The Devil’s Glen

The Devil’s Glen boasts a dramatic landscape that was fashioned at the end of the Ice Age when the melt waters of the ice sheet created the valley. The resultant gorge affords a swift decent for the Vartry River as it makes its way from the Vartry Reservoir to nearby Ashford village. The site hosts a mixture of broad leaf and conifer forest with fine stands of beech, Spanish chestnut and ash. The steep rock face of the gorge has been colonised by various species of plant life: lichens, mosses and the polypody fern.
The site was once part of the Glanmore estate, former ancestral home of John Millington Synge. On the northern bank of the river you can see the privately owned Tottenham Estate.
Two car-parks service the Devils Glen. One of these car parks is located at the County road close to the start of the Seamus Heaney way this car-park has a capacity of 5 cars and is always accessible. A second car-park with a capacity of 25 cars and a coach-park are located at the start of the Waterfall Walk, access to these parking areas is limited to 9am to 5pm daily the opening hours of the barrier to the Devils Glen’

Please Note: Sections of the Devil’s Glen walk occur along steep and exposed slopes and walkers should take extra care along these sections.

Car Park Opens at 8.00am and Closes at 5.00pm