Maritime Wexford: The Life of an Irish Port Town

by Nicky Rossiter, Jack O'Leary (Illustrator)

Overview

Wexford has always had a close relationship with the sea. One of the county's most famous sons, John Barry, is known as the Father of the US Navy and, in Maritime Wexford, columnist Jack O'Leary and local historian Nicky Rossiter take the reader on a voyage that touches on this and many other stories of Wexford's maritime development. Taking in the early days of the town, together with its best-known ships and seafarers, through to the construction of the harbour and the economic benefit and sometimes personal cost that the sea has brought, this beautifully illustrated volume is an important addition to the history of Wexford and to Irish maritime history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780750958936
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	05/05/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Nicky Rossiter is a writer and historian. His previous works include My Wexford, Remembering Wexford, and Streets of Wexford. He is a member of Wexford Historical Society and regularly broadcasts on South East Radio. Jack O'Leary is a maritime journalist who has written many articles for the Wexford Free Press.

Read an Excerpt

Maritime Wexford

The Life of an Irish Port Town

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By Jack O'Leary, Nicky Rossiter

The History Press

Copyright © 2014 Jack O'Leary & Nicky Rossiter
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7509-5893-6

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CHAPTER 1

SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

The sea and sailing has been part of the town we now call Wexford from its inception. The earliest peoples may have arrived in Ireland via a land bridge. It is, however, more likely that they came by sea and probably originated from what is now Wales. If they travelled by open boat from that direction the broad haven of Wexford Harbour would have been a natural attraction, with sandy beach or rocky crag coastline on either side of that haven. Such a landing is estimated as happening around 4000 BC. This date is supported by pollen evidence of forest clearing at Forth Mountain at that time. Pottery finds at Kerlogue and evidence of urn burial at the present Windmill Hill further support such a date for habitation.

With fresh water being one of the prime requirements of such a settlement there is little doubt that the three rivers feeding into the harbour, now known as the Bishopswater, the Peter and the Farnogue, would have been crucial to any decision. The Slaney is a tidal river and as such could not provide fresh water.

As these rivers would have been essential to settlement we may well question the accepted story of Wexford growing up around the present Selskar. However, there is a tradition of wells in that area, such as the one giving the name to the old Well Lane. Certainly the generally conjectured later monastic settlement in Selskar was relatively small and could have easily survived on such a water source. In later centuries a well in Wexford Castle would prove sufficient to the needs of the garrison.

The earliest printed representations of Wexford are of much later origin but they are based on the calculations of Ptolemy around AD 150 who in turn drew on the recollections of sailors. The 'map' commonly reproduced based on these calculations refers to the modern Wexford as in the land of the Menapii and led people to call the town Menapia. This is based on the Sacred Cape being interpreted as Carnsore Point and a river call Brigos being the Barrow. From this a river called Modonnus is said to be the Slaney. However, on some maps drawn from the data provided by Ptolemy, this river seems much further north, on the east coast. There is no representation of a river between these two in the land of the Brigantes. Also, while the Avoca and Boyne are noted there is no Liffey. Matters can be further confused by authors superimposing the 'straight line' Ptolemy map on modern representations of Ireland. As a result, it is difficult to know whether the orientation is wrong and we are Menapians or whether the Slaney was omitted from these maps and we are in fact Brigantines.

As Tacitus, the Roman historian, noted, Ireland's 'approaches and harbours have become better known from merchants who trade there' and as such it was sailors who should have known the coastline here best. Since Ptolemy used the recollections of sailors it is strange that the Slaney should have been missed off these maps if there was indeed local sea trade. The more we consider our history the less certain our earlier interpretations become.

Another matter of consideration is the later and more common name of the town and port. We hear of it as Loch Garman (or Carman) and the geography, along with the old mythical legend of how it was formed, fit this very well. Loch Garman (or Carman) feeds into the legend of Garman Garbh who is said to have stolen the diadem of his tribal queen. The queen enlisted help from a sorceress who struck a rock and caused water to pour forth and form the harbour, sweeping Garman Garbh up along with it. Somehow this legend would better suit a lake formation if we consider it more closely.

