Old Ross

Old Ross was one of the principal manors of Strongbow’s descendants in Co. Wexford. In the partition of the Leinster estate in 1247 it passed to Maud, the wife of Hugh Bigod, earl of Norfolk, and thereafter to various English families. Accounts surviving from the 1280s and 1290s reveal that it was a considerable settlement with perhaps 60 households. A description in 1305 mentions two old halls, a chapel, kitchen, grange, and gardens. The location is not known precisely, but on the pattern of English rural settlements it probably lay between the motte and bailey (WX030-052001-) and the church site (WX030-053001-). There was also a stone castle (WX030-052002-) from at least the 16th century. Robert Leigh describes the settlement as an old castle out of repair and 50 cabins in the 1680s (Hore, H.F. 1858-9, 453-4). (Hore 1900-11, vol. 1, 9-39; Bradley and King 1990, 134-6) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 15 August, 2012