Wexford

Wexford ( ; archaic Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 National Primary Route; and to Rosslare Europort, Cork and Waterford by the N25. The national rail network connects it to Dublin and Rosslare Europort. It had a population of 21,524 according to the 2022 census.

History

The town was founded by the Vikings in about 800 AD. They named it ''Veisafjǫrðr'', meaning "inlet of the mudflats". In medieval times, the town was known as ''Weiseforthe'' in the Yola dialect of Middle English. This, in turn became "Wexford" in modern English. According to a story recorded in the ''dindsenchas'', the town's Irish name, ''Loch Garman'' (lake of Garman), comes from a man named '' Garman mac Bomma Licce'' who was chased to the river mouth and drowned as a consequence of stealing the queen's crown from Temair during the feast of Samhain.

For several hundred years (from the 9th to the early 12th century), Wexford was a Viking town, a city-state, largely independent and owing only token dues to the Irish kings of Leinster. However, in May 1169 Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster and his Norman ally Robert Fitz-Stephen besieged Wexford. The Norse inhabitants resisted fiercely until the Bishop of Ferns persuaded them to accept a settlement with Dermot.

Wexford became an Old English settlement throughout the early to late Medieval period. An Anglo-Frisian language, known as Yola, was commonly spoken in south Wexford from the time of the Norman invasion in 1169 until it began declining in the mid-19th century. While Yola was extinct by the 1870s, its last speaker, a fisherman from Kilmore Quay named Jack Devereux, died in 1998.

Compared to other parts of Ireland, the Irish language was not as widely spoken in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, which include Wexford town, from the 9th century onwards due to heavy settlement of Norse, Norman and continental Europeans. However, Leinster Irish was the main language spoken in the more northern baronies of County Wexford, and it was spoken widely during the early to late Medieval period, until its decline in the 17th century.

Following the Crusades, the Knights Templar had a presence in Wexford town. Up to the present, their name is perpetuated in the old Knights' Templars' chapel yard of St. John's Cemetery, on Wexford's Upper St. John's Street. Wexford received its first charter in 1318.

County Wexford produced strong support for Confederate Ireland during the 1640s. A fleet of Confederate privateers was based in Wexford town, consisting of sailors from Flanders and Spain as well as local men. Their vessels raided English Parliamentarian shipping, giving some of the proceeds to the Confederate government in Kilkenny. As a result, the town was sacked by the English Parliamentarians during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. Many of its inhabitants were killed and much of the town was burned. In 1659 Solomon Richards was appointed Governor, but he was dismissed and imprisoned following the Restoration the next year.

Wexford's early- and mid- 18th-century history is less frequently remembered than later periods, however, the impact of this period is evident from the architectural fabric of the town such as the gabled Dutch Billy houses such as on Main Street.

County Wexford was the centre of the 1798 rebellion against British rule, and Wexford town was held by the United Irishmen throughout the Wexford Rebellion. Nearby Scullabogue was the scene of a notorious massacre of local loyalists by the United Irishmen, and there were also executions and reprisals at Wexford Bridge.

Redmond Square, near Wexford railway station, commemorates the elder John Edward Redmond (1806–1865) who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the city of Wexford. The inscription reads: ''"My heart is with the city of Wexford. Nothing can extinguish that love but the cold soil of the grave."'' His nephew William Archer Redmond (1825–1880) sat as an MP in Isaac Butt's Home Rule Party from 1872 until 1880. Willie Redmond sat as an MP for Wexford from 1883 until 1885. The younger John Redmond, was a devoted follower of Charles Stewart Parnell and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party until his death in April 1918. He is interred in the Redmond family vault, at the old Knights' Templars' chapel yard of St. John's Cemetery, Upper St. John's Street.

''Redmond Park'' was formally opened in May 1931 as a memorial to Willie Redmond, who died in 1917 while serving with the 16th (Irish) Division during the Messines offensive and was buried on the Western Front.

Culture

Wexford hosts the Wexford Opera Festival every October. Started by Dr Tom Walsh in 1951, the festival has since grown and a fireworks display is sometimes held in conjunction with the annual festival.

Wexford has a number of music and drama venues including:
* The National Opera House (formerly the Wexford Opera House), developed on the site of the historic Theatre Royal opera house;
* the Dun Mhuire Theatre, which holds community theatre events including music events and hosting shows by Oyster Lane Theatre Group and Wexford Pantomime Society;
* Wexford Arts Centre, which hosts exhibitions, theatre, music and dance events;
* St Iberius' Church (Church of Ireland), various concerts are held here.

Wexford is the home of several youth and senior theatre groups, including the ''Buí Bolg'' Street Theatre Company, Oyster Lane Theatre Group, Wexford Pantomime Society, Wexford Light Opera Society and Wexford Drama Group. In 2024, Wexford hosted the ''Fleadh Cheoil