe. Originally built around 1820 by the third Marquis of Downshire as a girl's school. A boy's school originally established by Penelope Dunbar, the wife of the owner of the estate in the 1770s, was situated in an adjoining building fronting the main street.

15. Ivy Terrace

 

 


Ivy terrace was built by the Downshires around 1820.

16. St Patrick’s Well

 

 


St. Patrick's Well was a water supply for the town in the 19th century. The surrounding area, known as Millbank, has an abandoned roadway, which originally led to a corn mill and Blessington Bridge over the Liffey, both of which were submerged when the Poulaphouca Reservoir was created.


Blessington, situated on the northern end of Poulaphouca reservoir, is the gateway to the mountains and valleys of west Wicklow and the upper reaches of the Liffey, Kings and Slaney rivers. The reservoir, also known as Blessington Lake, was created at the end of the 1930’s as a water supply for Dublin and to generate electricity. It greatly enhances the natural beauty and leisure amenities of the area. Two other natural resources associated with the area, granite quarrying and sand deposits, have long provided material for the construction industry.