WEXFORD, the county-town, is situate on the southern side of the mouth of the Slaney, where it falls into Wexford haven. It was founded by the Danes, and after having
been taken by the English on their first landing in Ireland, became a place of some importance. It obtained a charter in 1318, which was confirmed and enlarged by James I. in 1608. A parliament was held in it by the Earl of Desmond in 1463. At the breaking out of the war of 1641, it took part with the Irish, and continued in their possession till taken in 1649 by Cromwell, either by force or treachery, when the inhabitants, like those of Drogheda, were subjected to military execution. In the war of 1688 it declared for King William, and in the insurrection of 1798 was seized and occupied by the insurgents until their main body was utterly defeated at Vinegar Hill near Enniscorthy. The town still retains many vestiges of antiquity. The streets are narrow and winding. It is connected with the northern part of the county by a wooden bridge, 722 feet long, thrown across the Slaney. A broad quay proceeds from the bridge along the border of the haven for upwards of half a mile. The corporate jurisdiction of the town under the charter of James is vested in a mayor, burgesses, and commons. The mayor holds a court of conscience for debts under 40s. The county court-house, prison, union workhouse, infirmary, and fever-hospital are in the town. The borough exercised a prescriptive right of returning two members to the Irish parliament, which number was reduced to one at the Union. The number of electors in 1859 was 301. By the municipal corporation act for Ireland the corporation was dissolved, and power granted to form a new corporate body, according to conditions expressed in the act, under the name of "the mayor, bailiffs, free burgesses, and commonalty of the town or borough of Wexford." Nine fairs are held during the year. The town is the principal place of export for the county. Together with the suburbs, it forms an ecclesiastical union, consisting of eleven parishes, in which there are two churches. There are also several Roman Catholic chapels, some of which belong to monastic institutions. The population was, in 1821, 8326; in 1831, 10,673; in 1841, 11,252; and in 1851, 12,471. In 1834 the members of the Established Church numbered 2031, the Protestant dissenters 28, and the Roman Catholics 12,641; the Protestants being to the Roman Catholics as 1 to 6. The population of the other towns in the county whose numbers exceed 1000 each was, in 1851, Enniscorthy, 6095; New-Ross, 7941; Gorey, 2973. (H. S.—R.)