Newtown Makes Digital Towns Final

Forward through the past… Hub13 at Jacksmill

aving recognised very early on that the arrival of the digital age meant you no longer had to travel miles to connect, Huw O’Toole cleverly used his sawdust-covered family business to provide a bridge into our shared stardust-sprinkled future.

Which, yep, sounds very airy-fairy, but Bowie with us for a minute.

It was back in 2019 that Hub13 first opened as Wicklow’s first remote hub in the converted 1870 sawmill sitting pretty on the O’Tooles’ longstanding family farm. The idea of breathing new life into this beautiful old building was a simple one for Huw O’Toole, and the fact that, as Hub 13, this historic Newtownmountkennedy landmark could also be a big part of the town’s future made the move too perfect to resist.

And that vision is now being recognised, as the national registry for .ie domain names – simply called, hey, .IE – has shortlisted Newtown in its annual Digital Town awards.

What swung it was Huw’s description of the town’s online portal connecting Newtown with five of its neighbouring villages sandwiched between Bray, Greystones and Wicklow Town. Alongside the proposed cycle paths and walking routes, there’s the strong growth in rural digital working hubs, which helps cut out everyone’s least favourite middle-man, the N11, whilst also helping boost the local economy.

“It’s a wonderful achievement, making it to the finals of the Digital Town awards,” says Huw, “and it proves, if proof were needed, that the days of the long commute to and from work are, for an increasing number of people, a pain of the past.

“So, we’re very proud of Newtown for leading the way, and getting this recognition…”

Making the most of the land around us is a big part of Jacksmill-Hub13, and for Huw and Caroline O’Toole, the fields around that old sawmill have been transformed too in recent years – into an eco-haven.

Complete with 8 acres boasting allotments, remote work huts, 6,000 trees of different varieties, 4,000 shrubs, 2.5km of hedgerows and two very curious donkeys. You can find out more about the Jacksmill Forest Garden in our March 2021 interview here.

We’ll be checking back with Huw, Caroline and the gang when the Digital Town finals are held on May 24th. In the meantime, you can find out more about Hub 13 and those nosey Jacksmill jackasses right here, and follow on Instagram here and Facebook here.