Discover the Norman way of life in the place where it first took hold in Ireland.
Click on the ‘Find out more…’ on the sites below to learn more about them and see exactly where they are.
Rosslare Harbour
An important maritime gateway for centuries, from Rosslare Harbour it is a short journey to Wales and southern England.
Ladys Island
As you explore Ladys Island you will find an impressive Norman castle and tower, along with the remains of medieval church and graveyard.
St Iberius Church
The Normans were devout Christians. Thanks to this, medieval religious structures such as St Iberius’ Church are still standing here today.
Tacumshane Windmill
The Normans introduced vertical tower windmills like this one to Ireland.
St Catherines Church
Walk amongst these elaborate ruins to discover medieval church architecture at its best.
Sigginstown Castle
This tower house is a wonderful example of the sheer building height that was made possible after the Normans introduced their expert stone construction techniques to the area.
Ishartmon Church
With three of the four main walls still intact, including the spectacular west gable wall, it is easy to visualise how Ishartmon Church would have looked in Norman times.
Tomhaggard
Tomhaggard is a historic village situated on the edge of two Norman territories, known as ‘baronies’.
Ballyhealy Castle
By the 15th century, when this tower-house was built, Ireland had become one of the most castellated landscapes in Europe.
Grange Church
Some of the surnames found in this graveyard are evidence that many of the early Normans to arrive in Ireland stayed in this part of Wexford and made it their home.
Kilmore Quay
This seaside village is bustling with modern boats while the image above shows the kind of vessel the Normans would have used to cross the seas all those centuries ago.
Killag Church
This ruined church was once the centre of the Norman parish of Ballymagir.
St. Imoges Church
This ancient church site is dedicated to St. Imoge and, as with many medieval sites, a church is likely to have existed here before the coming of the Normans to Ireland.
Duncormick
Duncormick is located on the River Muck, a strategic location with a long history of settlement.
Coolhull Castle
Coolhull Castle is a fine example of a late medieval fortified home.
The Bannow Font
The church in Carrig-on-Bannow contains an extremely rare Romanesque font which is one of the finest examples of medieval carving in the region, the ‘Bannow Font’.
Bannow
The Normans built a settlement here, just a few hundred metres from the site of the first landing of Norman forces in Ireland.
The Little Sea
The medieval ruins visible across Bannow Bay are all that remains of the town of Clonmines, the best example of a deserted medieval settlement in Wexford.
Tintern Abbey
A Cistercian abbey founded by the \'greatest knight who ever lived\', William Marshal.
Saltmills
Saltmills gets its name from the tidal mills built here by the monks from Tintern Abbey nearby.
Fethard Castle
The Normans built the ‘motte’ to the rear of this site soon after they arrived in the 12th century. The stone castle was built later, in the 14th century.
Baginbun
A folk memory suggests that this place gained its name because the Norman ships which landed here were named ‘La Bague’ and ‘La Bonne’.
Loftus Hall
‘Redmond’ is a popular surname in this part of Ireland. The Norman knight, Raymond Le Gros is the original ‘Redmond’ in Ireland. There are historical references to Raymond’s descendants living in ‘Redmond Hall’ on this site in the 16th century.
Slade Harbour
The castle in this picturesque fishing village was built in the 15th century by the Norman-descended Laffan family. The adjacent salt-house was constructed in the 17th century and was used to salt the fish that was landed at Slade Harbour.
Hook Lighthouse
Hook Lighthouse was built in the early 13th century to help ships safely navigate the treacherous Wexford coastline.
St Dubháns Church
St. Dubhán’s Church is an example of a Norman church with a nave and chancel. The site itself, however, is much earlier and was founded in the 5th century by St. Dubhán.
Templetown
This site was the headquarters of the Knights Templar in Wexford.
Duncannon Fort
The name ‘Duncannon’ comes from Irish and means ‘the fort of the son of Conan’. It is therefore possible that there was already a small settlement here before the arrival of the Normans in the late 12th century.
Ballyhack
The Cistercian monks from the nearby Dunbrody Abbey developed Ballyhack Castle to protect both its fishing community and the ferry route to Passage East on the Waterford side of the estuary.
Dunbrody Abbey
Dunbrody Abbey is a Cistercian abbey founded by the Norman knight Hervey de Montmorency on lands granted to him by the local Irish king Diarmuid McMurrough in 1169.
Kilmokea
Standing on the River Barrow, the pre-Norman monastery at Kilmokea was an important early church foundation located on an island. Following land reclamation in the 19th century the area is now part of the mainland.
John F. Kennedy Arboretum
This arboretum is named after U.S. president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The name Fitzgerald came to Ireland with the Norman Conquest.
The Kennedy Homestead
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States of America and could trace his ancestry back to Ireland. The ancestry of the Fitzgeralds in Ireland can be traced back to the Norman conquest.
Stokestown Castle
Stokestown Castle is a tower house which probably dates to the 15th century. Its medieval design makes this short tower quite the iconic structure as it sits nestled within this modern working farmyard.
St Marys Church
St. Mary’s was originally built in the early 1200s by the Norman knight William Marshal and his wife Isabel, the founders of the town of New Ross.
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