Page 39 - GAHS Journal Volume 9

GREYSTONES ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 9

road that led up from Bray. Mullinreamon was the old name of
Hollybrook, and the name Mullinreamon Bridge was still used for
the bridge at Ballywaltrim in the 1830s. This old road came up
from this bridge through Glencormick to Kilmacanogue, and it
can still be followed through Glencap Common and high up over
the ridge of the Big Sugarloaf, through Killough and Ballinteskin
to Ballyreamon Common. This was known as Ballaghreamon or
Raemond’s Pass. This is a name that goes back to Anglo-
Norman times.

We continued our walk along the present road to the first little
road on the left, which leads on to Ballyreamon Common. The
Common has been largely undisturbed for thousands of years
except for a few houses and farmlands. Shallow cultivation took
place in some areas before and up to Famine times, and the
ridges and crop marks of failed potato crops are still very visible.
They are a sad reminder of the Great Famine that either killed or
dispersed abroad half the population of this island. However, the
older dwellings and burial sites of thousands of years ago are
still visible.

One needs a map or guide as well as strong walking boots to
visit some of these sites, but we took in a limited sample of some
of them on our two-hour walk. After a short walk, we visited two
ringforts close by. These are so named because of their circular
construction. They are also known as raths, or fairy circles, a
name that usually led to their preservation because of the bad
luck that might be visited upon anyone disturbing a fairies’
dwelling place. There are approximately 186 ringforts or sites in
Co Wicklow, but many more have been lost through ploughing
or levelling of the land. Ringforts were enclosed farmstead
dwellings, dating from early Christian times to the medieval
period. The enclosure was constructed by earth and stones to
form a ditch and a bank. The bank was surmounted by a fence

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