The county takes its name from the principal town, which was founded by the Norsemen in the tenth century as “Waesfjord”. A similar reference to Wexford Harbour, the large sheltered lagoon that is the reason for the town’s existence, is found in the Irish name. Its bounded E by St George’s Channel, S by Wexford bay, SW by Kilkenny, W by Carlow and N by Wicklow. The chief rivers are Nore and Barrow. It has two boroughs, Wexford and New Ross, each sending a member to parliament, and the county sends 2 more.

Some of the famous towns of Wexford are Wexford town, Enniscorthy, Gorey and New Ross. Wexford (Hotels, Wexford, Ireland) town is famous for its annual Opera Festival.

The surnames commonly found in the county include Bolger, Dempsey, Roche, Rossiter, Fanning, Walsh, Myers, Sinnott, Keogh, Murphy, Doyle, Furlong, Scallan, Brien, Brown, Stafford, Devereux and Kavanagh

Wexford was long noted for the prosperity of its farms and for its industrial farmers. It may have been for these reasons that Wexford suffered less than many Irish counties when the Great Famine struck in 1845. The rural population density in 1841 was one of the lowest in the country at 217 persons per square mile. There was considerable emigration especially from the north of the county, which continued throughout the 19th century. The county’s population was then 202,000 persons. By 1851 the population of Wexford (Self Catering, Wexford, Ireland) had fallen to 180,000 and by 1891 to 112,000. New York, Boston, Texas and Nova Scotia received the bulk of Wexford emigrants but some also settled in Argentina, Australia and England.

Wexford Genealogy Centre, Yola Farmstead, Tagoat, Co Wexford, Ireland

The Centre is based at the Yola Farmstead, which is a folk and theme park. It documents the history of the Yola people who are descendants of the first Norman settlers in southeast Ireland. These people have their origins in France, Flanders, Denmark and England. They intermarried with the native Irish and developed their own unique farming methods, customs, style of dress, hairstyle and language. The Wexford (Bed and Breakfasts, Wexford, Ireland) Genealogy Centre currently offers a partial service to enquirers and the indexation of genealogical records continues.

The main records include:
Roman Catholic Records for Co Wexford (Holiday Cottages, Wexford, Ireland) start in 1671.

Earliest Church of Ireland (Anglican/Episcopalian) records date from 1779. In addition the following genealogical sources have also been computerised

Cantwell’s Tombstone Inscriptions (partial)

RIC records

Griffith’s Valuation (circa 1853)

Bassett’s Directory (1885)

Thom’s Directory

Piggott’s Directory

The complete Set of Hore’s History of Wexford