Earliest meeting: Monday 5th April 1847
Final meeting: Wednesday 28th April 1880
The county Wicklow racecourse of Ballinastoe is located on the outskirts of the village of Roundwood, also known as Tochar, which enjoys a position in the Wicklow mountains on the Dublin to Glendalough road. It held regular race meetings, mostly billed as Roundwood, with one of the earliest reported meetings taking place on Monday 5th April 1847. The Stewards were Mr W F Bentley and Mr George Waters and the opening Silver Cup, over 2 miles, went to Mr Manning’s Game Chicken. The feature Sweepstake, also over 2 miles, was won by Mr Byrne’s Pope. Meetings continued, with a particularly active period in the late 1870s, although some of the meetings included Pony or Galloway races. The last meeting of note was staged on Wednesday 28th April 1880.

Monday 5th April 1847
Ballinastoe Sweepstake over 2 miles
1. Pope, bay mare owned by Mr Byrne
2. Wildboy, bay gelding owned by Mr Earl
3. Maid of the Mill, bay mare owned by Mr Moras

Much of the information about this course has been found using internet research and is in the public domain. However, useful research sources have been:-

London Illustrated News

Racing Illustrated 1895-1899

The Sporting & Dramatic Illustrated

Northern Turf History Volumes 1-4 by J.Fairfax-Blakeborough

The Sporting Magazine

A Long Time Gone by Chris Pitt first published in 1996 ISBN 0 900599 89 8

Racing Calendars which were first published in 1727

ISBN 978-0-9957632-0-3

652 pages

774 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-1-0

352 pages

400 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-2-7

180 pages

140 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-3-4

264 pages

235 former courses