Baltinglass, historically known as Baltinglas (), is a town in south-west County Wicklow, Ireland. It is located on the River Slaney near the border with County Carlow and County Kildare, on the N81 road. Etymology The town's Irish name, Bealach Conglais means "the way of Conglas". It was the name of a palace at Baltinglass, where, according to the Irish etymologist Patrick Weston Joyce, the powerful Leinster king Branduff resided in the sixth century. Conglas was a member of the mythological warrior collective, the Fianna. A nineteenth-century explanation is found in Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, where he says that the name, "according to most antiquaries," comes from Baal-Tin-Glas, meaning the "pure fire of Baal," and that this suggests that the area was a centre for "druidical worship". The detailed study, The Place-names of County Wicklow by Liam Price provides several variations of the town name from the 12th century Book of Leinster, through King King Henry VIII's state papers, to the 17th century Down Survey. Previous Irish-language names for the village bring to mind its monastic past. These, as mentioned in two 17th-century works, are Mainistear an Bhealaigh and Mainister an Beala. The first of these, Mainistir an Bhealaigh, has been the name used since the beginning of the independent Irish state. History The surrounding hills of the area are rich in archaeological and historical sites, including the Rathcoran passage structure. On the highest point of the Baltinglass Hill, north-east of the village, the passage grave from the Stone Age whose outer walls are finished in chalk not native to the area, is said on bright days to be visible from Kildare's Curragh away. To the north end of the village on the weir of the River Slaney lies the ruins of an ancient monastery, Baltinglass Abbey, that has had many additions over the centuries; the original church is said to date from around 700 A.D. The medieval Viscounts Baltinglass were from the Hiberno-Norman Eustace family, who also founded Ballymore Eustace. Their estates later passed to their cousin Sir Maurice Eustace, Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1660-1665. Sir Maurice did much to promote the development of the town, building a church, a school and a bridge, and encouraging new settlers. The town gained national attention in 1950 when the replacement of a local postal worker, Helen Cooke, led to accusations of political cronyism nationally and a local row