Ireland/Irish > Black's guide to Dublin and the Wicklow mountains. With plan of Dublin

TO WEXFORD, ETC.
85
“ There is a bridge built oyer a narrow part of the bay. To this bridge the
rebels then in possession of the town, brought their English and Protestant
prisoners, and flung them into the water. Mulgrave, in his celebrated ‘ Memoirs
of the Irish Rebellion,’ now rarely to be met with, says that the prisoners were
speared at the same moment from before and behind, and then lifted up on pikes
and thrown over the parapet of the bridge. These are matters yet fresh in the
memory of living men.”
The barony of Forth, a district of Wexford inhabited by
a race of people very different from the rest of Ireland in
habits and appearance, is a little distance south of the county
town. It is believed that the district was colonized by
Strongbow, from Wales. Valiancy published a vocabulary of
their language, which bears more resemblance to Saxon than
to either the English or Celtic. Very few of the natives now
have any knowledge of their ancient language.
Fethard, a now insignificant fishing village, stands on the
west shore of Bannow Bay, about twenty-five miles from
Wexford. A little distance from it are the remains of Tintern
Abbey, founded in 1200 by the Earl of Pembroke, son-in-law
of Strongbow. The legend states that, being in great danger
at sea, he made a vow to found an abbey on the spot where
he should land in safety. His boat found shelter in Bannow
Bay, and here he accordingly established a monastery, which
he peopled with monks from Tintern Abbey in Monmouthshire.
It is beautifully situated in the demesne of Tintem, which was
granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Anthony Colclough, in
whose family it still remains. The venerable ruins of the
ancient church of Bannow, on the opposite side of the bay,
are of much interest. A curious case of land depression is
believed to have extinguished the town of Bannow, which
consisted two centuries ago of no less than nine principal
streets, with well-built houses. Four centuries earlier it was
one of the principal sea-ports in Ireland. An interesting
assemblage of ruins exists at the extremity of the bay, known
as the “ Seven Churches of Clonmines,” but really the remains
of four castles and an abbey; the town which is supposed to
have existed here has entirely disappeared.
NEW BOSS is an ancient town situated in the west of
the county, on the river Barrow, about twenty miles from
Wexford. The foundation of this place is usually ascribed to
Lady Bose, daughter of Grume, King of Denmark. New