AN OCCASIONAL dip into the pages of the quaint and long out of date Chronicles of the County Wexford down to the year 1877, by George Griffiths, is worthwhile. Griffiths operated out of the Watchman printing works, long gone, in Enniscorthy. He gathered information for his "chronicles" from diverse sources, including old newspapers, manuscripts and biographies of eminent persons.
Griffiths tells the story of the seven sisters brought forth at one birth at Ballybrennan. He takes the trouble to record from Aubray's Natural History of Wiltshire that Thomas Bonham and his wife, Edith, who died in 1473 and 1469 respectively, had as many as seven children at once.
Griffiths continues: "It is stated in the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1798, that in the Commune of Verchoque, Department of Pas de Calais, the wife of Pierre Duisane had six children at one birth ... Dinora Salvitte, wife of a member of an old Florentine house, gave birth to 52 children in all."
Great Families
Among the great families of Co Wexford Griffiths lists the Esmonde family, of whom he says that they "came to this country in the reign of Henry II from a place called East Mount (hence the name) and obtained large possessions in the north in the vicinity of the present Ballynastragh, and had long to contend with the septs of the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles of Wicklow".
There is an interesting reference to Rosslare, the famous holiday resort. Quoting from the Southwell Papers, Griffiths finds that in the 16th century, Rosslare was the property of a family called Scurlocke. A, Dr Rowland Scurlocke, a physician to Queen Mary and later to Queen Elizabeth, received a grant of the Manor of Rosslare.
Griffiths travelled to the British Museum, where he found an account of a visit to Wexford in 1634. This was written by Sir William Brereton, a man of wealth who came over from England with the intention of making some investments in Ireland. Brereton wrote: "The most of the women are barenecked and clean skinned and wear a crucifix, tied in a black necklace hanging between their breasts - it seems they are not ashamed of their religion, nor desire to conceal themselves - and indeed, in this town (Wexford) there are many Papists."
Griffiths records a singular burial custom which he states was observed until about 1825 and which he found in the graveyard of the old Priory Church of St John, near Enniscorthy. According to Griffiths, the body was buried without a coffin but in a grave richly lined with green sods. "No keening was ever practised, or lamentation, beyond the suppression of the workings of natural grief. The last ceremony of this kind we can hear of taking place here was at the funeral of John Doyle of Craan.
The great toll of the treacherous waters of the Irish Sea on shipping is well recorded. We find:
1852: The Town of Wexford paddle steamer totally wrecked near Holyhead on her voyage to Liverpool - no lives were lost. She was the only steamship ever built in the port of Wexford and was the property of John Edward Redmond.
1874: The iron ship River Krislina wrecked on Tuskar Rocks.
1844: The ship Minerva lost on Blackwater Bank.
1854: The schooner Victoria of Wexford lost with all hands at Portrane.
1852: The ship Caroline, laden with Indian corn and bound for Liverpool, wrecked two miles east of the Hook Lighthouse.
1868: The brig Ulswater from Liverpool, outward bound, lost at Ballymoney when only one man was saved of the whole crew.
1814: The ship Soho of Liverpool wrecked at Ballynesker.
1850: The ship Hottingeur, bound from Liverpool to New York, wrecked on Blackwater Bank. The same day, the Russian brig Geisler Adolph from Koningsberg to Liverpool was wrecked at Ballygeary. In both cases, the crews were saved by the praiseworthy exertions of the country people.
There is this interesting note for the year 1793: "A premium of £5 8s was granted by the Royal Dublin Society to William Webster, a resident of the County Wexford, for having planted during the previous two years 23,390 forest trees." Quoting from an old newspaper, Griffiths notes that in 1854 "Mrs McSweeney, sister to the `Liberator', died at Wexford."
Wantonly Destroyed
Vandalism is not new, apparently. Griffiths notes: "The school of the Christian Brothers, Enniscorthy, was entered by breaking the windows and a large number of schoolbooks wantonly destroyed, 1859. Same night, the premises of the Presentation Convent of the town was entered, when an amount of property was destroyed and a small sum of money stolen."
There is a link with the 1798 Rebellion contained in the Chronicles. Griffiths notes that Colonel Myles Byrne of the French army died in Paris 1862. "Colonel Byrne was a native of Monaseed, Co Wexford, and was one of those who had to flee the country for his part in the 1798 insurrection. He entered the French army and served in Holland, Spain, Portugal and Germany." We learn that Admiral Sir Robert McClure, the discoverer of the North West Passage, was born in the town of Wexford in 1807.
Another note of interest is as follows: "Myles Kehoe, a native of the County Wexford, died in Rathdowney Union Workhouse aged 109 years, 1861. He took an active part in the rebellion of 1798 and was present at the battles of Oulart Hill, Tubberneering and Vinegar Hill. He was also out in Emmet's rebellion in 1803."
There is a noteworthy reference to Patrick Kennedy, bookseller, of Anglesea Street, Dublin, who died aged 73 years in 1873 and of whom Ben Kiely has often written. Kennedy was author of Legends of Mount Leinster, Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts and Banks of the Boro. A student of French literature, Kennedy was well known to the literati of his day.