Arklow

Arklow ( ; ; ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 rebellion. Its proximity to Dublin led to it becoming a commuter town with a population of 13,163 as of the 2016 census. The 2022 census recorded a population of 13,399. The town is in a townland and civil parish of the same name. Arklow is at the mouth of the River Avoca, the longest river wholly within County Wicklow. The town is divided by the river, which is crossed by the Nineteen Arches Bridge, a stone arch bridge linking the southern or main part of the town with the northern part, called Ferrybank. The Nineteen Arches Bridge is the longest handmade stone bridge in Ireland, and a plaque on the south end of the bridge acknowledges this.

Arklow ( ; ; ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 rebellion. Its proximity to Dublin led to it becoming a commuter town with a population of 13,163 as of the 2016 census. The 2022 census recorded a population of 13,399. The town is in a townland and civil parish of the same name. Arklow is at the mouth of the River Avoca, the longest river wholly within County Wicklow. The town is divided by the river, which is crossed by the Nineteen Arches Bridge, a stone arch bridge linking the southern or main part of the town with the northern part, called Ferrybank. The Nineteen Arches Bridge is the longest handmade stone bridge in Ireland, and a plaque on the south end of the bridge acknowledges this. ===Retail=== Arklow services a large catchment area (including a number of surrounding towns and villages) and has approximately 32,000m¹ 2 of retail space. As of 2018, approximately 20% of this retail space was vacant. Among the town's largest retail centres is the Bridgewater Shopping Centre, which opened in 2007 and was sold in 2016 for €33.25 million. ===Water quality=== As of 2007, the River Avoca was classified as "seriously polluted" by the Irish EPA as a result of the discharge of sewage directly into the river in addition to a long history of industrial pollution in the area from early mining operations and more recent chemical industries. In previous centuries, Arklow was renowned for oyster beds. Raw effluent from the town still travels through the drainage system built in the 1930s and 1940s, and entered the River Avoca untreated via several sewage outfall pipes along the river until the new wastewater treatment plant was opened in 2024. A sewage treatment plant had long been proposed for the area, and was first awarded planning permission in 1993. This was challenged unsuccessfully to An Bord Pleanála. However, subsequently no funding arrived from government, and the planning permission lapsed. Further ten-year planning permission was granted in 1999. This too was unsuccessfully challenged to An Bord Pleanála, with conditional planning approval given in 2005. In 2019, planning permission was again confirmed for a "high-tech" wastewater treatment facility, with construction commencing in August 2021. Construction of the plant was completed in Q4 2024. The wastewater treatment plant, designed by Clancy Moore Architects, was nominated for the RIAI Public Choice Awards in 2025. ===Services and development=== A recycling centre is located in one of the town's industrial estates. It is run by Wicklow County Council. A few kilometres into the Irish Sea is the Arklow Bank Wind Park. Opened in 2004, this wind farm consists of seven 106m turbines, with GE 3.6 MW generators. On 19 October 2022, one of the turbines was struck by lightning and severely damaged. ===Music=== Arklow is the title setting for Van Morrison's 1974 song "Streets of Arklow", one of eight songs he wrote on a three-week vacation back to Ireland, and featured on his album Veedon Fleece. The "Battle of Arklow" is a hornpipe and non-traditional set dance tune, and is often played at feiseanna and other Irish dance competitions. Arklow is also the home town of pop singer and former Moloko member Róisín Murphy. The Arklow Silver Band were featured on the track Red Hill Mining Town by U2, on their 1987 album The Joshua Tree. The "Arklow Music Festival" is held in the town annually. It was established in 1970¹. The festival lasts a week and it involves people coming to compete from all around the country. They compete in solo forms and group forms. ==Administration== Arklow had a board of town commissioners created under the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act 1854. This was a tier of local government below that of the county. The town commissioners became an urban district council in the early twentieth century. The urban district council became a town council in 2002. It was abolished by the Local Government Reform Act 2014, with the powers and functions of the town council transferred to the county council. However, they are administered locally by Arklow Municipal District. The local electoral area of Arklow, which also contains the surrounding areas, elects six councillors to Wicklow County Council. The electoral divisions in Arklow consists of Arklow No. 1 Urban, Arklow No. 2 Urban, Arklow Rural, Aughrim, Avoca, Ballinaclash, Ballinacor, Ballinderry, Ballyarthur, Cronebane, Dunganstown South, Dunganstown West, Ennereilly, Kilballyowen, Kilbride, Kilpipe, Knockrath, and Rathdrum. Arklow is part of the Wicklow–Wexford constituency for national elections and referendums, and South for European elections.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1378431564 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.