WEXFORD, the capital of Wexford county, a parliamentary borough, a municipal borough, a port, a market- and post-town, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, is situated upon the south-western shore of Wex ford I larbour, at the embouchure of the river Slaney, in 52° 20' N. lat., 6' 27' W. long., about 74 miles S. from Dublin by road, and 30 miles E.N.E. from Waterford. The population of the borough in 1851 was 12,171. The borough is governed by 3 aldermen and 18 councillors, of whom one is mayor ; and returns one member to the Imperial Parliament Wexford Poor-Law Union comprises 33 electoral divisions, with an area of 123,801 acres, and a population in 1851 of 52,872.
The town consists chiefly of three nearly parallel streets, of which one, called the Quay, is a wide terrace, fronting the harbour, while tho other two run in crooked lines behind it; and of two wide and well built streets on the west and north-west extremities of tho town. The town is well provided with water, and is lighted with gas. Towards the centre the Quay is broken by the Crescent, which is indented in a semicircular form. Nearly opposite to the Crescent, at some distance from the quay-line is a kind of breakwater, called the Ballast-Quay, or Bank, formed by the ballast deposited there by ships which frequent the port. The haven contracts abruptly opposite to the northern end of the town ; and at the narrowest point is a timber bridge, constructed in 1705 of American oak, at a cost of 17,000/. by Lemuel Cox, an engineer from the United States ; but it has been reconstructed, and now con/eats of two causeways, projecting 650 feet and 188 feet from the north-eastern and south-western hanks respectively, united by a timber bridge of 733 feet, supported by 23 piers of the same material, and having a drawbridge for the passage of masted vessels into the inner haven, which expands considerably a little above the bridge.
its ts entrance into the sea between Roesler° Point and Raven Point, the length of the haven is above six miles, at low water leaving an expanse of mud, through which the stream winds, and at the mouth is a bar which prevents ships of more than 200 tone ascending. The control of the harbour is vested in a body of commissioners.
The town of Wexford was a maritime settlement of the Danes, and was formerly called Wcisford. It was besieged for threo days by Fitz-Stephen, soon after he landed, and surrendered on condition of recognising tho sovereignty of Dermod MacMurrough, king of Lein sten During the contention between the houses of York and Lancaster it was seized by Sir John Butler, brother to tho Earl of Ormond. Ho was soon afterwards defeated by the Earl of Desmond, who, in the following year, held a parliament in the town. Wexford was ono of the first places which fell into the hands of the insurgents in 1641, and formed the port from which they received their principal supplies from other countries. In 1649 Cromwell obtained possession of the place, and nearly destroyed it, levelling six of the pariah churches and mining another. After the battle of the Boyne the town took part
with William HI., and was garrisoned by his troops. A monumental obelisk on the Windmill Hill commemorates the death of a Captain Valloton in 1793, in a conflict between the military and a party of Whiteboys. During the insurrection of 1798 the town was evacuated by the garrison, and the rebels immediately made it their head-quar ters. After the defeat of the insurgents at Vinegar Hill the rebels fled precipitately from the town. There are now only two parish churches, St. Merit's and St. Selsker, both modern, the former a plain building with a cupola, the latter in the early English style of architecture, conuected by a vestibule with the massive square tower and ruined walls of St Selsker Abbey, founded it is said in 1190, on the site of an earlier church built by the Danes, or Ostmen. Some of the old churches still present some interesting ruins, particularly that of St. Mary's. There are three Roman Catholic chapels, ono of which, St. Peter's, is a handsome structure in the decorated style, with a large rose window at the east end. The Presbyterians, Wesleyan Methodists, and Independents have each a meeting-house. The public buildings of the town consist of a neat court-house, a jail, a fever hospital, an infirmary, a house of industry ; the buildings belonging to the corporation; the offices connected with the revenue ; the bar racks ; the Union workhouse ; and St. Peter's College, on Summer Hill, a magnificent building for Roman Catholic students preparatory to their going to 3Iaynooth, and attached to St. Peter's chapeL There aro also a Diocesan Protestant school, Erasmus Smith's schools, the Parochial school of St. Patrick, the Redmond Female Orphan house, National schools, a savings bank, a mechanics institute, and a Wexford has a considerable retail trade; its markets, twice a week, and its nine yearly fairs, are well supplied and well attended. Corn, poultry, butter, and fish, particularly oysters, aro furnished in cou siderablo quantities, not only for home consumption, but for the English market Ship-building is carried on. On December 31st, 1854, the number of vessels registered as belonging to the port was 28 under 50 tons, 71 above 50 tons, of the aggregate burden of 8462 tons. The number and tonnage of vessels entered and cleared at the port during 1854 were as follows :—Sailing-vessels, inwards, 554, tonnage 31,095; outwards, 395, tonnage 22,856: steam-vessels, inwards, 54, tonnage 12,172 ; outwards, 52, tonnage 11,254.
The assizes for the county are held in this town, as are also the quarter sessions for the district ; petty sessions are held every week. The staff of tho county militia is stationed in Wexford.
The environs of the town, particularly towards the Forth Moun tains, aro picturesque. At Carrig-a-Damon a handsome column was erected in 1841 by General B. Clayton to commemorate the actions of the British army in Egypt under Abercromby.