County Wexford · Leinster
Enniscorthy
Inis Córthaidh
'island of the rocks' or of Corthaidh
The story
Under Vinegar Hill, where the Wexford rebels of 1798 made their camp and their last stand on 21 June. The Norman castle in the town centre was later lived in, and is now a museum of the rising.
Worth seeing nearby
- St Mullin’s · Moling founded this in the early 7th century and is said to have dug the mill race himself. The Book of Mulling, written here in the 8th century, carries the earliest known plan of an Irish monastery — four crosses inside the wall and eight outside.
- Vinegar Hill · 21 June 1798: the United Irish camp above Enniscorthy is stormed; the windmill stump where rebels made their stand still crowns the hill.
- Wexford — the drowning of Garman · The dinnseanchas says Garman mac Bomma Licce stole the queen’s crown from Tara at Samhain, was chased to the river mouth and drowned there. Loch Garman is his. The Vikings who arrived later named the same place Veisafjǫrðr, the inlet of the mudflats, and that is the name that stuck in English.
- St Mullin’s — the death of Mad Sweeney · Cursed by Rónán to wander as a bird-man and to die by a spear, Suibhne ends here in Moling’s care, drinking milk from a hollow in cow dung. Moling’s herdsman, believing a rumour about him, put the spear in — and the curse was complete.
All of these are pinned on the Hidden Ireland map.
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