Site of Rosslare Fort — Rosslarefort

Located on the N tip of a N-S sand-spit (original L c. 5.5km; max. Wth c. 450m at S) forming the E side of Wexford Harbour S of the estuary of the River Slaney, which was a channel (Wth c. 1.3km) with Raven Point on the N side (1839 ed. of the OS 6-inch map). A fort is marked on Boazio’s map (1599) and on Speed’s map (1610). It was refortified with seven guns by the Confederate Catholics in 1642, but its garrison surrendered at the approach of Cromwellian troops on the sand-bar from the S on the 10th October 1649 (Hore 1900-11, vol. 5, 285-7). The fort is marked on the Down Survey map (1655-6) as a rectangular feature with a single projecting bastion at the E angle (NLI, ms 725, V 13). It became a station for Revenue officers and pilots from the Cromwellian period, as well as a fishing settlement. In 1798 it was held by 200 rebels with three pieces of artillery but they were forced to abandon it by a naval force under Capt. Thomas Williams on 21 June (Kerrigan 1983). A martello tower was built in 1805-06 at a cost of £2,300 (Kerrigan 1995, 182-3), which is probably the site of a tower N of the fort marked on the 1839 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. Around 1800 a Catholic chapel was opened in an upstairs room at the S angle of the Square, an open cobbled area at the N end of the village that probably represents the core of the fort and was reserved for the Revenue. There were about ten regular pilots who lived communally S of the Square (Kehoe 1972, 48-50). There was a wooden lighthouse at the point, and a flagstaff with a series of large balls suspended on it indicated the state of the tides. The Revenue officers were withdrawn in the 1850’s, and the chapel closed soon afterwards, with the school shutting in 1882. However, a Lifeboat station was established at the fort from 1838-51, and again as Wexford No. 2 from 1859-1897 when it was transferred to Rosslare Harbour, but Wexford No. 1 continued at the Fort until 1924 (Turner 1972; Kavanagh 2004, 23). The sand-spit was breached in two places by the sea in 1924, and of necessity the settlement was abandoned in January 1925 (Kehoe 1974-5, 44). The original fort was undoubtedly occupied later by the courtyard of the Revenue officers (ext. dims. c. 40m NE-SW; c. 40m NW-SE), but their houses as marked on the 1839 and 1903 eds of the OS 6-inch map are probably 18th century in date. The site of a rectangular tower (dims c. 18m E-W; c. 13m N-S) N of the Square as marked on the OS 6-inch maps is the martello tower mentioned in a survey (Shaw-Mason 1819, vol. 3, 403) that also enumerates 11 houses around the Square and two outside it. A small rectangular structure is marked on the 1839 ed. of the OS 6-inch map outside the E angle of the Square and described in gothic lettering as a watch house. This tower would enable the Revenue officers and the pilots to see ships approaching the harbour at a greater distance, and would be part of the 18th century accoutrement of the fort. The narrow part of the sand-bar (L c. 3km) has now been washed away and the fort is inaccessible, but a few walls are still to be seen above the water. See the attached view from the Down Survey parish map (N at right) reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland (Ms 725). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 18 January 2013