Difference between revisions of "Ballyhack, County Wexford"

From Wikishire
Jump to: navigation, search
(Created page with "{{Infobox town |name=Ballyhack |irish=Baile Hac |county=Wexford |picture=Ballyhack Harbour, Co. Wexford - geograph.org.uk - 212166.jpg |picture caption=Ballyhack Harbour |os g...")
 
(No difference)

Latest revision as of 18:14, 8 May 2024

Ballyhack
Irish: Baile Hac
County Wexford
Ballyhack Harbour, Co. Wexford - geograph.org.uk - 212166.jpg
Ballyhack Harbour
Location
Grid reference: S706107
Location: 52°14’38"N, 6°58’1"W
Data
Population: 206  (2016)
Dialling code: 051
Local Government

Ballyhack is a small village in the south-west of County Wexford, on the eastern shore of the Waterford Harbour, which is the joint estuary of the rivers known as 'The Three Sisters'.

History

Ballyhack Castle

The village contains a 15th-century Norman castle or tower house, which belonged to the Knights Hospitallers and was built around 1480,[1] though it is thought the site's use was initially as a Preceptory, as far back as the 12th-century.[2] The castle was occupied by Cromwellian forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1641, and was later used as a transportation point for those displaced by the Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652. It is from this association that the phrase "Go to Ballyhack" was coined.

The castle is open to the public, having been partially restored, and displays objects relating to the Crusades, the Normans, and mediæval monks. Some the features of the castle that are on view are its dungeon, murder-hole, effigies and oratory. The castle is denoted as a National Monument, in state care, number 516.[3]

Name

Ballyhack has been represented in Irish as Baile Hac and Baile Each. The derivation is believed to be from the Irish word for stable, seasmhach, and baile meaning town, village, home or settlement. Thus Ballyhack would mean the place or town of the stable.

About the village

The village contains a shop, a pub, an old schoolhouse, and a small quay for fishing boats. The village also features a memorial to those lost at sea, which was unveiled in 2015.[4]

A ferry service operates between Ballyhack and Passage East (County Waterford), over the broad estuary of The Three Sisters.[5]

A cemetery on a height near the edge of the village lies on the site of the former Ballyhack Church (Saint James's). The church was closed in the late 1800s, and demolished at some point before 1902. A point of interest in the graveyard includes a record of a Laurence Power, who supposedly died in 1836 at age 170.[6]

The school in the village is called St. Catherine's NS and is located on top of Ballyhack Hill. It opened in 1959.

Sport

  • Gaelic Athletics: St James GAA
  • Football: Duncannon FC

References