Inbhear Sláine is another old name that is less commonly used. It refers to the river and again the mythical name of Sláine.

Despite all of this speculation we have little real evidence of the names given to early Wexford settlements and local geographical points. The reason for this is that few maps were drawn of settlements at such times and few, if any, actually survive. In addition this was probably just a small cluster of houses around a monastic centre with little regional significance. It would be the Norse or Viking invasions and settlements, therefore, that caused the town and port to begin to take shape and acquire a recognisable name.

Through the first millennium the town may have grown from that small settlement but we have little evidence other than a religious story of St Ibar or Iberius or Iver and even then we find him living on the island of Begerin or Big Island out in the harbour rather than at the possible earlier monastic settlement. However, it is said that St Ibar would preach to the local peoples and amassed a great number of followers who would travel to his retreat at Begerin to hear him speak. This would surely have had an impact on any early Wexford settlement in the harbour.

It is in the year 888 that we first find the Norse longphort or 'defended on shore base' mentioned in this area. Evidently this harbour-based early settlement was considered worth defending but, a few decades later, the 'arrival of the great fleet' which overcame this shore-based fort and is generally accepted as the time when more substantial settlements were made in the area. Waterford was also established at this time. The foreigners of the area are mentioned in 933 with reference to the killing of the son of the lord of the Ui Chennselaig who were the old Irish chieftains of the region.

It is around this time that the current name begins to evolve. There are many theories as to the origin of the name 'Wexford'. Some cite the Norse term ueigsfiord, meaning the 'fiord of the waterlogged land', while others plump for waesfiord, meaning 'broad shallow bay'. Another suggestions is that it developed from a Scandinavian word vic meaning a market and that local tongues changed the v to w. There was a Vickfiord in Norway at that time. Whatever the origin the name evolved into Wexford over the next few centuries.

It is possible that Begerin was the first settlement in the Wexford Harbour area. Recent archaeological research has shown that the Vikings invariably took over an island in a river or harbour where possible before establishing themselves on the adjacent mainland. Islands were more easily defended in the event of an attack by the natives and it allowed time to establish contact with people on the mainland with a view to trading goods. Eventually they would have outgrown the island and moved to the mainland. This suggests that they did not rush in and take over the old settlement; rather they may have been attracted by the freshwater rivers of the Peter and the later Bishopswater or Horse River. Additionally the harbour was at its deepest in the area of the Crescent so much so that it was often later referred to as the Deep Pool. At the time it was of much greater extent, taking in the Stonebridge area of the current town above where the Horse River entered the harbour at Paul Quay. Again this name, Paul, has many interpretations. In one it is said to have evolved from the word 'pill', meaning tidal inlet, which then developed into 'pole' and finally Paul. The Norse settlement in the area was confirmed in recent decades with excavations showing the remains of their houses at Bride Street. Later digs in Oyster Lane showed no dwellings indicating that the shoreline probably reached the bottom of our Bride Street in the late 900s.

Along with Viking influences, the Norse presence is also still evident in the general area, with place names such as Cahore and Carnsore using ore, meaning headland, Saltee using ee for island and Selskar and Tuskar using skar for rock.

Philip Herbert Hore, the county historian, states that it was around the middle of the eleventh century that the fishing settlement of Loch Garman began to be known by the name of Weysford and that ships were built there and trade flourished.

An interesting observation that may corroborate the two distinct old Wexfords can be perceived through the local street names. Looking at the old monastic site we have streets named for later gentry and clergy – Croke, Mannix, Wigram and Monck – while at the south end, albeit much further south than the old Viking settlements, we have Hantoon, Saltee, Tuskar and Fishers Row.

