Ireland’s oldest hotel? It looks good on the brochures and the website, and tehre is enough documentation to scare off contendors, if not academics.
Set in the scenic Vale of Avoca, The Woodenbridge Hotel & Lodge, dates back to at least 1608, when it was first mentioned as a coaching house for merchants on the Dublin-Wexford highway, so who is going to argue?
What matters more is that it continues to cough up historical character and modern hospitality under the recent ownership of the Fitzpatrick family. Acquired in August 2024 by Mark and Joseph Scott-Lennon, third-generation hoteliers from the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney, this 69-bedroom property has been a cornerstone of County Wicklow’s hospitality for over four centuries.
The property, which includes the main hotel and the adjacent Woodenbridge Lodge, was revitalised by the O’Brien family from the early 1990s, expanding it from a 12-bedroom inn to a thriving 69-bedroom hotel. The Fitzpatrick family, who took ownership in 2024, aim to preserve this legacy while infusing their commitment to exceptional service, building on their experience with the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, purchased by their grandparents Paddy and Eithne Fitzpatrick in 1971.
We were greeted on arrival by Majella Keogh, and the hotel exudes a warm, family-run atmosphere with 29 ensuite rooms in the main hotel, some featuring balconies with views over the Woodenbridge Golf Course, and 40 modern rooms in the Lodge, set along the Aughrim River. Our room, with an ominous number 101 on the door (don’t tell George Orwell) was splendid, mauve chairs and a corner window looking onto the road and the steep hill beyond. The ambiance is lighter and brighter than one might expect from a hotel parading its antiquity as a selling point. A circular table in the corner served for treats, and a nearby table as a work station for a task-toiled travel writer.
Dining options include the Goldmines Bistro, open daily from 12:30 to 9:00 PM, offering locally sourced dishes like homemade soups, fillet steak, and brown bread, with vegetarian and coeliac-friendly choices. The traditional, oven baked stuffed turkey and honey glazed ham, is a firm favourite. We opted for fish and chips, fresh from Kilmore Quay, although the sirloin of beef burger (award winning) proved tempting. The, yet again, award-winning Redmond Restaurant serves contemporary and traditional Irish cuisine paired with an extensive wine list, while the seasonal Smokehouse Restaurant, reopened in 2024, provides outdoor dining with smoked meats, seafood, and vegetarian options under a stretch tent. An enormous seafood platter tested our resilience as the late summer evening receded, unusually hot by Irish standards, with the stone (not wooden) bridge as a backdrop.
The Bistro and Goldmines Bar are named after the nearby river where people panned for gold right up to the 1990s. The bar offers live music in summer (with rousing music during our stay by Anthony Byrne and Aoife O’Halloran), including traditional Irish nights, and a cosy open fire in winter. Leisure facilities include free Wi-Fi, parking, and access to scenic riverside walks, with the Woodenbridge Golf Club just across the road for golf enthusiasts.
The hotel also caters to events, with a function room for up to 200 guests, a private dining area for 50, and a bistro bar seating 150.For 2025, the Fitzpatrick family has introduced subtle upgrades to enhance the guest experience while preserving the hotel’s historical character. Recent renovations from 2024 include refreshed interiors and improved accessibility, with wheelchair-friendly rooms and facilities.
The Smokehouse Restaurant’s reopening adds a seasonal dining option, and the family plans to assess further investments in accommodation and leisure facilities without rushing redevelopment, ensuring the hotel remains a cherished retreat.
A helpful history of the hotel on the menu to the Bistro tells us that the Woodenbridge gets its name from a timber bridge built by the engineers of England’s King William in 1691 at Garrán an Ghabhláin (field beside the riverbend). When this bridge was swept away in a flood, a stone bridge was built in 1770, spoiling the effect of the name somewhat and inspiring the first question from six generations of guests. It was just in time for the Wicklow Gold Rush of 1796. Thomas Moore stopped by to write ‘Sweet Vale of Avoca’ in 1808 and the hotel benefitted from the burgeoning mineral and copper mines of the Avoca Valley that were slowly poisoning Moore’s meeting waters. The railway arrived in 1863 and the golf club in 1884. Woodenbridge was the Gran Canaria of Parnellite Ireland, the hotel self sufficient in the late 19th century, with its own farm, kitchen gardens, stables and butchery.
There are accounts of the Dublin coach arriving in 1829 after a five-hour journey carrying nine passengers. The lobby of the hotel is festooned with photographs of historic hotel guests such as Éamon de Valera and Sinéad de Valera, who honeymooned there in 1910, with the Honeymoon Suite now named in their honour, Daniel O’Connell, Walter Scott, John Redmond who made a speech that changed Irish history on the nearby golf course, and Michael Collins. Charles Stewart Parnell, who lived nearby, was so much a regular you might expect to find him in the study.
Nearby attractions include Avondale through the treetops experience, the Mill Store, Falconry Ireland, and Arklow Heritage Museum, and just an hour from Dublin, the Woodenbridge Hotel & Lodge offers an inviting base for exploring Wicklow’s natural beauty and cultural heritage.
