Rathdangan

Evidence of habitation is shown by a Bronze Age burial cist, a fort dating from at least the eight-century and a Norman moat at Killamoat. A 1668 survey records 18 houses in the village. Due to its mountainous elevation, in the severe winters of 1947, 1963 and 1982, Rathdangan was isolated for weeks. In 1985 the town was caught up in the moving statues phenomena gripping Ireland when people claimed to see the Rathdangan Marian Year Virgin Mary statue move.{{cite book |last=Nugent |first=Brian |title=Marian Apparitions in Ireland: and related phenomena |publisher=Lulu.com |date=1 January 2015 |location=Morrisville, North Carolina |pages=500–502 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iSBxCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA501 |isbn=978-1326139926 }}

In Liam Price's extensive survey of place names of County Wicklow he recorded that in the Down Survey, dated 1655-9, the name is first noted as Radangin, but the 1660 the Books of Survey and Distribution now uses the spelling Radanginge. A few years later, in 1668, Rathdangin is stated in the Hearth Money Roll of County Wicklow, followed by Radangin in the 1685 Hiberniæ Delineatio. Finally the current village name is shown in A.R. Neville's Map of County Wicklow from circa 1810.{{cite book |last1=Price |first1=Liam |author-link=Liam Price |title=The Place-names of Co. Wicklow: The Barony of Ballinacor South, Volume 3 |date=1949 |publisher=Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies |location=Dublin |isbn=0901282359 |page=113 }}

Rathdangan is at an elevation of 207m.{{cite web |title=Elevation of Rathdangan, Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow, Ireland |publisher=Worldwide Elevation Map Finder |date=2020 |url=https://elevation.maplogs.com/poi/1_pinnacle_view_rathdangan_kiltegan_co_wicklow_ireland.71806.html |access-date=6 December 2020 }} and is located on the road from Aughrim to Baltinglass joining the east and west of County Wicklow. To the north-east the terrain rises up to the summit of Lugnaquilla, the highest mountain in Leinster{{cite web |url=https://mountainviews.ie/lists/arderin/ |title=Arderins: Irish mountains of 500+m with a prominence of 30m |publisher=MountainViews Online Database |author=Simon Stewart |date=October 2018 |access-date=17 October 2021|archive-date=3 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003141646/https://mountainviews.ie/lists/arderin/|url-status=live}} while Keadeen Mountain at {{convert|653|m|ft}} lies to the north.{{cite web|url=http://mountainviews.ie/summit/186/|title=Keadeen Mountain|publisher=MountainViews Online Database|access-date=9 April 2022}} The village has experienced severe weather with heavy snowfall, cutting off the village for days, during the winters of 1947, 1963 and 1982.

Rathdangan once had two pubs, two shops and a post office. One pub remained known by locals as Junior's but closed during Covid-19 and was put up for sale in July 2022;{{cite news |last=Mac Raghnaill |first=Eoin |title=End of an era as Junior's Bar in Rathdangan goes on the market |work=Wicklow |publisher=Irish Independent |date=24 August 2022 |url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/west-wicklow-news/end-of-an-era-as-juniors-bar-in-rathdangan-goes-on-the-market/41929523.html |access-date=18 June 2023 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/juniorsbar.rathdangan |title=Junior's Bar Rathdangan |website=www.facebook.com |access-date=17 December 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230809140459/https://www.facebook.com/juniorsbar.rathdangan |archive-date=9 August 2023 }} the name over the door is Byrne's, per the family name. This pub, built in the early 1800s, was the first building in Rathdangan and one of three pubs in the village. A community shop operates most mornings, in the parish hall "The Village Pantry". An amenity park and playground was opened in July 2018.{{cite news |title=Excitement as new Rathdangan play park opened |publisher=Wicklow People |date=21 July 2018 |url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wicklowpeople/localnotes/excitement-as-new-rathdangan-play-park-opened-37129131.html |access-date=8 December 2020 }}

A holy well, Tober Owen, or St. John's Well, is a short distance from the village on the left side of the road leading to the Glen of Imaal. A festival used to take place on the saint's day, June 24. An ancient tree used to grow over the well and a man called Moore was eventually hanged on the tree, having been on the run for quite some time, for murdering Hume of Humewood who hunted rebels of the 1798 rebellion. The tale goes that nothing grew upon the limb on which Moore was hanged and when the tree was blown down in a storm, it was used as firewood by some locals but those pieces of the branch used to hang Moore exploded and scattered all around the place.{{Cite journal |last=O'Toole |first=Edward |title=The Holy Wells of County Carlow |journal=Béaloideas |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=122–124 |publisher=An Cumann Le Béaloideas Éireann/Folklore of Ireland Society |location=Dublin |date=1933 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20521779 |issn=0332-270X |jstor=20521779= |access-date=5 December 2020 }} A memorial to Moore was erected beside the well.{{cite web |title=Points of Interest in Rathdangan |publisher=Wicklow Uplands Council |date=2020 |url=https://wicklowuplands.ie/rathdangan/#1501766111983-e7957bb4-2355 |access-date=6 December 2020 }}

File:Rathdangan PO.jpg

The local church at Killamote, about 1 km the village, is Saint Mary's Catholic Church, built in a classical style in 1847 and renovated in 1968. The tall windows, mainly of stained glass have semi-circular heads and two of them are by the stained-glass artist Harry Clarke. They depict the Crucifixion (1920), and the Nativity (1925).{{cite web |title=Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Killamoat Lower, Rathdangan, County Wicklow |work=National Inventory of Architectural Heritage |publisher=Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage |date=12 August 2003 |url=https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/16402803/saint-marys-catholic-church-killamoat-lower-rathdangan-county-wicklow |access-date=26 November 2020 }}

In 1889 a question were asked in the House of Commons on the possibility of opening a post office but, while it had been considered, it was refused by the Postmaster General on the grounds there was insufficient mail to warrant the cost.{{Cite journal |title=Post Office at Rathdangan |journal=Hansard's Parliamentary Debates |volume=340 |issue=8 |pages=239–240 |publisher=The Hansard Parliamentary Union |location=London |date=1889 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gje7_273QpYC&pg=PA239 |access-date=15 November 2023 }} Six years later, in 1895, the post office had been opened{{cite book |last=Frank |first= Harald |author2=Stange, Klaus |title=Irish Post Offices and their postmarks 1600-1990 |publisher=Forchumgs- und Arbeitsgemeinschaft Irland e.V. |date=1990-09-29 |location=Munich |pages=298 |url=http://fai-germany.de/engl/literatur_schriften.html }} and closed in mid-2007.{{cite news |last=Buchanan |first=Myles |title=Tearoom brings community together |publisher=Bray People |date=28 April 2015 |url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/braypeople/news/tearoom-brings-community-together-31179324.html |access-date=26 November 2020 }}

Until the 1950s, the large flat circular stone, inside the bridge wall, was used to install iron bands on wooden cart wheels.

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{{reflist|2}}

• [https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5044724/5034677 dúchas.ie 1938 Schools report about St. John Well]
• [https://heritage.wicklowheritage.org/places/co_wicklows_pure_miles/rathdangan_-_pure_mile PURE Mile 2011] Heritage updates related to Rathdangan
• [https://archive.org/details/michaeldwyerorin00camp/page/30/mode/2up The Murder of Mr Hume of Humewood] (details of Moore hanging pg 30–38)
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAP6veP7HFQ A Village with Vision] YouTube video
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVTez07tCfc] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVTez07tCfc] Historical Videos - YouTube video

{{County Wicklow}}

Category:Towns and villages in County Wicklow