In an article in the third Journal of the Old Wexford Society, John de Courcy Ireland states that, from these early days, the shallow draught at the harbour entrance caused problems but the people of Wexford were quick to turn it to their own advantage. They achieved this by designing and building their own ships capable of operating in the prevailing conditions and thus obtained a virtual monopoly on trade into the ancient port.

The next major event to affect Wexford also originated from the sea. The Normans landed at Baginbun, some miles away, and approached a town in 1169, which at that time was home to about2,000 people. As part of their attack on the town the Normans sent a raiding party who burned a number of unprotected boats. Tradition has it that this event gave rise to the crest of Wexford – three burning ships.

The town was taken but life went on with Wexford expanding its maritime role. Herring fishing formed a major part of this expansion and, when King Henry II visited Wexford in 1172, it is recorded that £40 was spent on such fish to feed his retinue.

In 1217 Wexford is again mentioned in the records when some Wexford men were killed in a row with others off the Isle of Man in 1217. In a similar vein, the fleets of several Irish towns, including Wexford, assisted Henry II in his battles with the Welsh. A slightly later record, dated 1255 and cited in Hore's History of the Town and County of Wexford, records one Roger de Evesham, clerk to the dean of St Martin's, London arriving safely at Wexford after enduring several tempests and being three nights at sea having travelled from the Welsh coast.

CHAPTER 2

MEDIEVAL TRADE

Trade through Wexford port was being officially recorded by the medieval era and the customs dues collected in the town between 4May 1275 and 14 April 1277 amounted to £10 4s. This sum was collected on exports only, as native merchants of the time could import goods free of duty. In 1275, Lucca, one of the independent merchant republics of Italy, was appointed as receiver of customs at ten ports. The fact that Wexford was one of those ports suggests that it already had a flourishing trade. Thirty-five years later, in1310, Wexford still rated as a principal port. Agents of Italian merchant bankers often oversaw the collection of customs dues at the time. This was because many of the wars and skirmishes of the time were financed on credit from these banks and the revenue collected went to repay the debt.

The principal exports of the day were fish, cloth wool and hides while inward trade included wine and salt.

In 1293 William Chatnell landed forty-one hogsheads of wine at Wexford from France and paid more than £8 in customs duty on the cargo. Ten years later two Wexford ships were importing wine from Bordeaux and subsequently carried salt from Le Collet in France.

In about 1353 the port took another step forward in the regulation of trade when Guilds of Staplers were established throughout the land. This guild of merchants was given a monopoly on the export of raw goods such as wool, hides and the like from the realm. Anyone wishing to sell such goods had to present them for sale in the so-called staple towns. Goods were deposited on the quays of towns like Wexford and there the staplers purchased them. The Guild of Staplers was probably formed so that the king's customs collector could superintend all exports and so more easily collect the relevant duties.

In 1375 Walter Pierce and Richard Hassan, Wexford merchants, were importing grain by sea from Dublin. Fishing also flourished in the fourteen century. When the Earl of Ormond spent Christmas in Wexford in 1393, the seneschal had an arrangement to supply him with fish. An interesting feature of this contract was a clause whereby the seneschal was fined £100 if the supply failed. Fishing was extremely important in that era as there were over 100 days of fast and abstinence each year in a Church-dominated world and fish was the only food permitted by Church Law on these occasions.

Wars also affected the trade of ports like Wexford. On 16 July1423 a writ was issued to the Sovereign and Provosts of Wexford ordering them to arrest all ships entering or already in port, along with their Masters, sailors and gear. These were to be sent to Beaumarys in Wales to provide transport for the Earl of March, Deputy of Ireland, and his army.

Wexford is clearly shown on maps drawn by continental cartographers of the time such as Baptista Boazio. The inclusion of the town on these charts indicates that its trade was international. There is evidence of a substantial trade in wine between Wexford, Gascony and Spain.

By 1560/61 75 per cent of the value of Irish hides entering Bridgwater in Somerset travelled on Wexford ships. In 1566Patrick Furlong carried eighteen barrels of white herring and10,000 red herring to Chester on the George while the John carried thirty barrels of white herring and another 10,000 red herring.

