Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

WEX
another corn and flour-mill near the quay, belonging to
Mr. Macdonnell; all are in full operation. At Belclare
is a cotton factory, in which are 26 looms, affording
employment to 30 men and a considerable number of
women and children. About two miles from the town
are the bleach-green and linen and cotton-manufactory
of Messrs. Pinkerton and Thompson, in which are 24
power-looms, producing weekly 48 webs of 52 yards
each, and affording constant employment to 50, and
when in full operation to more than 200, men. The
market is on Thursday; and fairs are held on Jan. 1st,
May 25th, Aug. 6th, and Dec. 1st. A branch of the
Bank of Ireland has been established here under the
direction of Messrs. Clendining. A chief constabulary
police force is stationed in. the town, which is also the
head of the coast-guard district, comprising the stations
of Innisturk, Old Head, Islandmore, Mynish, Achilbeg,
and Keem, and including a force of 6 officers and 52
men, under the control of a resident inspecting com-
mander. There are very commodious barracks, capable
of accommodating five companies of infantry, occu-
pying a healthy situation commanding a view of the
entire town. The general sessions for the county are
held here in April and October, and petty sessions
every Thursday; a manorial court is also held on
the last Friday in every month, at which debts not
exceeding £10 Irish are recoverable. The court-house
is a neat and well-adapted building; there are also a
good market-house and a linen-hall. The parish church
is situated within the demesne of the Marquess of Sligo;
and on the Mall is a handsome R. C. chapel, erected in
1820 by Dr. Kelly, at an expense of £6000; the altar
is embellished with a fine painting of the Crucifixion.
There are also places of worship for Presbyterians in
connection with the Synod of Ulster, of the third class,
and for Wesleyan Methodists. Two large free schools
have been erected, one of which is under the direction
of the National Board; the other is a free Protestant
school, built and supported entirely by voluntary con-
tributions of the inhabitants. On the estate of Mr.
Garvey are some interesting remains of the ancient
abbey of Murrisk, founded by the O’Malleys, for Augus-
tinian friars.
WEXFORD (County of), a maritime county of the
province of LEINSTER, bounded on the north by the
county of Wicklow; on the west by those of Carlow and
Kilkenny, and Waterford harbour; on the south by the
Atlantic Ocean, and on the east by St. George’s chan-
nel. It extends from 52° 2’ to 52° 44’ (N. Lat.), and
from 6° 17’ to 7° 4’ (W. Lon.); comprising an extent,
according to the Ordnance survey, of 564,479 statute
acres, of which 545,979 are cultivated land, and 18,500
unimproved mountain and bog. The population, in
1821, was 170,806; and in 1831, 182,991.
The whole or the greater portion of the county was
inhabited in the time of Ptolemy by the Menapii, whose
territory bordered on the Modonus, now called the river
Slaney, on the bank of which stood their chief town
Menapia, supposed to have occupied the site of the
present town of Wexford. They are considered to have
derived their origin from the Menapii of Belgic Gaul,
perhaps through the Belgae of Britain, and to have been
the race styled by Irish annalists Fir-bolgs, i. e., Viri
Belgici, or Belgians. Some writers are of opinion that
the peninsula of Hook, the most southern point of the
700
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county, is the Hieron Promontorium, or “Sacred Pro-
montory,” of the Grecian geographer. Before the
arrival of the Danes or English, the county was dis-
tinguished by the names Corteigh, Moragh, and Laighion,
all signifying the maritime country. The first of these
appears to be preserved in the designation of Enniscor-
thy; the second, it is thought, gave the family name to
its chief, Mac Murrough or Mac Murchad; and from
the third came the denomination of Leinster, which, in
the productions of the Irish, Danish, and Latin writers
towards the close of the middle ages, is mostly confined
to Wexford. This and the adjoining county of Wick-
low were also distinguished by the name of Dalmach-
sevel, or “the maritime counties.” Weisford, from
which its present name is formed, was given to its chief
town by the Danes, who, after devastating the country
by predatory incursions, made the town of Wexford the
centre of a permanent settlement. In later times, a
popular designation of this district was, according to
Camden, County Reogh, or “the rough county;” and
the northern part was included in Hy Kinselagh, the
peculiar territory of the Mac Murroughs, afterwards
known by the name of Kavanagh. A principal seat of
the royal family of Leinster was at Ferns, in this
territory, the favourite place of residence of the last
king, Dermod Mac Murrough. Hither he conveyed
Dervorghal, wife of O’Rourk, Prince of Breffny, whom
he had carried off from her husband; and after he had
been driven out of the country by Roderic, King of Ire-
land, and had engaged the assistance of some English
leaders to reinstate him in his authority, he returned
hither to await in the privacy of the abbey the arrival
of his new allies. The landing of the first body of the
English was at Bagenbon, on the south side of Fethard
bay, in the south-western part of the county, in May
1169. This party consisted only of 30 knights, 60 men
at arms and 300 archers, under the command of
Robert Fitz-Stephen, whom Mac Murrough had en-
gaged in the attempt by the promise of conferring on
him the town of Wexford, with a large adjacent terri-
tory. Being reinforced by Maurice Prendergast, who
landed on the following day at the same place with 10
knights and 200 archers, and joined by Mac Murrough,
Fitz-Stephen attacked Wexford; but its Danish inha-
bitants made a stubborn resistance, and it was not until
after a contest of four days that they were induced to
surrender on articles, through the interference of the
clergy. Mac Murrough then confirmed his grant in
favour of Fitz-Stephen and his companion in arms,
Maurice Fitzgerald: he also granted two cantreds,
which lay between the town of Wexford and the Suir,
to Harvey de Monte Marisco or Montmorency, the
uncle of Strongbow and associate of Fitz-Stephen. The
successful settlement of the English, whose numbers
were augmented by reinforcements from their own
country, alarmed the other native princes, and Roderic,
King of Ireland, aided by a confederacy of the subordi-
nate chiefs, made an effort to drive out both the rebel-
lious king of Leinster and his allies. To resist this
formidable invasion, Mac Murrough fortified himself in
a strong position near Ferns, and presented such a
front to the assailing army, that hostilities terminated
in a treaty between the Irish kings, in which a secret
article was inserted for the expulsion of the English.
But the arrival of additional forces gave a new direc-