Waterford - Day 2 - Jerpoint Abbey, Enniscorthy Castle, Wexford, Tintern Abbey and Hook Lighthouse

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This morning, we headed back towards Kilkenny to visit Jerpoint Abbey at Thomastown. This was always on the cards because of not being able to book accommodation in Kilkenny because of Bloody Bruce and his concert clashing with our itinerary. However, if we’d been a bit more on the ball, we would have called in at Jerpoint Abbey on our way to see the Green Bridge at Instioge. Rather than taking us the M9, Apple Maps took us north on the R448 which was probably more scenic than the motorway.

Jerpoint Abbey is a 12th century Cistercian Abbey located by the little Arrigal River in a remote (back in the day) wooded area, close to a quarry. In 1228 there were 36 monks and 50 lay brothers who held 20 thousand acres of land. The abbey was a large complex surrounded by two walls. The outer wall contained the industrial workshops, mills and a fishpond. Between the monastery and the inner wall were the brew house, bake house, infirmaries, gardens, orchards, guest house and the monk’s graveyard. Jerpoint was dissolved in 1540 by order of King Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Jerpoint’s lands were then leased to the Butlers of Ormond.

The ruins are well preserved and picturesque and include an attractive square surrounded by the largely intact cloisters. The rain held off and we were able to explore the site thoroughly. Bernie disappeared at one stage, and I thought that he had gone to find the bathroom. But, no, he had returned to the car to collect the drone and put it up for some aerial photos. Drone flying is not allowed at Office of Public Works properties, but Bernie flew it from outside the site which I suppose is OK?

From the abbey we drove back through Instioge and then headed south-east on the R700 to the N30 and then to Enniscorthy to visit the castle. The castle dates to around 1190 when Maud de Quency married Philip de Prendergast and they built the first stone castle on the site. Their Anglo-Norman descendants held the castle until the late 1300s after which the castle had a turbulent history being held by Gaelic Irish and English interests. The castle was used as a prison, as office space and to billet extra police forces assigned to the area. In 1889, the castle was leased for 999 years by PJ Roche who gave it to his son, Henry, and his new wife, Josephine Shriver, to use as their home.

The Roches spent many years renovating the castle and moved in during 1903. The castle’s turbulent history continued with the Roches having to vacate their home in 1916 and again in 1922 during the occupation of the Irish Volunteers and then the Free State Army. In 1951 the family left the castle to the management of the County with the wish that it be made into a museum. The Wexford County Museum opened in 1962 and was extensively renovated between 2006 and 2011. The castle was … not what we expected. It certainly was not in the same league as Kilkenny Castle so probably suffered by comparison?

From the castle we made our way to St Aidan’s Cathedral. Built in 1843, the cathedral is noteworthy as the largest Irish cathedral designed by Augustus Pugin renowned for his Gothic revivalist style of Church architecture. The cathedral embodies most of the outstanding architectural characteristics for which Pugin is noted – lavish and colourful stenciling and decoration, exquisite carving, tiling, stonework and stained glass.

After a short journey south on the R772 and N11 to Wexford. We were all supposed to be aiming for the Redmond Square Car Park. We overshot it and had to execute a circuit around town to make our way back to the car park where we had agreed to meet. Hmmn, no sign of Cathy and Steve. Cathy sent a message a few minutes after we arrived to say they were in the car park but, apparently, not the same one as us?? We said we’d walk towards the town centre and meet up with them. Phew, thanks to Cathy’s bright pink coat we soon spotted them.

We walked up to the ruins of Selskar Abbey and then found a café for lunch nearby. Bernie and Cathy chose some beef quesadillas while Steve and I opted for the seafood chowder. The chowder was available in two sizes, and I am glad I chose the small bowl because it ended up being more like a seafood casserole and was very filling. After lunch we took a stroll through the town’s lovely winding streets and then returned to the cars along the quay front.

A quick trip south-west on the R733 took us to Tintern Abbey another Heritage Ireland site operated by OPW. This Cistercian monastery was founded around 1200 by William, Earl Marshal on lands held through his marriage to the Irish heiress, Isabella de Clare. He founded the monastery after his boat was caught in a storm. He vowed that he would build a monastery if he survived. The abbey was founded as a daughter-house of Tintern Abbey in Wales.

In the 16th century the old abbey was granted to the Colclough family and soon after the church was partly converted into living quarters and the tower was added. During Queen Elizabeth I’s reign the site was of strategic importance as a watchtower at a time when invasion by the Spanish was a threat. The Colcloughs occupied the abbey from the 16th century until the mid-twentieth.

We continued down the Hook Peninsula to the lighthouse at the end. Hook Lighthouse was built by Knight William Marshal 800 years ago and is the oldest operational lighthouse in the world. We managed to arrive just in time to purchase tickets for the last tour of the day at 4.00pm. In fact, we arrived with enough time to spare for an ice-cream before the tour commenced but, today we had to resort to Cornettos from the kiosk fridge!

Our tour guide, John, met us out the front at 4.00pm and took us into the lighthouse to regale us with stories about the monks who maintained a beacon on the headland from the 5th century, the lighthouse and Lightkeepers and about William Marshall ‘the greatest knight that ever lived’. John was passionate about the history of the lighthouse and fitted more words into a 50-minute tour than humanly possible. Honestly, he was fascinating but there were a couple of times we thought he was going to pass out from lack of oxygen because he was talking without drawing breath! Definitely one of the best lighthouse tours we have ever done.

With it gone 5.00pm we had to move our cars out of the car park so that they staff could lock up. We parked outside the lighthouses grounds so that we could take a few more photos from outside and Bernie put the drone up again for an aerial view. He is gradually getting more confident with flying the drone and taking photos from a different angle.

After a packed day of sightseeing, we headed back to the Diamond Hill Guest House. We had to take a fairly circuitous route because there are few routes across the Waterford Harbour and River Barrow. We had to backtrack to the R734 to head north to the N25. Driving west towards Waterford, we crossed the River Barrow on the amazing Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge. We drove past the Rhu Glen Hotel AGAIN before pulling in to buy our first tank of fuel for the car. We thought it best to fill up this afternoon so that we are ready to go in the morning.

Back ‘home’ we pretty much headed straight back out again. Bernie drove the four of us into the city tonight to find something different for dinner. We had Thai in mind, but when we reached the Bell Pepper, it was empty and didn’t look very appetizing. We backtracked to the Café Goa which we had noted looked popular when we walked past. We enjoyed Indian fare instead – samosas, lamb Rogan josh and chicken tikka masala. It was a welcome change from pub fare.



Steps: 13,193 (8.57kms)

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