Ireland Guide
Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford
Enniscorthy
Around 24km north of Wexford, the attractive old town of Enniscorthy straddles the River Slaney. Its main streets rise steeply from the river's west bank towards the Market Square where proudly stands a statue of two of the key figures in the 1798 Rebellion, Thomas Sinnott the pikeman and Father John Murphy. From here Rafter Street leads after a ten-minute walk to the National 1798 Centre (Easter– Sept Mon– Fri 9.30am–5pm Sat & Sun noon–4pm; Oct– Easter Mon– ri 9.30am–4pm; €6; 
www.iol.ie/~98com ), a high-tech sound-and-vision fest, capturing the excitement of events prior to the Rebellion, the Rising itself and its aftermath, all cogently set within broader intellectual and political contexts that brought about American independence and the French Revolution. There's a marvellous display on the conflict between revolution and counter-revolution set out on a giant chessboard. Another highlight is an audiovisual featuring an enthralling debate between actors playing the roles of the Dublin-born Whig politician and philosopher Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine, the English radical and American revolutionary whose Rights of Man (1792) was a direct riposte to Burke's more conservative Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). It was on the gorse-covered Vinegar Hill, opposite on the Slaney's eastern bank, that the rebels of 1798 met their demise at the hands of British forces.
Occupying a much revamped thirteenth-century castle just east of the Market Square, the Wexford County Museum ( 
053/923 5926) also owns plenty of relics from the 1798 campaigns, as well as items associated with the 1916 rebellion, such as the old clock from the GPO in Dublin – it's little known that there was a coordinated rising at Easter in Enniscorthy too, and the town surrendered a day after Dublin. At the time of writing, the museum was closed for renovation by the Office of Public Works, but due to reopen in 2008.
West from here, through the Market Square and along Main Street, is St Aidan's Cathedral, an imposing Gothic Revival edifice, designed by the English architect Augustus Pugin, whose other works include Killarney's St Mary's Cathedral and, in collaboration with Sir Charles Barry, the interior of the Palace of Westminster. St Aidan's was built between 1843 and 1850, its tower added the following year and a spire in 1871. However, the combination of the two later features proved too heavy for the supporting pillars and the tower's lower section had to be removed. Much longer than wide and with an impressively high ceiling, the interior features high pointed arches, an oak carved pulpit, beautiful stained-glass windows depicting saints and bishops, and a small exhibition on Pugin's career.
Practicalities
Buses set down outside the Bus Stop Shop on The Shannon Quay on the eastern bank of the Slaney. The train station is on the same side of town, west of Templeshannon, which leads south to Enniscorthy Bridge. The tourist office is in the National 1798 Centre (same hours; 053/923 4699).
Enniscorthy boasts a top-notch hotel, 
Riverside Park on The Promenade near the 1798 Centre ( 053/923 7800, www.riversideparkhotel.com ; Price: €150-200), with modern, attractive rooms, many of which overlook the river, and its own indoor pool, gym and sauna. Out on the Gorey road, Monart ( 053/923 8999, www.monart.ie ; Price: €300-400) is an impressive, contemporary spa hotel set around a lake in extensive private woodlands, with over seventy treatments available and a fine restaurant. For B&B try the cosy standard and en-suite rooms at Maura Murphy's, 9 Main St ( 054/33522, www.dirl.com/wexford/enniscorthy/maura-murphy.htm ; Price: €60-90), which is very centrally placed near Market Square with its own car park; or, below Vinegar Hill, Ivella, 9 Rectory Rd ( 053/923 3475, www.dirl.com/wexford/ivella.htm ; Price: €60-90), an attractive old house with standard accommodation.
Good food in town can be found at the Tex-Mex Alamo Restaurant in the Riverside Park Hotel or at the Galo Chargrill, 19 Main St ( 053/923 8077; closed Mon), which specializes in traditional Portuguese cuisine. For an atmospheric pint head to The Antique Tavern, down Slaney Street from the Market Square, an old bar with a wealth of local photos and memorabilia on its walls and an upstairs balcony for absorbing views of the river and Vinegar Hill. On the quays just north of here, The Bailey ( 053/923 0353) does a bit of everything: converted from an old warehouse and decorated in plush, Victorian style, this new café-bar offers good food, regular live gigs and a weekend nightclub.
Enniscorthy's Strawberry Festival ( www.wexfordstrawberryfestival.com ) takes over a weekend at the end of June or the beginning of July and includes lots of entertainment and events as well as punnet-loads of Wexford strawberries.