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Location:
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The Coronation Plantation, County Wicklow
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Nearby Location:
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Ballynabrocky, Carrigdoo, Carrigvore, Glenflugh Flat, Gravale, Kippure, Liffey River, Sally Gap |
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OSI Map Nbr:
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56
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Getting There:
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Description:
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27/09/2003, Olivier Deme wrote: Among all places in Ireland, the Coronation Plantation is the closest to my heart. Located at about 2 miles from Sally Gap, the plantation lays in the middle of a vast area covered by endless meadows.
The history of the Coronation Plantation dates back from 1831, when the marquis of Downshire ordered the plantation of 500 acres of land with several types of trees, mostly pines and larches. The plantation was supposed to honour the coronation of king William IV and provide the area with a constant supply of timber. According to an unfinished inscription on a nearby stone monument, the timber was meant to "benefit the labouring classes"... The plantation was however never finished and today, it is mostly a deserted area where only a few trees have survived the poor quality of the soil and the harshness of the weather.
The first thought that strikes someone who looks at a picture of the Coronation Plantation is that it doesn't evoke the traditional stereotypical image of Ireland most people have in mind. In fact, many instinctively think about the Serengeti National Park, in Africa...
This is a place of solitude, immense beauty and desolation. There is no path, and walking in the high weeds on a terribly uneven soil is not for the faint hearted hiker. But this is a place where the soul can rest and the eye can see over vast distances of unspoilt wilderness. If you keep quiet for a while, you have great chance to be able to observe deers hopping in the fields.
Note also that this is quite a dangerous area due to the terribly uneven surface, masked by high weeds. Small rivers are flowing at various places, hidden by the weed and one can suddenly find himself in water up to his waist (it happened to me...). Because of this, there is a certain risk of twisting an ankle and being stuck in the middle of nowhere. You should not go alone, or without mobile phone. This is my advice.
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Resources:
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