Kilrane () is a village in

County Wexford County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí Ceinns ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. As of the 2016 census, the village had a population of 647 people, up from 432 as of the 2006 census.

Location & access

Road

The village is located on the N25 approximately 18 kilometres from

Wexford Wexford () 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 N ...

and effectively merges with the adjacent settlement of

Rosslare Harbour The village of Rosslare Harbour (), also known as Ballygeary, grew up to serve the needs of the harbour of the same name (now called Rosslare Europort), first developed in 1906 by the Great Western Railway and the Great Southern and Western Rai ...

, the village centres being 1.5 kilometres apart. Significant volumes of traffic pass through the village in conjunction with ferry arrivals and departures. A 50 km/h

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...

applies from the

approach to the village to Delap's Hill in

from where a 30 km/h limit applies in the port area. Plans for the road network in the area include the Rosslare Port Access Road.

Bus

The village is served by six bus routes, including

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidia ...

Expressway route 40 (to

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

) and the company's local route 370 (rail replacement via

Wellingtonbridge Wellingtonbridge (), also spelled Wellington Bridge, is a village in south County Wexford, Ireland. It lies some 24 km west of Wexford and 28 km east of Waterford, at the intersection of the R733 and R736 regional roads. It was his ...

) in addition to Local Link route 387 (serving

Rosslare Strand Rosslare Strand, or simply Rosslare ( or 'middle wood'), is a village and seaside resort in County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The name Rosslare Strand is used to distinguish it from the nearby community of Rosslare Harbour, site of t ...

and

Rail

Present

Rosslare Europort railway station Rosslare Europort railway station ( ga, Stáisiún Chalafort Ros Láir) serves Rosslare Harbour in County Wexford, Ireland. The station is owned and operated by Iarnród Éireann and is the southern terminus of the Dublin–Rosslare railway l ...

is approximately four minutes away by car or around twenty-five minutes on foot.

Past

Kilrane railway station, located on Station Road, closed to passengers in October 1970. The station house and offices were demolished the following year. Kilrane ceased being a loading point for

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...

in March 1977. 651 wagons of beet were loaded at Kilrane in the 1976-1977 season. Beet was conveyed by rail to the

Irish Sugar Company Greencore Group plc is a food company in Ireland. It was established by the Irish government in 1991, when Irish Sugar was privatised, but today Greencore's products are mainly convenience foods, not only in Ireland but also in the United Kingd ...

factory in

Thurles Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles (Roman Catholic parish), Thurles. The cathedral ch ...

Amenities

Facilities in the village include two pubs, a takeaway, a craft shop and gallery, a barber, several B & Bs and a

post box A post box (British English; also written postbox; also known as pillar box), also known as a collection box, mailbox, letter box or drop box (American English) is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail intend ...

. A church and national school are also located in the village, and the Rosslare Harbour Maritime Heritage Centre is located at the edge of the village. There is a tradition of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

in the area and Kilrane Cricket Club was active from 1974-1993.

History

St. Ruane's Church was built in the 1830s. Yola was once spoken in the area. A plaque commemorating the

Wexford Rebellion The Wexford Rebellion refers to the outbreak in County Wexford, Ireland in May 1798 of the Society of United Irishmen's rebellion against the British rule. It was the most successful and most destructive of all the uprisings that occurred throu ...

is located adjacent to the N25/Saint Helen’s Road junction and features text in the language.

John Edward Redmond John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He was best known as leader of the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) from ...

, the Irish nationalist politician was born at Ballytrent House, in Kilrane. The village post office, adjacent to the crossroads in the centre of the village, closed on 22 November 1968. The nearest P.O. is now located in

.Village P.O. to close, Irish Examiner, 22 November 1968

References

{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Wexford