Towns in South East Wexford
Natural Landscape of South East Wexford
Towns in South East Wexford
Carne
Carne is a little fishing village in the south east of Ireland. It boasts a fine sandy beach which gets very busy in the summer time. The pier in Carne provides sheltered harbour for local fishing boats. It is a popular place for beach casting and boat fishing. There is a caravan and camping park with a pub and fast food restaurant on the premises that backs onto the sand dunes of the beach. Also located nearby is the well renowned Lobster Pot seafood restaurant.
Our Lady's Island
Throughout its history Our Lady's Island has been associated with religious significance. The lake itself is actually a shallow lagoon separated from the open sea by a shingle bank. The Island was the site of an ancient monastery dedicated to Our Lady, Blessed Virgin Mary mother of Jesus. The island is connected to the mainland by a causeway and is the site of a well known pilgrimage held annually in August. It was the site of an ancient monastery dedicated to Our Lady. The ruins of the Augustinian Priory are still to be seen, as is the Norman tower which leans at a greater angle than the tower at Pisa. It has been an important place of pilgrimage since early Christianity and continues to be today. The pilgrimage season starts of the 15th August and continues until the 8th September. The small church here was plundered by Cromwell in 1649.
Rosslare Harbour
Rosslare Harbour is a village in the south east of County Wexford, Ireland. The village was established to serve the needs of the harbour of the same name. The harbour itself is now called Rosslare Europort. A previous settlement called Ballygeary was nearer to the harbour but the name Rosslare comes from the village of Rosslare about 4 km north along the coast this village is now known as Rosslare Strand. Rosslare Harbour has a number of guest houses, hotels, a Roman Catholic church, a bank and some shops. Just south of the harbour is a small strand leading to Greenore Point, where grey seals are usually to be seen.
Tacumshane
Tacumshane (meaning "Sean's House") is a small village in the south east of County Wexford, Ireland. The name of the village is often misspelt as "Tacumshin" as opposed to "Tacumshane". The lake and townsland is spelt "Tacumshin", while the village and parish are spelt "Tacumshane". Tacumshin Parish is the birthplace of Commodore John Barry who is often refered to as "The Father of the American Navy". A statue of John Barry now stands in the cresent in Wexford town which was presented by the United States of America in 1956.
In the village a windmill was built in 1846, and this was used until 1936. This makes it the last windmill in the Republic of Ireland to work commercially. The windmill building was renovated in the 1950s. To gain access to the interior of the building a key can be obtained from the nearby shop, "The Millhouse Bar".
Natural Landscape of South East Wexford
Lakes
The two lakes in the area Our Lady's Lake and Tacumshin Lake are infact technically back-barrier seepage lagoons. These are the only two known to exist in Ireland. Both lakes are listed as Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under EU Habitats Directive. They are partially saline due to sea water breaking over the barriers that were established to cut their outlets to the sea many years ago. The lakes are heavily vegetated with large amounts of eel grass and other aquatic vegetation.
Our Lady's Lake is an important breeding ground for terns. It is estimated that the lake is home to over 1,200 breeding pairs of Sandwich Terns and, more importantly, to 76 breeding pairs of the rare Roseate Tern. Not to be out done, Tachumshin Lake is a favourite with bird watchers too. It attracts some rare American waders in Autumn, as well as internationally important concentrations of Bewick's swans, Brent geese, wigeon, oystercatchers, golden plover and lapwing. The southern half of Our Ladys Lake is used for sailing and windsurfing but there is a ban on these in the northern half to avoid disturbing the important nesting grounds.
Beaches
Due to their flat sandy nature and powerful tidal flows many of the beachs in this area of Wexford experience significant costal erosion and sand shifting. Some measures have been taking to counter this with timber breakwaters and boulder placement which are designed to retain sandy
deposits along the beach.
The beaches of Carne, St. Margarets, Ballytrent and St. Helens located between Carne and Rosslare are fine safe beaches for swimming. The beach of Rosslare Strand a little north of Rosslare Harbour is a blue flag beach and is lifeguarded from 11-7 weekends in June and from 11-7 daily July and August.
The stretch of beach from Carnsore Point south past Tacumshane towards Kilmore is unsafe due to deep water and powerful rip tides, however this beach and the rocks around Carnsore point itself are popular with anglers for the same reasons.
Headlands
Greenore Point is at the southern extremity of the open Bay of Wexford. This is a popular spot for watching the ferries leave and arrive at Rosslare Europort. Also it is a good location for seal watching.
Carnsore Point is the most south easterly point in Ireland. It was the proposed site for a nuclear power plant during the 1970s. However public pressure and protests including concerts held at the point itself led to these plans being abandoned. It now has fourteen windturbines on the site and is a popular location for dog walking. A large boulder is on the headland marking the Wexford costal path , Sli Gharman in irish. On the boulder is a plaque describing how the local igneous rocks were formed.