County Wexford, Ireland Genealogy

Ireland County Wexford.

Wexford is part of the province of Leinster on the south-east coast of Ireland. Wexford is named after the City of Wexford which was named by the old Norse word Waesfjord, meaning inlet or bay of washed mud flats. The county covers about 909 square miles (2,352 sq km). Its length is 55 miles from the south-west boundary of Arklow (County Wicklow) to Hook Head. Its breadth is 29 miles from Greenore Point to New Ross.

Settlements in Wexford are shown on maps dated in the second century. The Norse Vikings established the town of Wexford in the ninth or tenth century as a trading settlement. The Norse were eventually driven out of this area to the area around Rosslare where they gradually were assimilated into the local population. They were replaced by the steady influx of Normans, Flemish, French and Welsh. The first Norman invasion was in 1169. In 1610, there was a small plantation of English settlers in northern part of the county.

Wexford was part of the Confederacy of Irish Catholics who rebelled in 1641 which led to Oliver Cromwell besieging Wexford in 1649. On their surrender, the lands of the chief leaders of the rebellion were confiscated. Many were transported to the West Indies or forced to move west of the Shannon. The confisgated lands were given to those supporting the English Parliament or to Cromwell’s officers and soldiers as payment. Later, many English families were brought to Enniscorthy in 1661 to work at the iron works. In the 1798 rebellion of the United Irishment, the county was a major center. A large army of the United Irishmen took control of Wexford and Enniscorty and controlled the county.

The population was 170,806 in 1821 and grew to 202,033 in 1841. It was affected less by the potato famine than most counties. Its population only decreased to 180,158 in 1851. The population, however, continued to decrease until it was only 95,848 in 1926. In 2006, the population was 131,749. The predominant religion in the county is Roman Catholic. In 1871, 90.7% of the population were Roman Catholic followed by the Church of Ireland at 8.5% with 0.3% each being Presbyterian and Methodists. Overtime there has been a slight increase in the percentage of Roman Catholic to 94.0% in 1926. In 1926, the Church of Ireland decreased to 5.3% with 0.15% and 0.23% being Presbyterian and Methodist, respectively.

General County Research Information
Further information about County Wexford is available at the GenUKI site.

Civil Jurisdictions and Parish Research Information
A map of the Civil Parishes of County Wexford is available at Irish Times site.