Best Historic Places in County Wexford, Republic of Ireland - Map and Reviews

Loftus Hall is set in a bleak and open site on the Hook Peninsula overlooking Waterford harbor and Dunmore East, 12 miles from Waterford. Loftus Hall is a huge rectangular nine bay mansion house built over 3 floors. It is set on a site of 63 acres of arable land with its own private beach. The Hall is in good repair and consists of 22 bedrooms and 7 reception rooms. One of the outstanding features of the mansion is the hand-carved oak staircase. The original hall was built during the period of the 'Black Death' in 1350 by the Redmond family. During Cromwell's invasion it was confiscated from the family and handed over to the Loftus family in the 1650's who had to repair the hall from the considerable damage caused by cannon fire. The head of the family had many titles but in the 1800's was created Marquess of Ely. In 1870 the hall was demolished by the 4th Earl and the present hall was built on its foundations. The only remaining parts of the old hall that were left were the foundations of a circular tower and an underground passage. The new hall was very up market for its time including a handmade Italian staircase, gas lighting and central heating. In 1917 the hall was sold to the Holy Order of the Sisters of Providence. They converted the hall into a school and convent for young girls and it remained in their care until 1983. This time it was converted into a hotel by Michael Devereaux but in the late 1990's it was forced to close. The hall remained in the Devereaux family until 2008. It is currently owned by the Quigley family. The hall is a tourist attraction with guided tours of the property and vartious events are hosted there. The Arts A film 'The Legend of Loftus Hall was released in 1993 and another with title 'Loftus Hall' was released in 2014. Legends It is believed that in 1762 a man visited the house from a ship docked on the Hook Peninsula. Anne Loftus invited him into the house and noticed he had a cloven foot, she screamed and the man went up through the roof in a puff of smoke leaving a large hole which could never be properly repaired.

Vinegar Hill, rising modestly above the town of Enniscorthy in County Wexford, is one of the most historically charged sites in all of Ireland. The windmill tower that crowns its summit stands as a stark, roofless stone sentinel overlooking the surrounding countryside, and it is inseparable from the tragic and heroic events of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. The hill and its ruined mill are deeply embedded in Irish national memory, representing both the fierce aspirations and the devastating defeat of the United Irishmen who made their last stand here. For anyone interested in Irish history, landscape, or the quiet weight that certain places carry, Vinegar Hill is a genuinely moving and rewarding destination. The windmill tower itself dates to the eighteenth century, though its exact construction date is uncertain. It is a circular rubble-stone structure, roofless and open to the sky, typical of the tower mills once common across Wexford and the broader region. By the time of the 1798 rebellion it was already a prominent local landmark, and the United Irishmen used it as a command post and signal point during their occupation of the hill. The summit served as the rebel headquarters through much of May and June 1798, a period during which tens of thousands of insurgents camped on and around the hill. The British Crown forces, under General Lake, launched their decisive assault on 21 June 1798, bombarding the position with artillery and forcing the rebels to break out rather than be encircled. While many escaped, it effectively ended organised resistance in County Wexford. The mill tower thus witnessed one of the most consequential engagements in Irish history, and the memory has never truly faded from local consciousness. In person, the tower presents itself as a weathered, almost severe stone cylinder, its mortar joints worn and its interior exposed to the elements. Grasses and wildflowers grow around its base, and the lack of a roof means that standing within it you look directly up at the open sky. The stonework has the honest, irregular character of vernacular Irish building, and the surfaces are mottled with lichen in shades of grey and pale orange. The surrounding hilltop is open and breezy, and on most days you can hear the wind moving across the summit, along with birdsong and the faint sounds of the town below. It is a place of considerable stillness, which makes the imagination of it crowded with thousands of rebel soldiers all the more vivid by contrast. The view from Vinegar Hill is panoramic and remarkable. The River Slaney sweeps in a broad arc through Enniscorthy immediately below, with the town's medieval castle and cathedral clearly visible, as well as the bridge and the older streets of the town. To the south and west, the rolling farmland of County Wexford spreads away toward the Blackstairs Mountains, while to the east the land opens toward the coast. The summit offers one of the finest vantage points in the county, which was precisely why it held such strategic value in 1798. The hill itself is not large — it rises to roughly 60 metres above the surrounding terrain — but its prominence in the local landscape is unmistakable. Enniscorthy itself, the town at the foot of the hill, adds considerably to the value of a visit. The National 1798 Rebellion Centre is located in the town and provides excellent contextual exhibits on the rebellion, the United Irishmen, and the events played out on Vinegar Hill. Enniscorthy Castle, a well-preserved Norman tower house, is also open to visitors and houses the Wexford County Museum. The town has a pleasant market character with independent shops, cafés, and pubs, and it is easy to combine a visit to the hill with a few hours in Enniscorthy itself. Access to Vinegar Hill is straightforward and free of charge. The hill is reached via a local road and a short footpath from Enniscorthy town, and the climb to the summit is gentle enough to be manageable for most visitors, though the path can be uneven and muddy in wet weather. There is limited parking near the base. The site has no formal visitor infrastructure at the summit — no café, no ticket office, no interpretive panels beyond a modest marker — and this unmediated quality is actually part of its appeal. You arrive at the old mill tower on your own terms, with the wind and the view and the history for company. It is accessible year-round, and while summer offers the best walking conditions, the hill on a clear winter's day, with the town quiet and the countryside sharp under low light, has its own austere beauty. A curious additional layer to the site's story is its cultural afterlife. The song "The Boys of Wexford," one of the most enduring ballads of the Irish patriotic tradition, references the events of 1798 and is associated with Vinegar Hill. The hill's name itself, while now laden with historical association, is thought to predate the rebellion, possibly derived from a corruption of an older Irish place name, though the origins are debated locally. The windmill, long stripped of its sails and working machinery, endures as a kind of accidental monument — a functional agricultural building transformed by the force of historical events into an icon of Irish resistance. It is, in the most literal sense, a ruin that means far more than it looks.