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| GLENMALURE, CO. WICKLOW. -In the stormy days of fierce Queen Bess, and long anterior to her reign, Glenmalure, said to mean, but on somewhat doubtful authority, "Glen of Rich Ores," was part of the patrimony and the chosen residence of the brave Clan O'Byrne, whose chief, Fiach McHugh, infllicted a terrible defeat on the English in the neighboring valley of Glendalough, A. D. 1580. It is the finest of all the Wicklow glens and above it towers the grandest peak in the splendid region, Lugnaquilla, which attains an altitude of 3,309 feet and is the highest mountain in the "shire." From its summit, in clear weather, most parts of the counties of Wexford, Kilkenny, Kildare, Carlow, Meath, Westmeath and Tipperary can be seen. In 1798, this glen was the chosen fortress of Michael Dwyer, the insurgent "outlaw," who was a kind of Irish "Rob Roy," minus the cow-stealing propensities of that famous Scot. Dwyer was really a man of great military talent, and held his own in the Wicklow hills from the "year of the rebellion," until after Emmet's "rising" failure and death, in 1803-five years long. In the end, he compelled the government to make terms with him, and he went into exile "beyond the seas." His adventures were romantically heroic, but cannot be dwelt on here. It was his resistance that compelled the English to build the military road that runs through the glen along the Avonbeg's winding course. The old barracks at Drumgoff were built to hold him in check, but even the active Scotch Highlanders, employed to hunt him down, were no match for this glorious peasant-soldier. |
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