Edward Hay, the Irish Historian and member of the Royal Irish Academy wrote of the old Wexford Brdge:
The remarkable wooden-bridge built in 1795, over the mouth of the Slaney, leading northward from the town, is undoubtedly a very great curiosity, being fifteen hundred and fifty-nine feet long, with a portcullis, and thirty-one feet wide through its whole extent, with a toll-house at each extremity.
On each side are foot-ways, ornamented with chinese railings supported by strong bars. There are also two recesses, with seats for shelter against sudden showers for it is the beau walk of the town, and thus contributes much to the tolls collected to defray the expence of the building
.
From:
History of the insurrection of the County of Wexford, A. D. 1798:
including an account of transactions preceding that event, with an appendix
Edward Hay
Printed for the author, by J. Stockdale, 62 Abbey Street, Dublin. 1803
You can read the whole book on Google books.
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After the disappointment of finding a modern Wexford Bridge on our first night in the city, I started my quest for the old one at the tourist information office the next morning. When I asked about the old bridge, the woman behind the counter seemed pleasantly bemused, but directed me about half a mile upriver "next to the yacht club" but warned me that all that was left of it now were the ends each side of the river.
We took a stroll along the quay next to the fishing boats now pulled up for the day, and passed the shops, the Bullring Square with its statue of the Pikeman to commemorate the 1798 rebellion, we passed the railway station... and seemed to be heading out of town.
There was no sign to the old bridge, but a right turn off the main road took us to the yacht club ... and there we were. The south-eastern end of the bridge was an extension of the yacht club car park. No plaque or memorial. I took a few pictures and wondered why the bridge, the site of so many executions on both sides, seemed to have been forgotten... and why it was so far out of the town centre.
The question was answered when I later took a proper look at the new bridge and its commemorative plaques.
The 1790s bridge which I had been looking for stood on the same site as the modern bridge. The ruined bridge I had found earlier was an 1850s replacement - it had played no part in the rebellion hence no-one had marked its demolition.
The other plaque marked the most notable persons to have been executed on the bridge. Amongst the names on the Loyalist side was Samuel Atkin from Wendy Rutter's Fitzhenry-Atkin family of Oulartwick. Amongst the names of the United Irishmen was Dr John Colclough, the brother in law of Jeremiah Fitzhenry, one of the leaders of the Rebel forces.
Here are the transcriptions of both plaques:
WEXFORD BRIDGE
1795 Timber bridge constructed on this site by Lemuel Cox of Boston
1827 Bridge repaired and strengthened after storm damage
1856 Replaced by a new bridge constructed 3/4 mile upstream by Pierce Brothers
1959 Prestressed concrete bridge constructed by Ascon Limited
1997 Replaced in 10 weeks with steel structure
Main contractor Ascon Limited
Consulting Engineers: John B Barry & Partners Limited
During and after the insurrection of 1798
Wexford Bridge was the site of many executions
Some ninety Loyalist prisoners
were put to death, among whom were
Edward Turner, Magistrate; David Dalton,
Thomas Ganford, Samuel Atkin,
Francis Plumer, William Baubier,
Benjamin Sunderland, George Sparrow,
John Smyth and Kenneth Mathewson.
Amonst the sixty-five United Irishmen
executed were the leaders Beauchamp
Bagnal Harvey, Dr John Colclough,
John Kelly, Cornelius Grogan, Patrick
Prendergast, Fr. Philip Roche, John
Herron, Edward Frayne, Esmond Ryan
and Matthew Keugh
AH DHEIS LAMH DE GO RAIBH SIAD
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When me and my better half Andy went to Ireland last month, he thought he was getting a relaxing few days of sight-seeing, good food and whale-watching. I also managed to sneak in a few bits of Fitzhenry family history research which makes up the "Wexford Road Trip" series.
After arriving by ferry from Wales we spent the first night in Wexford City itself. Here's its page on Wikipedia. The old part of the town is very compact and on the south east side of the estuary of the River Slaney. There are a lot of the old buildings (and by old we're talking mediaeval and some old Norse battlements too) all mixed up with the new.
Wexford was the centre of the 1798 Irish uprising against English rule which I touched on briefly in a previous post. I hoped to see some monuments which may have given me some more information about Fitzhenry involvement in the uprising. I knew from previous research that there had been executions on the Wexford bridge of both the Loyalists taken prisoner by the Irish rebels, and the rebels themselves once the English recaptured the town.
So imagine my disappointment that first evening when we walked down the road next to the river and there was a very modern steel and concrete structure going over the river.
Looking at it I confidently said to Andy "They could never have built a bridge with that span back in the 1700s. There must be an older Wexford bridge further up the river at a narrower point. There will be some monument there to the uprising."
Tomorrow's installment is about how we found the bridge. In the meantime, here's a photo of the Wexford skyline taken from the modern bridge on our first night.
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