Our Location

The village school house opposite the Town Clock was built in 1818 and was being used as the local Church of Ireland National School until 2013. The nearby house, ‘Ferndale’, built c.1850, served as the School Master’s house. Until the 1970s there were two big Cedar trees in front of the school.

The Protestant population of the village attended church in the grounds of the Powerscourt Demesne until 1859. Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt, built a new church, Saint Patrick’s, overlooking the village which was completed two years later in 1861 at a cost of £3441 9s 2d. St Mary’s Catholic Church was built in 1859 by Fr. Thomas O’Dwyer on a site provided by the Powerscourt Estate. Prior to this date there was no Catholic Church in Enniskerry and Mass was celebrated in a barn that was made available by a Mrs. Dixon. Once the Church was completed the parish of “The Immaculate Heart of Mary” was constituted and Fr. O’Dwyer became its first parish priest. Up to that time he was the local curate within the parish of Bray.

Knocksink Bridge

Knocksink Bridge was built in 1859 and was, at one time, the highest bridge in Ireland. During the Second World War holes were drilled in the bridge in order to blast it with dynamite in case of invasion.

The Bray and Enniskerry Railway was proposed in the 19th century, to link the town to Bray. Some initial work was carried out, including building a bridge to carry the railway over Dublin Corporation’s Vartry watermain. Wicklow County Council recently removed much of the railway embankment in road widening, but left the bridge, which is directly opposite the ornate bridge carrying the watermain over the Cookstown River, a tributary of the River Dargle. The plan ran into financial difficulties, and the rails were lifted and sold off.

There was a plan to bring a railway line to Enniskerry in the 1840s but this came to nought due to lack of funds. The embankment and other elements of the works were still visible until recent times. The bridge along the R117 from Bray was built then to protect the water main which comes from Roundwood and brings water to south Dublin. While Enniskerry has changed over the years it still retains its Victorian character which gives the village its unique charm.