Maritime Wexford (eBook)

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SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

The sea and sailing has been part of the town we now call Wexford from its inception. The earliest peoples may have arrived in Ireland via a land bridge. It is, however, more likely that they came by sea and probably originated from what is now Wales. If they travelled by open boat from that direction the broad haven of Wexford Harbour would have been a natural attraction, with sandy beach or rocky crag coastline on either side of that haven. Such a landing is estimated as happening around 4000 BC. This date is supported by pollen evidence of forest clearing at Forth Mountain at that time. Pottery finds at Kerlogue and evidence of urn burial at the present Windmill Hill further support such a date for habitation.

With fresh water being one of the prime requirements of such a settlement there is little doubt that the three rivers feeding into the harbour, now known as the Bishopswater, the Peter and the Farnogue, would have been crucial to any decision. The Slaney is a tidal river and as such could not provide fresh water.

As these rivers would have been essential to settlement we may well question the accepted story of Wexford growing up around the present Selskar. However, there is a tradition of wells in that area, such as the one giving the name to the old Well Lane. Certainly the generally conjectured later monastic settlement in Selskar was relatively small and could have easily survived on such a water source. In later centuries a well in Wexford Castle would prove sufficient to the needs of the garrison.

The earliest printed representations of Wexford are of much later origin but they are based on the calculations of Ptolemy around AD 150 who in turn drew on the recollections of sailors. The ‘map’ commonly reproduced based on these calculations refers to the modern Wexford as in the land of the Menapii and led people to call the town Menapia. This is based on the Sacred Cape being interpreted as Carnsore Point and a river call Brigos being the Barrow. From this a river called Modonnus is said to be the Slaney. However, on some maps drawn from the data provided by Ptolemy, this river seems much further north, on the east coast. There is no representation of a river between these two in the land of the Brigantes. Also, while the Avoca and Boyne are noted there is no Liffey. Matters can be further confused by authors superimposing the ‘straight line’ Ptolemy map on modern representations of Ireland. As a result, it is difficult to know whether the orientation is wrong and we are Menapians or whether the Slaney was omitted from these maps and we are in fact Brigantines.

As Tacitus, the Roman historian, noted, Ireland’s ‘approaches and harbours have become better known from merchants who trade there’ and as such it was sailors who should have known the coastline here best. Since Ptolemy used the recollections of sailors it is strange that the Slaney should have been missed off these maps if there was indeed local sea trade. The more we consider our history the less certain our earlier interpretations become.

Another matter of consideration is the later and more common name of the town and port. We hear of it as Loch Garman (or Carman) and the geography, along with the old mythical legend of how it was formed, fit this very well. Loch Garman (or Carman) feeds into the legend of Garman Garbh who is said to have stolen the diadem of his tribal queen. The queen enlisted help from a sorceress who struck a rock and caused water to pour forth and form the harbour, sweeping Garman Garbh up along with it. Somehow this legend would better suit a lake formation if we consider it more closely.

Pilot boat Loch Garman. Built at Colchester in 1918 she was purchased by the Wexford Harbour Commissioners in 1922 and sold to Southampton in 1928. Crew left to right: P. Marlow, pilot; T. Morris Pilot Master in wheelhouse and pilots, J. Harpur, M Pender and J. Busher. (J. Murphy Collection)

Wexford’s last pilot boat, Loch Garman with crew, from left to right: John Blake, Mat Carty, Michael Roche and Pilot Master Matt O’Neill in the wheelhouse. (Matt O’Neill Collection)

Inbhear Sláine is another old name that is less commonly used. It refers to the river and again the mythical name of Sláine.

Despite all of this speculation we have little real evidence of the names given to early Wexford settlements and local geographical points. The reason for this is that few maps were drawn of settlements at such times and few, if any, actually survive. In addition this was probably just a small cluster of houses around a monastic centre with little regional significance. It would be the Norse or Viking invasions and settlements, therefore, that caused the town and port to begin to take shape and acquire a recognisable name.

Through the first millennium the town may have grown from that small settlement but we have little evidence other than a religious story of St Ibar or Iberius or Iver and even then we find him living on the island of Begerin or Big Island out in the harbour rather than at the possible earlier monastic settlement. However, it is said that St Ibar would preach to the local peoples and amassed a great number of followers who would travel to his retreat at Begerin to hear him speak. This would surely have had an impact on any early Wexford settlement in the harbour.

It is in the year 888 that we first find the Norse longphort or ‘defended on shore base’ mentioned in this area. Evidently this harbour-based early settlement was considered worth defending but, a few decades later, the ‘arrival of the great fleet’ which overcame this shore-based fort and is generally accepted as the time when more substantial settlements were made in the area. Waterford was also established at this time. The foreigners of the area are mentioned in 933 with reference to the killing of the son of the lord of the Ui Chennselaig who were the old Irish chieftains of the region.

It is around this time that the current name begins to evolve. There are many theories as to the origin of the name ‘Wexford’. Some cite the Norse term ueigsfiord, meaning the ‘fiord of the waterlogged land’, while others plump for waesfiord, meaning ‘broad shallow bay’. Another suggestions is that it developed from a Scandinavian word vic meaning a market and that local tongues changed the v to w. There was a Vickfiord in Norway at that time. Whatever the origin the name evolved into Wexford over the next few centuries.

It is possible that Begerin was the first settlement in the Wexford Harbour area. Recent archaeological research has shown that the Vikings invariably took over an island in a river or harbour where possible before establishing themselves on the adjacent mainland. Islands were more easily defended in the event of an attack by the natives and it allowed time to establish contact with people on the mainland with a view to trading goods. Eventually they would have outgrown the island and moved to the mainland. This suggests that they did not rush in and take over the old settlement; rather they may have been attracted by the freshwater rivers of the Peter and the later Bishopswater or Horse River. Additionally the harbour was at its deepest in the area of the Crescent so much so that it was often later referred to as the Deep Pool. At the time it was of much greater extent, taking in the Stonebridge area of the current town above where the Horse River entered the harbour at Paul Quay. Again this name, Paul, has many interpretations. In one it is said to have evolved from the word ‘pill’, meaning tidal inlet, which then developed into ‘pole’ and finally Paul. The Norse settlement in the area was confirmed in recent decades with excavations showing the remains of their houses at Bride Street. Later digs in Oyster Lane showed no dwellings indicating that the shoreline probably reached the bottom of our Bride Street in the late 900s.

Along with Viking influences, the Norse presence is also still evident in the general area, with place names such as Cahore and Carnsore using ore, meaning headland, Saltee using ee for island and Selskar and Tuskar using skar for rock.

Philip Herbert Hore, the county historian, states that it was around the middle of the eleventh century that the fishing settlement of Loch Garman began to be known by the name of Weysford and that ships were built there and trade flourished.

An interesting observation that may corroborate the two distinct old Wexfords can be perceived through the local street names. Looking at the old monastic site we have streets named for later gentry and clergy – Croke, Mannix, Wigram and Monck – while at the south end, albeit much further south than the old Viking settlements, we have Hantoon, Saltee, Tuskar and Fishers Row.

In an article in the third Journal of the Old Wexford Society, John de Courcy Ireland states that, from these early days, the shallow draught at the harbour entrance caused problems but the people of Wexford were quick to turn it to their own advantage. They achieved this by designing and building their own ships capable of operating in the prevailing conditions and thus obtained a virtual monopoly on trade into the ancient port.

The last remnant of one of what must have been many stone bridges as the quays expanded seaward. This one is lost between the road, railway line and Paul Quay car park. (Rossiter Collection)

Herring Cots in the North Safe in the mid-twentieth century.

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