Lets take a morning walk through the Forest of the Hell Fire Club and Massey Woods. This is a circular walk. It is a moderate walk with a climb of approx.180m. The walk is about two and a half hours long in all. There is café In Timbertrove across from the Car Park where we can relax over a coffee after should you wish to join me. There is ample parking in the Hellfire Club car park for all. Please ensure no valuables are left on show in the car.

How to get there:

Take the M50 Southbound exit at junction 12 Firhouse. Keep left and continue along Scholarstown Road. Go straight through the first roundabout and at the second roundabout take the 3rd exit and continue along Scholarstown Road. Turn Right onto Stocking lane. Continue on for about 2km travelling over the M50 and up into the Dublin Mountains. You will first pass Massey's wood on the left hand side. Approx. 50m beyond this you will find the entrance to the Hellfire Club carpark.

• Distance: approx 8.8 kms

• Time: This won't be a fast pace walk. It will take around 2.30 hrs, approx.

• Grade: Ramble - terrain is forest track so hiking boots advisable but not a requirement

• Climb: 180m approx. to a height of 383 m

• DOGS are very welcome but please follow Wicklow Mountains National Park guidelines (http://www.wicklowmountainsnationalpark.ie/dogs.html).

• If you need or can offer a lift please put up in comments. Thank you.

History:

The building was, in fact, erected by R.H. Connolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Parliament, as a shooting lodge, about the year 1725. After his death it was bought by Richard Parsons, First Earl of Rosse, and a painter named James Worsdale, members of the infamous Hellfire Club. On occasions the club met here, and many lurid stories are told of their excesses. Sometime during the 1750s the lodge was burnt in a fire and abandoned, but not before it had taken on the name the Hellfire Club.

Stones from a great 5000-year-old Neolithic burial cairn that originally crowned the hill were used to build the lodge. If you look behind the lodge you will identify a raised, part-circular, earth bank, all that remains of the cairn today.

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Forest Loop Walk around the Hell Fire Club & Massy's Estate

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Forest Loop Walk around the Hell Fire Club & Massy's Estate

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