Going behind the scenery to visit Wicklow’s famous film locations
From the famous Excalibur sword being pulled from a rock at Childers Wood, near Roundwood, to Lindsey Lohan and Ed Speeler enjoying a romantic spin in an open-top sports car above the famous Bray to Greystones Cliff Walk, the Garden County has lured some of the world’s most famous directors to its green fields, mountains, lakes and villages.
Dubbed ‘Europe’s Hollywood’ by Jane Seymour, the county’s locations have also doubled as international locations for Scandinavian settlements, as in Vikings and Vikings: Valhalla, as well as gothic Victorian streets in Penny Dreadful, which was shot in Bray.
But it’s not just about the landscape, as Wicklow is home to world-class film studios offering a wide range of pre- and post-production services., including Ardmore Studios and Ashford Studios, local crew with worldwide recognition and experience and, of course, there are the tax breaks.
While there are some established film trails that visitors can follow and sites that are worth a day out, many locations are more remote and bear little resemblance to what you may have seen on screen. And on that note, let’s start with one of the most the zaniest films of them all shot in Wicklow . . .
Cocaine Bear, The Avoca Mines, Avoca
Based on the ‘ true’ story of a black bear that consumed a large amount of cocaine dropped from a drug smuggler’s airplane in rural Georgia, US, in the 1980s, Wicklow’s Powerscourt Waterfall and Avoca Mines were chosen as locations to represent the Georgian wilderness for the film which starred Ray Liotta and Keri Russell.
While Powerscourt Waterfall is easily accessible, Avoca Mines has been officially closed since 1982 and Wicklow Tourism warns the site itself should not be accessed by the public. For a drive-by, and to give a flavour of the scenery, it is still worth a trip if you are hardcore fan of the movie. The mines were also used for gritty scenes in Vikings.
Irish Wish, Lough Tay and Kilruddery House
One of Ireland’s hidden gems, Lough Tay, which is situated on the Luggala Estate in the Wicklow Mountains, proved to be the perfect spot to capture Ireland’s natural beauty on camera for the rom-com, Irish Wish. The best viewing point to see this marvellous lake is along the Military Road, at the junction with the Wicklow Way. The actual ‘wishing chair’, which is crucial to the movie’s plot, is located near Lough Tay but is on private lands, so that’s sadly off-limits.
The locations that are open to the public are both the Kennedy family’s mansion, Killruddery House, in Bray, and Powerscourt Estate, where some of the driving sequences tied to the Kennedy family were actually shot.
Killruddery House has also been the location for several big movies in the past, including My Left Foot, Far and Away, Excalibur, The Tudors, Angela’s Ashes and Camelot.
And ever since Laurence Olivier started the trend of Wicklow shoots by filming Henry V on the estate in 1944, over 25 different movies and TV series have been filmed or partially filmed at Powerscourt, including Black Beauty, Barry Lyndon, The Count of Monte Cristo, Ella Enchanted and King Arthur.
Disenchanted, Enniskerry
While the movie pretty much tanked, the village of Enniskerry was firmly placed on the map when it was transformed into a Disney wonderland for the shoot. Thousands of visitors flocked to the village as filming got under way over the spring of 2021, hoping to catch a glimpse of Hollywood stars Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey, but mostly what they got was caught in traffic and chaos. While the film crew and crowds have moved on, the magic of the village is still there and is well worth the trip. Braveheart Drive, Hollywood
Be warned that the Wicklow ‘ film drives’ are, let’s say, as much of a concept than an actual route, so do keep your eyes peeled for the signposts, which have been in place since the trails were launched in 2002 and may have been nudged off course by the Wicklow winds.
A fitting start to the The Braveheart Drive is the village of Hollywood, as the route winds around Blessington Lakes, linking Ballyknockan and Lacken, where you can see the location for Mia Farrow’s residence in the movie ‘Widow’s Peak’, and Manor Kilbride, from where it heads over the Sally Gap where many scenes from Braveheart were shot.
The trail then goes into into Laragh and finishes in Glendalough. The 80km Braveheart Drive is a long day out, but does take in the sheer drama of the Wicklow Gap and wild Sally Gap, where many of the spectacular fighting and panoramic scenes from this Oscar-winning film were shot.
Excalibur Drive, Roundwood
The Excalibur Drive starts in Roundwood and takes in Lough Tay, the backdrop of Excalibur and heads into the west before arriving Powerscourt Estate. It then takes you into Bray, where Ardmore Studios has played host to classics like The Snapper, My Left Foot and Ella Enchanted, and more recently Penny Dreadful and Irish Wish. The drive then takes you into Greystones, where part of Hallow Road, starring Rosamund Pike were shot; Kilcoole of Glenroe fame, before looping back through Newtownmountkennedy to Roundwood.
Michael Collins Drive, Wicklow town
The Michael Collins Drive visits locations used in Neil Jordan’s historical movie starring Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts and begins in in Wicklow town. Some of the court scenes for the Pierce Brosnan film Evelyn were filmed in Wicklow Courthouse and from there the route heads out to Rathdrum, where Liam Neeson, as Michael Collins, addressed a large crowd in the square. The love scenes with Julia Roberts were shot upstairs in The Woolpack pub, while moving on, Hollywood Glen was used for the location of the ambush and assassination of Michael Collins. The trail also goes to to Avoca, former home of Ballykissangel and on to Arklow, where some scenes for Angela’s Ashes were shot, before going into Redcross and past Brittas Bay, immortalised as the island of Elba in The Count of Monte Cristo.