Read More - Castles in County Wexford

 

Enniscorthy Castle - in the centre of Enniscorthy town is an excellent place to begin to understand Wexford's varied and complex history. The castle has been home to English gentry, Anglo-Norman royalty and Gaelic Irish Lords. Thanks to the efforts of a local men, Fr Ranson and Michael Tobin, the castle has been a dedicated museum since 1960. The castle recently received funding and major restoration and refurbishment has taken place. In the castle dungeons Elizabethan graffitti can be seen. The guided tours are highly recommended.

The downstairs rooms of the castle tell the story of medieval Wexford and of the building's links to Strongbow and subsequent surrender to Oliver Cromwell. The interior of the upstairs rooms, now restored have been designed to give tourists an idea of how the most recent residents at the castle would have lived- furniture of that period and family portraits are to be viewed these rooms.

The Roche family (owned the castle up to 1960) earned their living by running a malting business. The dungeons of the castle were used to store coal up until the family moved out in 1950. Some members of the family had been booked to travel on the Titanic to America in 1912 however one of the younger members of the family became ill with chicken pox and they were forced to cancel their journey.  The dungeons were used to store coal when the castle was occupied by the Roche family.

From the rooftop of the castle visitors can view the sites of the 1798 rebellion including Vinegar Hill and other buildings used during the 1916 rising.

Today as well as being a museum and a tour destination for visitors,  it also hosts an Eileen Gray exhibition which includes replicas of some of her most well known designs - chairs, mirrors and tables as well as a screening of her life.

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