Mountain ridge at the Upper Lake in Glendalough (County Wicklow), Ireland
Glendalough valley was formed during the last ice age by a glacier which left a moraine across the valley mouth. The Poulanass river, which plunges into the valley from the south, created a delta, which eventually divided the original lake in two. Glendalough is surrounded by semi-natural oak woodland. Much of this was formerly coppiced (cut to the base at regular intervals) to produce wood, charcoal and bark. In the springtime, the oakwood floor is carpeted with a display of bluebells, wood sorrel and wood anemones. Other common plants are woodrush, bracken, polypody fern and various species of mosses. The understorey is largely of holly, hazel and mountain ash. At the west end of the Upper Lake lie the ruins of an abandoned miners' village normally accessible only by foot. The mining of lead took place here from 1850 until about 1957 but the mines in the valley of Glendalough were smaller and less important than those around the Glendasan Valley, from which they are separated by Camaderry Mountain. In 1859 the Glendasan and Glendalough mines were connected with each other by a series of adits, now flooded, through the mountain. This made it easier to transport ore from Glendalough and process it there.
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Glendalough, County Wicklow, Province of Leinster, Republic of Ireland, Western Europe
Photo credit: © DE ROCKER / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., attraction, blue, county, daytime, europe, european, forest, geographical, geography, geological, geology, glendaloch, glendalough, hill, hilly, ireland, irish, lake, landmark, landscape, marilyn, mountain, natural, oak, oaks, peak, pebble, pebbles, recreation, resources, ridge, rock, rocks, sky, slope, stone, stones, summer, summertime, sunny, topographical, topography, tourism, tourist, travel, trees, upper, valley, vegetation, visitor, wicklow, woodland, woods
