Ruins & Archaeological Sites in County Wexford

Loch Garman · Leinster · 32 places

County Wexford (Loch Garman) in Leinster features 32 mapped ruins & archaeological sites, led by Passage Tower, Tintern Abbey, and Ballymoty Motte. Across these 32 listings, 17 feature verified photography, 2 offer free entry, and 27 include mapped nearby public parking. Notable ruins, monuments, historic churches, and towers.

Showing 24 of 32 places

RuinsWexford

Passage Tower

Passage Tower is a historic ruin located in County Wexford. It is categorized as historic ruins.

ChurchTintern Abbey

ChurchWexford

Tintern Abbey

Tintern Abbey was a Cistercian abbey located on the Hook Peninsula, County Wexford, Ireland. The Abbey – which is today in ruins, some of which have been restored – was founded in c.1200 by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, as the result of a vow he had made when his boat was caught in a storm nearby. While the specific date of foundation is unconfirmed in some sources, in a 1917 analysis for the Royal Irish Academy, church historian J. H. Bernard suggests a foundation date of 3 December 1200. Once established, the abbey was colonised by monks from the Cistercian abbey at Tintern in Monmouthshire, Wales, of which Marshal was also patron. To distinguish the two, the mother house in Wales was sometimes known as "Tintern Major" and the abbey in Ireland as "Tintern de Voto" (Tintern of the vow). After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the abbey and its grounds were granted firstly to Sir James Croft, and then in 1575 to Anthony Colclough of Staffordshire, a soldier of Henry VIII. His descendants became the Colclough Baronets. The final member of the Colclough family to reside at Tintern was Lucey Marie Biddulph Colclough and, after she left in 1959, the Irish state started conservation and consolidation works on the site. Between 1982 and 2007, the National Monuments service of the Office of Public Works undertook a number of excavation and heritage development efforts at the abbey, including special conservation measures for local bat colonies. Additional works were undertaken after a fire in the site's visitor centre in 2012, which damaged part of the 19th century outbuildings on the abbey's grounds.

Archaeological SiteWexford

Ballymoty Motte

Ballymoty Motte is a motte and National Monument located in County Wexford, Ireland.

ChurchWexford

Clone Church

Clone Church is a Romanesque medieval church and National Monument in County Wexford, Ireland.

RuinsWexford

Castleboro House

Castleboro House is a derelict stately home near Clonroche, County Wexford, Ireland.

RuinsBarntown Castle (ruins)

RuinsWexford

Barntown Castle (ruins)

Barntown Castle is a tower house near Wexford town in Ireland. It is about 5 kilometres (3 mi) west of the centre of Wexford town, on the main Wexford to New Ross road. The castle, set in the middle of a grazing field, is now in ruins and used as a cattle shelter. A Georgian mansion has replaced the castle as the residence of the local landowners, currently the Joyce family. Barntown village and townland has a Pugin designed Roman Catholic church and a national school. Close by, on the ridge of the hills south of the castle, is a monument to General Clooney famous for his part in the 1798 Rising. This man is referred to as Col. Clooney on a plaque at the ruins of Geneva Barracks, on Waterford Harbour. He also, reputedly, captured a British warship near Duncannon during the 1798 Rebellion. He is buried in St. Mullins.

ChurchWexford

Dunbrody Church

Overgrown ruins of a church for the lay population at and around Dunbrody Abbey, likely originally contemporary with the abbey. Later used as a burial chapel for the Chicester family who owned the abbey after the dissolution.

ChurchSaint Mary's Abbey for Augustinian canons

ChurchWexford

Saint Mary's Abbey for Augustinian canons

Ferns Abbey (Irish: Mainistir Aodháin) is a ruined Augustinian abbey in Ferns, County Wexford, Ireland. Likely built on the site of an early Christian monastic site founded by Máedóc of Ferns, the standing remains were built by Diarmait Mac Murchada c.1160. The abbey was suppressed on 7 April 1539. The abbey was claustral in layout, and features an unusual tower that is half square, half round. Partially rebuilt in 1846, many original architectural elements were damaged at this time.