The western side of Wexford’s town wall, near the remnants of Selskar Abbey.
The Norse-Irish town of Wexford underwent many changes in the 12th century.
In 1169, the town was besieged by a Norman force that had landed in Bannow Bay. The small army, which was led by Robert Fitz-Stephen and the recently deposed King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, took control of Wexford after two bishops advised its inhabitants to surrender.
In the years that followed, a wave of Norman influence began to alter the fabric of the town.
One of the most striking additions to Wexford during this period was the construction of a large stone wall, which looped around the town in the shape of a C, running from West Gate and Selskar Abbey to the site of Wexford Castle in Barrack Street.
This wall encompassed an area of roughly 240,000 square metres (24 hectares).
Town wall map
A map of the town wall can be seen below:
A map showing the approximate line of the wall.
The red dots on the map pinpoint the locations of the town gates, of which there were seven:
- West Gate: Demolished. Located in Westgate, near Redmond Square. It was named “West Gate” because it provided access to the west of the county.
- Selskar Gate: The only gate that has survived. Situated beside the grounds of Selskar Abbey. Unlike the others, it did not provide general access to the town.
- John’s Gate: This was located on John’s Gate Street, near the library.
- Friar’s Gate: Situated on Mary Street, near The Friary (the narrow street that the leads you down to High Street). In later times, it was sometimes referred to as Raby’s Gate.
- Peter’s Gate: This stood at the entrance to St. Peter’s Square, at top of Peter Street.
- Bride Gate: Ran across Bride Street, just around the corner from the existing public car park.
- Castle Gate: This was located on Barrack Street, next to Wexford Castle.
Almost all of the gates that are listed above were removed by the Wexford Corporation back in the late 18th century, a decision that was made to facilitate the growing levels of traffic within the town.
The darkened part of the map that is labeled “Reclaimed Land” marks the general area of Wexford’s shoreline that was reclaimed in later years. When the town wall was first built, the waters of the harbour came in much further than they do today. In those days, places such as Redmond Square and the Crescent Quay were a part of the harbour. In fact, the water came up so far that Temperance Row outside Selskar Abbey was used as a loading bay for sheep (hence its previous name, the “Hai Bay”).
Mural towers
There are three publicly-viewable mural towers, which would have allowed the inhabitants of Wexford to defend large stretches of the wall.
A cylindrical mural tower near George’s Street.
These mural towers had narrow slit windows and battlements at the top. Earlier-built mural towers were rectangular in shape, while the towers from the 13th century onward tended to have a more cylindrical shape.
A rectangular mural tower in the Rowe Street Church car park, close to where John’s Gate once stood.
The existence of both styles of mural towers has led many to believe that the wall was built over a lengthy period of time.
Construction and upkeep
The part of the wall that runs from Abbey Street to Selskar Abbey is still standing, which suggests that it was built at a later date.
The existence of cylindrical mural towers also reinforces this theory. Many parts of the southern section of the wall (from High Street to Barrack Street) failed to survive, likely due to the damper marshy grounds that it was built on.
It is presumed that construction of the wall began in the early 1200s. If we extrapolate the time that it took to build similar walls in other parts of Ireland, then we can estimate that it took roughly 50 years to build.
A circular mural tower exists at the wall in Abbey Street.
Over the years, it is highly likely that the wall around Wexford town needed ongoing maintenance work. References to toll collections for “the repair of the town’s defences” during the 1300s lend credence to this theory. During the 1500s, the Mayor of Wexford felt that the walls were in such a bad condition that they had effectively left the town in a defenceless state. As a result, he asked for a rent amnesty of sorts—the idea being that said rent money could be directed towards the cost of the repair work.
The cost of maintaining the walls seems to have created a divide between the northern half of the town and the southern half, both of which were given the responsibility of maintaining their respective parts of the wall. During a court hearing in the 1400s, it was heard that the south side of Wexford was able to generate more revenue than the northern half. The court ruled that both sides should combine their revenue and that maintenance work should be carried out without preference for north or south.
In recent times, the wall in Abbey Street was “preserved” and repaired to a certain extent, making it look younger than what it is (lime mortar was used instead of cement, I’m assured). The reason they don’t restore structures like this to their original state (colour, etc) is because doing so may confuse or impede the study of the wall by future generations. When it comes to historical structures, it seems as though preservation is favoured over restoration.
