Dunanore Glen - Wexford Guide and Directory, 1885
About “Wexford County Guide and Directory,” 1885
George Henry Bassett produced 7 Irish county directories in the 1880s: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Kilkenny, Louth, Tipperary and Wexford. Each provides useful history of the respective counties as well as lists of office holders, farmers, traders, and other residents of the individual cities, towns and villages.
The directories are naturally an invaluable resource for those tracing family history. However, there are a few points to bear in mind.
- This online version of Bassett’s Wexford County Guide and Directory is designed primarily as a genealogical research tool and therefore the numerous advertisements in the original book, many full page, and quite a few illustrated, have been excluded.
- The text has been proofed with due care, but with large bodies of text typographical errors are inevitably bound to occur.
- Be aware that there were often inconsistencies in spelling surnames in the 19th century and also that many forenames are abbreviated in Bassett’s directories.
With respect to the last point, surnames which today begin with the “Mc” prefix, for example, were often formerly spelt as “M‘,”. For a list of some of the more common forename abbreviations used in the directory, see Forename Abbreviations.
THE road from Wilton Castle to Borodale, the residence of Mrs. Beatty, is remarkably pretty. Its sides are sometimes rocky and precipitous, and again bordered by well-cultivated fields and plantations. A cutting through the rock leads to Dunanore Glen and its great variety of attractions. There is no more charming picture in the county than that presented from the bridge which carries the road from Bree to Enniscorthy across the Boro. A foot-path descends from the gate at Borodale beside the bridge to the brink of the river which, immediately below the span, makes a sudden bend. Though in summer it murmurs pleasantly along its rocky bed, in the spring and winter the waters tear down with such force as to have frequently carried away the guard wall. Another turn reveals a rath-crowned cliff, rising perpendicularly to a considerable height at the opposite side. A mysterious pool at the foot has depths in which the country people suppose that great treasures are hidden. The river winds to the left, and, after a short distance, broadens into a lake, where the waters are stored for the use of the Kilcarbery Mills. Here there is a happy blending of the natural and artificial. An island, aquatic plants, shrubberies, and, in the far distance, wooded hills, produce an exquisite effect.
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