Slaney HIStORy Slaney aD & HeRItage
Baginbun Norman Festival In 1170, Raymond le Gros, or Raymond the Fat (political correctness and sensitivity were in short supply back in the day) landed with his band of Normans on the coast of Wexford. They arrived in two ships – Le Bague and Le Bonne – sound familiar to you? Anyway, over 850 years later the good people of South Wexford – many of them with Norman names I’ll wager – like Roche, Devereux, Codd, Rossiter, Browne, Redmond, Colfer, and more, in an effort to embrace their Norman heritage, have established the Baginbun Norman Festival at Fethard on Sea. Enniscorthy Historical Re-enactment Society were only too happy to represent the Normans at the Festival held over the
Enniscorthy Historical Re-enactment Society members at the Baginbun Norman Festival. Below L-R: Myles Courtney, Maria Nolan and Cllr Michael Whelan.
Bank Holiday weekend on the actual headland where the landing took place all those years ago and dish out a couple of floggings to those who deserved them and tell a few grizzly tales about a Norman called Alice who dished out her own retribution when her lover was killed in the Battle of Baginbun by the Viking Irish. Not the kinda gal you’d want to bring home to your mother or waken up beside the next morning.
It’s payback time. Time to put our Norman heritage to good tourism and economic use and well done to the Baginbun Festival Committee under the stewardship of Michael Whelan for doing just that.
Enniscorthy man, now living in New Ross, Myles Courtney, gave an informative overview of the event that shaped Irish history.
Waterford have taken ownership of the Vikings, let the Normans belong to Wexford, after all this is where they arrived and by and large remained with the names still with us today.
Whether we like it or not, this was the exact time that Ireland was conquered and gave the foreigner a foothold on our shore.
And in their defence it is said they became ‘more Irish than the Irish themselves’.
‘At Baginbun Ireland was lost and won.’
Developments at Vinegar Hill At the October meeting of Enniscorthy Municipal District it was reported by Council officials that The Heritage Officer of Wexford County Council is working on appropriate designs for the interpretive panels to be located on Vinegar Hill. It is expected that there will be a presentation to the November meeting of the Municipal District in relation to this matter. At the October meeting it was also revealed that there had been some interference with the door lock on the public toilet located on Vinegar Hill but that this matter is being dealt with. Finally, it was confirmed that the hedges on the pathways on the Hill were to be trimmed. n
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This was when and where it all happened, and it is about time Wexford took ownership of it warts and all.
Pic: Sean Fogarty
– Words and pics by Maria Nolan
