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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 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 20,188 according to the 2016 census.

History

The town was founded by the Vikings in about 800 AD. They named it ''Veisafjǫrðr'', meaning "inlet of the mudflats", and the name has changed only slightly into its present form. According to a story recorded in the '' Dindsenchas'', the name "Loch 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 about three hundred years it 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 was an Old English settlement in the Medieval Period. An Anglic language, known as Yola, was commonly spoken in south Wexford until it began declining in the mid-19th century. However, Yola was not officially extinct until the 1998 death of the last speaker, a local fisherman from Kilmore Quay named Jack Devereux. The Yola name for Wexford was ''Weiseforthe''.

Following the Crusades, the Knights Templar had a presence in Wexford. 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. Wexford town was held by the United Irishmen throughout the Wexford Rebellion and was the scene of a notorious massacre of local loyalists by the United Irishmen, who executed them with pikes on Wexford bridge.

Redmond Square, near the 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;
* the Wexford Arts Centre, which hosts exhibitions, theatre, music and dance events;
* St. Iberius's 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.

The National Lottery Skyfest was held in Wexford in March 2011 included a pyrotechnic waterfall on the towns main bridge spanning 300m. Buí Bolg also performed on the night.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Yola language could be heard in Wexford, and some words, phrases and place names are still used in the locality, particularly in the baronies of southern Wexford.

Architecture

Notable churches within the town include the "twin churches", Bride Street and Rowe Street with their distinctive spires; St. Iberius Church of Ireland, which dates from the 18th Century; Saint Peter's College, with a chapel designed by Augustus Welby Pugin; and Ann Street Presbyterian church. A former Quaker meeting hall is now a band room in High Street. The twin churches can be seen from any part of Wexford and in 2008, their 150th anniversary was celebrated. The larger twin, on Rowe Street, contains a peal of ten change-ringing bells, cast by Gillett & Johnston in 1930.

In the early 21st century, Wexford saw the redevelopment of its quay front, and residential development at Clonard village. Also, the relocated offices of the Department of Environment were constructed near Wexford General Hospital on Newtown Road and opened in 2010.

Economy

Wexford's success as a seaport declined in the first half of the 20th century because of the constantly changing sands of Wexford Harbour. By 1968 it had become unprofitable to keep dredging a channel from the harbour mouth to the quays in order to accommodate the larger ships of the era, so the port closed. The port had been extremely important to the local economy, with coal being a major import and agricultural machinery and grain being exported. The woodworks which fronted the quays and which were synonymous with Wexford were removed in the 1990s as part of a plan to claim the quay as an amenity for the town as well as retaining it as a commercially viable waterfront.

In the early 20th century, a new port was built about to the south at Rosslare Harbour, now known as Rosslare Europort. This is a deepwater harbour, unaffected by tides and currents. All major shipping now uses this port and Wexford Port is used only by fishing boats and leisure vessels.

Johnstown Castle, approximately 6 km from Wexford town, is headquarters to Teagasc, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Major private-sector employers in and around the town include Wexford Creamery, Celtic Linen, Wexford Viking Glass, Parker Hannifin IPDE, Waters Technology, Kent Stainless, Equifax and BNY Mellon. Coca-Cola operates a research plant employing up to 160. Eishtec, which was acquired by Infosys in 2019, operates a call center in Wexford. Pamela Scott, A-wear and other retailers operate in the town. Public sector employers include Wexford County Council and Wexford General Hospital.

Places of interest

Curracloe Beach, approximately 10 km north of Wexford town, was the location in 1997 for the opening scenes of '' Saving Private Ryan''.

The Irish National Heritage Park at Ferrycarrig includes various exhibits spanning 9000 years of Irish history, allowing the visitor to wander around re-creations of historic Irish dwelling including crannogs, Viking houses and Norman forts. The grounds also feature the archaeological site of Newtown, considered the first Norman fortification in Ireland.

The Wexford Wildfowl Reserve is a Ramsar site