ROSSLARE

ROSSLARE, a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 7 miles (S. E. by S.) from Wexford; containing 897 inhabitants. The parish, which is peninsular, is situated on the eastern side of Wexford Harbour, its northern extremity forming the southern side of the entrance to the harbour. It comprises 1744 statute acres of well-cultivated land, exclusive of an extensive rabbit burrow, or sand bank, a portion of which has been enclosed within the last few years. In 1814 an English company expended nearly £30,000 in attempting to reclaim a large tract of land from the harbour; but just as the enclosure was completed, the tide during a heavy gale of wind made a breach in the embankment; and the company having exhausted their funds, and being unable to repair the damage, James Boyd, Esq., lord of the manor, took possession of it, and succeeded in reclaiming about 200 statute acres (about one-fourth of the tract originally embanked), which are now in cultivation, and have produced good crops of corn: it is considered that the remainder of the tract might still be reclaimed at a comparatively small expense. In excavating for the drains, a number of the roots and stems of oak trees, and several antlers, were discovered; similar remains have also been found in a small bog. Marl abounds, and, together with sea weed, is used for manure.

With a view to afford employment for children, a quantity of the sea weed called alga marina was lately collected, and, after its saline properties had been extracted, it was sent to Dublin and Liverpool for making mattresses and cushions, for which it has been found well adapted: it is still occasionally collected.

A considerable herring fishery is carried on in Rosslare bay, in which about 30 boats belonging to this place are engaged during the season; these are joined by boats from Kilmore and other places.

A new road, about two miles in length, has been lately made from Rathdowney Point towards the southern part of the peninsula, which cuts off a considerable angle of the old road from Wexford. On its extreme northern point is situated the coast-guard station called Rosslare fort, a quadrangular range of buildings, containing ten houses, being the chief of the five stations comprised in the Wexford district. Near the fort is the pilot station of the Wexford Quay corporation; the establishment consists of 14 pilots, and an officer or chief pilot: three of the former are generally in attendance on the quay at Wexford. Rosslare House, the residence of James Boyd, Esq., is a handsome mansion, commanding an extensive and diversified prospect of the town, bridge, and shipping of Wexford, and of several seats and plantations in the vicinity: it is surrounded by a plantation of evergreens, which, notwithstanding the sandy soil and its proximity to the sea, is in a flourishing condition: twelve years since there was not a single tree at Rosslare. Near Mr. Boyd's mansion is the neat residence of Nath. Vicary, Esq., also surrounded by a thriving plantation of evergreens.

The parish is in the diocese of Ferns, and is a rectory and vicarage, forming part of the union of Kilscoran (also called the union of Tacumshane) and corps of the chancellorship of Ferns: the tithes amount to £192. 8. 3 ¾, and there is a small glebe of about ¾ of an acre.

In the R. C. divisions it is part of the union or district of Tagoat, and has a neat chapel at that village, which see. A school-house was erected, and the school for a time supported as a seminary for literary instruction, by Mr. Boyd, aided by the subscriptions of some other gentlemen; it is now used solely as a place for teaching needlework. About 40 children are educated in a school at Tagoat patronised by the parish priest. The ruins of the old church still exist: those of an ancient chapel at Rosslare, called St. Breoch's, or St. Bridget's, were taken down some years since.