Discover Enniscorthy

Two banks and a bridge

Enniscorthy, Inis Córthaidh, is the market town in the middle of Co. Wexford, built up both sides of the Slaney. The west bank climbs from Abbey Square past the castle to Market Square, where Oliver Sheppard's 1798 monument has stood since 1908, and on up to St Aidan's Cathedral, Pugin's work, at the top of the hill. The east bank is Templeshannon, where St Senan founded his monastery, with the railway station and, above it, the windmill stump on Vinegar Hill.

In 1798 the rebels took the town on 28 May and camped on the hill; on 21 June the Crown forces attacked it, and about 1,500 people died, most of them women and children sheltering in the camp. In 1916 Enniscorthy was the only urban centre outside Dublin to rise. Now the castle is the town museum, the farmers' market fills Abbey Square on Saturdays, and every May Bank Holiday the Rockin' Food and Fruit Festival takes over the castle grounds and the pubs.