Selskar Abbey - 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.

Read more »

The directories are naturally an invaluable resource for those tracing family history. However, there are a few points to bear in mind.

  1. 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.
  2. The text has been proofed with due care, but with large bodies of text typographical errors are inevitably bound to occur.
  3. 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.

Show less

THIS venerable antiquity is in a labyrinth of curiously winding streets, and may be reached by so many ways that it is better not to recommend a specific route. Indeed, to do so would but interfere with the interest and novelty of an effort to arrive at the entrance, using only its grey old tower as a guide. The people of Wexford, without distinction, are courteous to strangers. One of the opportunities afforded for a study of the native civility would be lost if the tourist should fail to go to the Abbey alone. When he has reached a point in his search from which no hope of success seems possible, the amiability of the native instantly manifests itself. Without obtrusiveness, he leaves his own affairs and acts as pilot.

From the gate of the Abbey, probably the best and most comprehensive view is obtained. The restoration, bell-tower—unrestored part—the castle at Westgate, and most of the churchyard may be seen effectively. The origin of Selskar Abbey, as a religious institution, is somewhat involved in doubt, but there is good reason for attributing it to the Danish settlers as the result of their conversion to Christianity. Its restoration and rebuilding as a priory were due to the Roches. Sir Alexander Roche, of Artramont, it is said, fell a victim to the charms of the beautiful daughter of a burgess of Wexford. Though the attachment was mutual his parents disapproved, and to prevent the alliance without seeming to do so, induced him to become a Crusader. After years of adventure and varying fortune, he returned home to claim his bride, the obdurate parents having died in the meantime. A great disappointment awaited hiM. Believing him dead or faithless, the burgess’s daughter had retired to a convent. In his grief he vowed celibacy, endowed the monastery, and became its prior. In memory of the wars in which he had been engaged, he gave to it the name of St. Sepulchre, and this in the changes of time has come to be the St. Selskar of the present day.

It is a matter of interest that the first treaty with the English was signed at Selskar Abbey, 1169, when the town of Wexford surrendered to Robert Fitzstephen. Raymond le Gros and Basilica, sister of Strongbow, were the first persons of English birth married within its walls. In 1463 it was used as a Parliament House by the Earl of Desmond, and laws were made which referred to repairs of the walls and castle. In 1649, on the occasion of the sacking of Wexford, the abbey was demolished by Cromwell, who took the fine peal of bells from the tower and carried them to Chester, whence they were transferred to a church in Liverpool, and remain there until this day. There is a tradition that in lieu of these bells the freemen of Wexford received the freedom of Liverpool and exemption from the dues of that port. The ancient tower which once held the bells is much decayed at the top, though through care and kindly restoration, its lower part is strong and good. Its walls are from six to eight feet thick. The spiral staircase leading to the summit is from the vestry through a door scarce four feet high. In many places the steps are almost an inclined plane, and the descent is far more difficult than the upward climb. The view from the summit is well worth a little exertion.

Although the churchyard abounds in tombs and tablets, no dates earlier than 1600 are visible. Three slabs of the earlier part of the 17th century are set in a recess at the base of the tower, or, as it is commonly called, “the Castle.” One of these bears an inscription, much worn, which, though fluent, gives little information. It reads in the old English style, thus:—

GOD . WHOE . RAISED . VS . TO . BVII.D . AND . BVYE

FOR . LIFE . AND . DEATHE . POSTERITIE

GRANT . DO . OVRE . LIFE . TO . THE . GRACE . DEATHE . CROWNED

AND . DO . OVR . POSTERITIE . GAINE . THE . SAME . RENOWN

THAT . THIS . THY . GRACE . IN . VS . BEGVNNE . DESCEND

HE . THEM . INCREASING . TO . THE . WORLDS . END

THAT . EICHE . CONFESS . GODS . GIFT . IS . OVR . POSSESSION

AND . EVER . SING . GODS . MERCYES . OVR . PROTECTION

A broken slab on the left of this bears the Stafford arms combined with those of Sutton, and in memory of Richard Stafford and his wife Anstace. Its date is 1623. Further to the left a coffin-shaped flag bears the semblance of a man’s head, and beneath it a curious device. The fragments of a stone coffin stand at the head of a grave near by, which at a former period may have been covered with the inscribed flag. Of the unrestored portion, three Gothic arches and two gables remain standing. The window in the further gable has a broad Saxon arch. To the sides cling remnants of traceries which once filled it. As a burial-place the grounds are used equally by Catholics and Protestants.

The Church (I.C.) is a solid and simple structure, built of conglomerate stone, which has a very pretty effect, being of a warm, pinkish tint. The interior is comfortable, and possesses an organ of good tone and sufficient proportions. Two galleries on the western end, one over the other, are reached by a staircase from the vestibule.

Search for a copy of Bassett’s Wexford Guide and Directory, 1885