Gorey & North Wexford Website.
The historic Market House which is on Main Street Gorey, is a Victorian style building which is now the local government administrative centre and houses the unique chiming clock.
This old 18th century building was rebuilt in 1709 and is currently used as the meeting place for the Gorey Town Commissioners. It is also the location of the Gorey Tourist Office. During the 1798 insurrection prisoners were held here. The building is listed as a place of regional historic interest.
The historic Market House which is on Main Street Gorey, is a Victorian style building which is now the local government administrative centre and houses the unique chiming clock. This old 18th century building was rebuilt in 1709 and is currently used as the meeting place for the Gorey Town Commissioners. It is also the location of the North Wexford Tourist Office. During the 1798 insurrection prisoners were held here. The building is listed as a place of regional historic interest.
The street has many old fashioned shop-fronts - Browne's Pub, Myles Doyle, Hughie Doyle's, French's Premier House and McGoverns Lounge are among the shop-fronts listed for protection. Take note of the Eco Restaurant whose fine premises are protected for regional interest.
At the top of the Main Street is the Court House. Built in 1819, it was burned down in 1922 but was rebuilt shortly afterwards. Beside the Court House is the Church of Ireland. Christ Church was erected in 1861, and boasts some magnificent stained glass windows. The structure of the Church with its tower is beautiful and this is highlighted when it is illuminated at night. The Church is listed for preservation for the national interest. Beside Christ Church is the old Erasmus Smith School House. Built in 1834, the architecture is worth noting, it is now the Social Services Centre.
If you travel on up the street, you will see The Monument of the 1798 insurrection, with its cannons facing down the Main Street. These guns are an added feature of recent years.
In the Market Square, Gorey's designated casual trading area, you will find the Methodist Church. Built in 1834, it's the towns oldest church. Also in the Market Square is the Old Cemetery where the remains of Bishop Thomas Ram are buried, who's family were responsible for Gorey's fine layout.
The location of the Irish Permanent offices on the Main street was the site of Bishop Ram's Palace, which was built about 1620, but has long since gone. It was Bishop Thomas Ram who constituted a corporate town under a charter dated 19th October 1619 called The Town of Newborough. This was the foundation of Gorey, although there was a nucleus of a town here since 1296. The Ram family determined the Administration of Gorey affairs for three centuries.
Looking down Rafter Street, you can see Rynvanney House, built in 1814 which was a former R.I.C. Barrack and a nursing home.
The third church in Gorey is located on Saint Michael's Road at the bottom of the Main Street. Saint Michael's Church is a beautiful and spacious structure, distinguished by its massive square tower. The Church was designed by the famous Pugin.
About half a mile from the town, Clonattin has a burial ground dating back to the fifth century and the remains of a small monastic church are still evident. Due to the cholera outbreaks during and after the famine it is recorded that many of the paupers who died were brought from the old Gorey union workhouse and buried in communal graves at Clonattin.
Some old workhouse buildings still stand in Ramstown, also the site of Gorey Leather Factory (1936 - 1979). The beautiful entrance hall of the old work-house has recently been restored as a dwelling house and Gorey business park is now located on the remaining site.
Also in the district is the home of the notorious Hunter Gowan at Mount Nebo, as it was then called. It was later re-christened Mount Saint Benedict as the Benedictines founded a college there where many of our former politicians were educated. The college closed in the early 1920's.
A small well preserved village on the Gorey to Carnew road. This village boasts one of the finest attractions in Wexford, a restored 17th century Corn mill. The property has been a focal point of the village for many hundreds of years and is even mentioned in the memoirs of the rebel leader Myles Byrne.
This area is steeped in history, and many interesting remains can still be seen there today. Two miles west of the village in the townland of Rossminogue the remains of an old monastic settlement church and cemetery can be seen. In the Protestant era, a school was built there for the education of the English nobility. There is also the site of a monastery at Clonmona close to the village.
Ruins of ancient churches can also be found in Kilnahue and Knockbrandon, not far from which a Penal Mass rock can be seen. Craanford parish has very close connections with the 1798 Insurrection, the last battle having been fought and won at Ballygullen on July 4th, 1798. There are bicentenery monuments at all these sites.
Travelling further north to the parish of Monaseed you will find the home of Myles Byrne, a famous leader of 1798. A parish hall is built there in his memory. He later joined the French Army and is interred in Paris.
Visit Craanford Mills
Located on the N11 road between Gorey and Camolin, Clough has a Celtic Cross monument which commorates the battle of Tubberneering on June 4th 1798,
It was at that battle Colonel Lambert Theodore Walpole was killed . A tablet to his memory is located in Christ Church, Gorey. In Clough there is also a Quaker burial ground. The old graveyard at Toome which has recently been renovated, has headstones which date back to the 1600's.
Coolgreany, Cul Greine - the sunny corner, nestles in the shadow of Croghan Mountain, overlooking Tara Hill in the extreme north of County Wexford. Coolgreany has a very wide main street with pretty little houses on each side, and is a rare example of a village with no church of either denomination in it. Back in 1569, in the earliest reference to the area where the village now stands, it was called Cowlensmottane, Cuil na Smutam - corner of the tree stumps.
The plantations of North Wexford began in 1610 and the village of Coolgreany was planned and built to serve the new settlers.
In 1659, there were nine inhabitants, all English, by 1850 the population was overwhelmingly Irish. The original settlement consisted of houses on one side of the street only, facing east. Cromwell passed through Coolgreany on September 29th, 1649 while en route to Wexford. The area had an Augustinian Friary which had 'Abbey Lands' in Coolgreany, and several chalybeate springs. The village became internationally known as a result of the evictions of 1887.
Today, Coolgreany is best known for its success in handball, which has been played in the village for over a hundred years. The current handball alley is being modernised and the village is well worth a visit.
This Village is found between Tara Hill and Clones Strand. Naturally this has become a popular area for tourists. There is evidence of Christian and Pre-Christian settlements around Kilgorman. Saint Gorman is thought to have come here from Wales, probably via Saint Kevin's Monastery at Glendalough.
The village's greatest claim to fame is the patriot Liam Mellows. A native of County Galway, he spent much of his youth in Macoyle, Inch. He survived the 1916 rising and the War of Independence, but was executed by the Free State Government for his part of the Civil War of 1922. At his own request, he is buried in Saint Patrick's Cemetery, Castletown.
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