Wexford Harbour

In earlier times, the area occupied by the harbour was considerably larger than it is today, up to ten miles (16 km) wide at its widest point, with large mud flats on both sides.

[2] Vikings arrived from Norway in 819 AD and founded the city of Wexford calling it Waes Fjord, meaning 'inlet of the mudflats', and the modern name has evolved from this.

[3] Over the course of about 300 years, the Norse settled in Wexford, intermarried with the local population and gradually converted to Christianity.

The Norse remained in control until 1169 AD when Wexford was attacked by a superior force of Norman and Irish soldiers.

In 1642, the Dublin government in a dispatch from London described Wexford as "a place plentiful in ships and seamen, and where the rebels have set up Spanish colours on their walls in defiance of the kings and kingdom of England, and have gotten in from foreign parts great stores of arms and ammunition".

Wexford Harbour was a marvellous base for operations; it was strategically located at the junction of the Irish Sea, the Western Approaches of the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean.

The difficult navigation of the harbour gave security to the locals, as larger attacking ships could not enter.

The sandbanks and narrow channels did not present much difficulty to the Dunkirk frigates or the local shallow draft cargo ships.

An army of 7,000 foot soldiers and 2,000 cavalry camped north of the town and sent a detachment to capture Rosslare fort at the mouth of the harbour.

Initially, Cromwell issued a summons to surrender, offering lenient terms in the hope that he could secure Wexford intact and use it as winter quarters for his troops.

Cromwell and his officers made no attempt to restrain their soldiers, who slaughtered the Wexford defenders and plundered the town.

In 1764 the historian Amyas Griffith wrote that Wexford's chief export was corn (2 million barrels per year), herrings, beer, beef, hides, tallow, butter etc.

[7] In the 19th century, dykes were built and pumping systems installed to drain the slobs, producing fine agricultural land below sea level in polders similar to those in the Netherlands.