Hollywood, Ireland!

There’s no need to spend money and time flying to California to enjoy a Hollywood. There is one right here in Wicklow and it may be the original.

They have the same name (both have the word HOLLYWOOD written in big letters on the hill behind them, see photo). Both have their attractions but there are a few differences.   

Unlike Los Angeles Hollywood with its 73,023 inhabitants, movie stars’ mansions and film studies, Wicklow’s has a population of 100 (though it claims another 500 in ‘the neighbourhood’),  a hotel, two pubs, a coffee shop, a school and a church.  It is unhurried, uncrowded and just how Hollywood, California would view a ‘typical Irish village’.

The Irish Hollywood’s original name was Cnoic Rua, or ‘Red Hill’ from the holly berries in the hills around it.  However it was also known as Cillin Chaoimhin (‘The Little Church of Kevin’) because St Kevin of Glendalough stayed there on his way to founding his two-lake monastery further into the mountains.  While Hollywood California has its ‘Walk of Fame’ with the hand prints of film stars, its namesake in Wicklow has the footprints of centuries of pilgrims setting out on ‘St Kevin’s Pilgrim Way‘ over the mountain.

However Hollywood Wicklow, as I found out when visiting there, does not promote its attractions as  much as its namesake in Los Angeles   

I thought that ‘St Kevin’s Well’ in the village would be a good place to start but, maybe because it was lunch time, I had difficulty finding anyone in the village to direct me. When I finally tracked down someone in the hotel backroom he did not know what I was talking about: was there such a well in the village?

Eventually I found it and then looked for the entrance to the Pilgrim Walk. There are discreetly placed directions for tourists and pilgrims and a local map in a disconnected telephone kiosk is there for consultation. However there are no tourist guides, car park or explanation boards. Despite being the departure point for a major Pilgrim Walk, Hollywood Wicklow does not think of itself as a Santiago or a Camino. 

Hollywood Los Angeles might consider this as amusing but Wicklow believes a true pilgrim needs only a minimum of direction.   

Actually the unobtrusive entrance to the Way is easy to find, it is just a minute from the village centre, and once you are on it the scenery and air are every bit as glorious as on the Camino (and probably California). A narrow path meanders off between woods and ravines, meadows and streams. A mile into it I reached Kevin’s stone ‘resting chair’.  I reluctantly had to stop there and return to where I had left my car.  Hopefully in the summer I will return and explore further.  

By the way, Los Angeles did find its way to Wicklow. Our Irish Hollywood was the setting for several films including King Arthur, Dancing at Lughnasa  and Michael Collins.  Regrettably St Kevin never appears, not even as an extra. 

Yes, we do have our own Hollywood in Ireland and there you will find what the people in Los Angeles are missing.

(Look closely at photo for Hollywood sign!)