In the same period mantles were common cargoes from Wexford to La Rochelle in France. In 1587 fifteen of the twenty-four Irish vessels carrying coal from Milford in Wales were Wexford registered. Bristol imported two burdens of codfish from Wexford in 1591.

So common is foreign trade believed to have been that Stanyhurst (1547–1618), a Tudor chronicler, indicated that the natives of Wexford expressed themselves in a wide range of languages common to the different races frequenting the port.

Such a list of destinations and languages should not invoke visions of huge ships entering the port. Even in the sixteenth century there were reports of the 'barred haven' and the majority of the Wexford boats were probably of less than 6 ton burden in order to pass over the sandbar and into the harbour. In essence the Wexford sailors were travelling to far-flung destinations in what were sea-going versions of the Wexford cots. John de Courcy Ireland refers to them as the 'longest existing and most sea worthy of the traditional craft of north west Europe'. Such craft were at an advantage in trading with Bridgwater in Somerset because it too had a difficult harbour. Thirty-six Wexford boats traded with that port in 1560. They also traded with Bristol Channel ports and they carried the largest part of the cargoes of Welsh coal coming into Ireland in the early sixteenth century.

In 1539 Wexford had entered into an agreement with Chester for mutual trade between the two ports that would last until 1628. So great had the shipping fleet become that in 1598 it was stated that the combined ports of Wexford and Waterford operated more ships than all of the other ports of Ireland combined.

In 1634 Egerton describes the prosperity of Wexford fishing noting, 'the town boats bring up to £40 worth in a night'. At that time beer cost a shilling a gallon. Among the species being fished were bass, mullet, flukes, eels, hake, herrings, oysters, cockles, mussels and roe. The herrings were selling at 612 for 3d.

Oyster beds in the harbour were renowned and were a popular food for the general population. They are recalled in the name of Oyster Lane in Wexford where excavation in 1976 recovered many shells.

The herring shoals that had earlier deserted the Wexford coast were back in 1654 and huge catches were reported. This appears to have been sustained because in 1662 we see Wexford with twelve red-herring houses and five fish yards. In 1698 the fishermen of Folkestone and Aldborough complained to the House of Commons stating that they were injured by the Irish fishermen of Waterford and Wexford taking such quantities of herring from the fishing grounds. Their complaint was upheld.

CHAPTER 3

BEYOND THE BAY

It is said that parts of Odessa on the Black Sea would have been more familiar to Wexford sailors than the streets of Dublin. The life of a deep-sea sailor is often perceived as adventurous – sailing out of Wexford Harbour with the large canvas sails billowing in the breeze, bound for exotic locations – but such romantic ideas hid a hard occupation. 'Watches' were of four hours duration with a four-hour rest before going back on watch. The off hours were to be used for sleeping or for chores such as scrubbing or painting.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Maritime Wexford by Jack O'Leary, Nicky Rossiter. Copyright © 2014 Jack O'Leary & Nicky Rossiter. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents

Contents

Title,
Dedication,
Acknowledgements,
Introduction,
Glossary,
Types of Vessel,
1 Settlement and Development,
2 Medieval Trade,
3 Beyond the Bay,
4 Pilot Establishment,
5 Day-to-Day Running,
6 The Twentieth Century and the Decline,
7 Landward – Quays and Businesses,
8 Galatz and Beyond,
9 Further Maritime Adventures of Wexford Sailors,
10 Wars – Maritime Elements,
11 Wexford Sailors,
12 Wexford's Last Deep-Sea Sailing Vessel,
13 Emigrant Ships from Wexford,
14 The Angry Sea – Drownings and Wrecks,
15 Words and Music,
16 Harbour Structures,
17 Working Craft of Wexford Port,
18 Ancillary,
19 Flotsam and Jetsam,
Bibliography,
Copyright,