Glendalough Royalty-Free Stock Image

Glendalough or Glendaloch glen of two lakes is a glacial valley in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is renowned for its Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, a hermit priest, and partly destroyed in 1398 by English troops. The valley was formed during the last ice age by a glacier which left a moraine across the valley mouth. The Poulanass river, which plunges into the valley from the south, created a delta, which eventually divided the original lake in two. Glendalough is a good place to look for some of Ireland's newest breeding species, such as the Goosander and Great Spotted Woodpecker, and some of the rarest, such as the Redstart and Wood Warbler; Peregrine, Dipper, Cuckoo, Jay and Buzzard can also be seen. There are many walking trails of varying difficulty around Glendalough. Within the valley itself there are nine colour-coded walking trails. Glendalough's granite cliffs, situated on the hillside above the north-western end of the valley, have been a popular rock-climbing location since the first climbs were established in 1948.