Castletown, historically called Ballycaslane (), is a small village in northeast

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 C ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. Castletown is in the parish of Kilgorman which is one of the earliest Christian settlements in Ireland. It was founded by St Gorman, possibly the same Gorman for whom Loch Garman (

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 ...

) is named and after whom St German's Cathedral on St Patrick's Isle off the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = " O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europ ...

is also named.

Location

Castletown is located between the towns of Gorey and

Arklow Arklow (; ; , ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 re ...

. It lies on the Wicklow/Wexford border and is situated at the foot of

Tara Hill, County Wexford Tara Hill (''Torrchoill'' in Irish) is an isolated hill and associated village near the Irish Sea coast in north County Wexford, Ireland. Though only high, it dominates the landscape of northeast Wexford. It provides extensive views of the Wexfo ...

. Castletown has a small primary school and a church.

Tourism

Castletown is within a tourist area, and there are several caravan parks and guesthouses in the area. Castletown is close to several beaches (Saleen, Clone, Kilpatrick and Kilmichael) and the pub called the "Golden Anchor".

History

Castletown was the Wexford Headquarters of the Irish Republican Army. Its origins date back to the early days of the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

, when IRA fighting columns who had been training near by went for drinks in the Golden Anchor pub. Each year a commemorative rally is held in village to honour those who drank in the Golden Anchor. The Flag bearers lead proceedings from Golden Anchor to Castletown Cemetery. Afterwards they head back to the Anchor for refreshments. The meeting was first held in 1970 and only failed to commence on two occasions in 1984 and 2010 when snow halted processions.

Sports

GAA

Castletown GAA club is between Castletown and the village of Tarahill. Castletown was a football only club up until the 1960s when the decision was made to form a hurling club as Wexford had just won an All Ireland title. Records show that football was played around the area since 1887 when a team from Castletown went to play a football match in a field near the Kish. The club was then known as "Castletown" GAA club but is now known as " Castletown Liam Mellows" GAA club as the hurling club was established. The new club was called Liam Mellows in honour of the executed Irish Republican, Liam Mellows. The club played their first game in Gorey against Craanford. The club first won the district title in 1963 but were beaten in the County Semi-Final by St. Martins. In 1964, after again winning the Gorey District, Liam Mellows went on to overcome Na Fianna from Wexford town to win the Junior Championship.

Camogie and LGFA

Castletown also has both Ladies football and camogie clubs. Both clubs play in the "junior A" division.

References

{{County Wexford Towns and villages in County Wexford