Bridgetown () is a small rural village, located sixteen 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 ...

town on the R736 regional road. It is close to

Duncormick Duncormick or Duncormac () is a rural village and surrounding community located in County Wexford, Ireland. At the time of the 2016 census, the village of Duncormick had a population of 116 people. The village is from Wexford Town, close to t ...

and six kilometres from the fishing village of

Kilmore Quay Kilmore Quay () is a fishing village near Kilmore, in County Wexford, Ireland. As of 2016, it has a population of 372. It is a fishing village, but its leisure facilities such as sailing, and sea angling charters are also of economic importan ...

. As of the 2016 census, the population of the village was 462.

Education

The local co-educational secondary school, Bridgetown College, draws students from southeast County Wexford. Originally opened in the 1960s, an extension to the school was opened by then Minister for Education

Mary O'Rourke Mary O'Rourke (; born 31 May 1937) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Leader of the Seanad and Leader of Fianna Fáil in the Seanad from 2002 to 2007, Deputy leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2002, Minister for Public ...

in 1984, and a further modern extension was opened in 2008.

Transport

Railway

Bridgetown railway station opened on 1 August 1906. The rail service consisted of a solitary train each way between Rosslare Europort and Waterford (Plunkett) with no service on Sundays. This railway service ceased after the last train in September 2010 but the line remains maintained.

Road

The rail service was replaced by a revised Bus Éireann route 370 service. Wexford Bus operate a shuttle bus that services Bridgetown, the Wexford town - Kilmore Quay route 390. Other bus services include Bus Éireann route 381 (Blackhall-Wexford) that operates only on Tuesdays, and Local Link services that operate to Wexford and Kilmore Quay. Nearby villages include Ballycogley,

Duncannon Duncannon () is a village in southwest County Wexford, Ireland. Bordered to the west by Waterford harbour and sitting on a rocky headland jutting into the channel is the strategically prominent Duncannon Fort which dominates the village. Pr ...

, Kilmore,

, Murrintown,

Taghmon Taghmon (; ) is a village in County Wexford, Ireland. It lies on the R738 regional road, 14 km west of Wexford town and 25 km east-southeast of New Ross. History It can be established, from historical records, that the area now com ...

, and Wellington Bridge.

Industry and economy

The village of Bridgetown has a supermarket/filling station, garage, post office, bookshop, cafe, take-away, pubs, hair salons, a tailor, an upholster, an interior design business, a doctors' surgery, pharmacy, a fish monger, and the nearby Ballycross Apple Farm. There are also two play school/creche facilities. An eighteen turbine wind farm, capable of producing 27MW and powering approximately 17,000 homes, was commissioned in Richfield, near Bridgetown in December 2006.

Festival

An arts, literature music and crafts festival, the Kathleen Browne Arts & Literary Festival, was held in Bridgetown in September 2018 and September 2019. The festival is named in honour of

Kathleen Browne Kathleen Anne Browne (1 October 1876 – 9 October 1943) was an Irish politician, farmer, writer, historian and archaeologist. She was arrested after the Easter Rising and held in Kilmainham Gaol. During the Civil War, she was Pro-Treaty and ...

, a former senator who was born in Bridgetown in 1876.

Developments

The population of Bridgetown increased from 183 residents as of the 2002 census, to 462 people in the 2016 census. While, as of the late 1990s, there was only one housing development in the village, owing to the proximity of Wexford town, the short commute to Waterford, and the corresponding increased in population, a number of new private housing developments have been built.

References

{{County Wexford Towns and villages in County Wexford