Wexford Castle was a medieval castle constructed during the 12th or 13th century. Work began on the castle after the Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland and took control of Wexford. The castle stood south of Wexford, just outside the defensive stone wall that encompassed the town. The town walls are traditionally attributed to King John and were finished in 1300 by Sir Stephen Devereux. After building the castle, the Anglo-Normans extended the town to the north.
The castle was demolished between 1723 and 1725. Its stones were reused to build the military barracks that still stands on the site. The entrance to the barracks is on Barrack Street, a few metres up from the intersection between King Street and South Main Street.
According to illustrations and descriptions, the castle sat upon a large mound that overlooked Wexford Harbour. The waters of the harbour would have been lapping at the base of this mound, as the Anglo-Normans began extensive seafront land reclamation in the late 12th century. Much of present-day Wexford Quay did not exist at the time. Further land reclamation projects expanded the quay at the beginning of the 19th century. The castle’s mound originally sat directly on the harbour waterfront.
The castle was a square structure with four towers, one at each corner, each topped with a cone-shaped shingle roof. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Anglo-Normans used it for administration, and the constable managed local military and policing matters. By the early 13th century, Wexford Castle had become the administrative centre of the emerging County Wexford. Authorities later used it as a jail.
A description of the castle from 1317 reads as follows:
There is one stone castle, in which are four towers roofed with slate, a great keep, and four buildings at the back, thatched with straw, all in good repair and condition.
In 1644, the French traveller M. Moullay le Gouz provided the following description:
The town is very populous, owing to its great commerce. The fortress (Wexford Castle) is a small square, regularly enough fortified, and washed by the sea. At the foot of this castle are many ruins of old churches, amongst others that of the Holy Trinity, towards which the women have great reverence, and come there in solemn procession.
Oliver Cromwell besieged Wexford from 1 October 1649 and gained entry by treachery on 11 October 1649. Cannon fire targeted and damaged the walls of the castle. Captain James Stafford, the Castle Constable at the time, surrendered the castle for reasons that remain unknown. After the castle fell, the town’s garrison fled their defensive positions, giving Cromwell’s troops the opportunity to scale the walls.
After the sacking of Wexford Town, the castle walls needed repair. This led to the ruination of many Catholic churches in the area, which were dismantled for building materials. St. Peter’s Church and St. Mary Magdalene’s Church fell victim to the anti-Catholic sentiment prevalent at the time.
During the Williamite-Jacobite wars, the town and castle were on opposing sides.
The barracks that replaced the castle was home to the North Cork Militia during the 1798 rebellion and was embroiled in it throughout. A series of militia regiments from across Ireland, along with English and Scottish soldiers, served garrison duty at the barracks on the castle site. The site played a role in the growth of republicanism in Wexford, the town’s reaction to the 1916 Rebellion, the War of Independence, and the Civil War.
During the Second World War, authorities used it for training the Local Defence Force (LDF). The Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (FCA) followed the LDF as the local defence force on the site. For a time, one wing of the barracks building was used as the local tax office.
No remains of the castle itself survive above ground. However, archaeological evidence of early defences at the site was uncovered in 1995 during the installation of the town’s main drainage. A bank and ditch predating the Anglo-Norman occupation were found at Barrack Street.
Map
A map showing where the castle once stood: