Church of Ireland, Newtownbarry - 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 Protestant parish church stands on a height, which rises from the head of the Main Street. Its grounds are in good order, all the monuments and tombs being fair and regular, instead of in the melancholy disorder so often characteristic of small cemeteries. The inside of the church fulfils the expectations excited by the outside and surroundings. Though small, it is in excellent taste. The chancel window is in memory of R. W. Hall-Dare, 1866, and Francis A. C. Hall-Dare, 1862, and consists of three lancets, headed by trefoils and stone arabesques. The chancel floor is tiled. Within the communion rail are two handsome chairs, which, with the carved reading-desk, are a great addition to the appointments. These articles were made for their present use by the Rector, Venerable Archdeacon Archdall. A large rosette window is over the main entrance, erected by his friends, as a mark of esteem, to the memory of R. W. Hall-Dare. Across the gable of the church, on the outside, are the words, “These stones shall be for a memorial,” and the wall at this end is of square granite blocks, each one handsomely cut, a costly and elegant monument to Mr. Hall-Dare. The rosette window-traceries are also of cut-granite, and the doorway is beautiful in design. The absence of an organ is noticeable where the deficiencies are so few.
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