Guide to County Wexford in Ireland

County Wexford

Wexford is a coastal county in the south-east of Ireland lying within the province of Leinster. It shares boundaries with Wicklow, Carlow, Kilkenny and Waterford. The River Barrow forms a natural border to the west of the county, whilst the southern part of the coast overlooks the Celtic Sea. The slightly longer eastern coast looks out on to St George´s Channel, part of the Irish Sea. The Blackstairs Mountains or southern Wicklow Mountains cover most of the northern county boundary.

Wexford is often called "the sunny south east of Ireland" because of its statistically proven longer number of sunshine hours than anywhere else in Ireland. This helps to make it a popular weekend destination for people living in Dublin about 2 hours away by car. The population of the county is 132,000, of which one third live in urban locations and the remaining two thirds in rural homes.

The main settlement is historic Wexford town which has a large natural harbour. Its strategic location and turbulent past has made Wexford town the scene of many infamous and bloody battles in years gone by. One of the most outrageous acts of warfare occurred in 1649 when the local settlers were slaughtered while considering the terms of surrender to English Parliamentarian forces under the command of Oliver Cromwell.

The second largest town in Wexford is Enniscorthy located 14 miles north of Wexford town on the River Slaney. Enniscorthy castle is an imposing Norman stronghold dating from 1205. Just to the south of Wexford town is the town of Rosslare and its nearby harbour or Europort which handles freight as well as car and foot passengers on ferry routes into Wales and France.

The next largest towns in Wexford are New Ross, Gorey and Bunclody. Other notable towns include Adamstown, Ballycanew, Ballycullane, Ballyhack, Bridgetown, Camolin, Campile, Castlebridge, Castlellis, Clongeen, Clonroche, Coolgreany, Courtown Harbour, Duncannon, Ferns, Fethard, Kilmore Quay, Kilrane, Murntown, Newbawn, Oilgate, Piercetown, and Taghmon.