Rathdrum: Italian and Irish mix
EVEN IF you’ve never been to Rathdrum, the town feels familiar. Stand in the market square, and the old shopfronts, wooden signs and sloping coach arches look just as they did many decades ago. You might recognise it as a backdrop to Liam Neeson in Michael Collins (1996), Robert Mitchum in A Terrible Beauty (1960), or The Spice Girls in Stop (1997). The time-trapped atmospherics have made it one of Wicklow’s top movie locations.
It doesn’t take long to feel settled in Bates’ restaurant, either. The jumble of cottages and coffin sheds unfolding behind the Cartoon Inn dates from 1795, and inside, a country hearth anchors a long, sloping room that steps down a few feet every couple of tables. White stone walls are broken up by texts and photos — Liam Neeson here, Thomas Moore’s ‘Meeting of the Waters’ there.
