This was taken in the little hamlet of Glendalough where my family hail from and a little bit about our family history.. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth of England, the ancient O'Byrne clan (the Gabhail Raghnal/Gavall Ranell) held sway in the territory of the Wicklow mountains south of Dublin covering about 153,000 acres (620 km2), having overtaken the authority of the O'Toole clan in the preceding decades. Their fastness lay toward the south, at Ballinacor in Glenmalure, where they maintained an oak fort near to a ford with a bridge. The territory included the oak wood of Shillelagh, Glendalough and part of County Wexford. The clan was said to compose of one hundred expert swordsmen. The O'Byrnes posed a permanent threat to English authority within the Pale through their raids on the lowlands; they also formed part of the balance between various factions and dynasties throughout the southern part of the province of Leinster, a balance the English found difficult to upset. The O'Byrne territory had been under the nominal authority of a sheriff, but in 1562 the task of bringing order to the border area was given to an English captain. So varied were the local allegiances, and so difficult did the territory prove to police, that little was achieved by the crown government and during the rest of the queen's reign the O'Byrnes became adept at securing official pardons