Malcolm Rogers travels to the medieval town of Wexford, which has seen
Norsemen and Cromwellians come and go but is now famous for its opera festival,
tasty seafood, and its winged inhabitants.
Ireland’s internationally famous opera town also has its Wexford Slobs.
Now, these aren’t the teenage lads who restlessly inhabit most Irish
towns after the pubs close. The Slobs are an equally famous bird-watching
area on the coast by the city.
Not quite as internationally famous as either the Slobs or the Opera
Festival, but getting there all the same, are the ancient medieval town’s
seafood restaurants.
In fact this corner of south-east Ireland is just about an ideal place
to visit if you happen to be a bird-spotting opera buff who likes his oysters
and knows his onions as far as history is concerned.
Any Wexford guide accordingly divides itself conveniently into natural
sections:
The Opera
Originally the idea of the novelist Sir Compton Mackenzie, this event is
now one of the world’s most glamorous and esoteric opera festivals. Three
(usually obscure) operas are staged in the town’s Theatre Royal in the autumn,
this year from October 17 to November 3.
If you can’t get tickets for the Theatre Royal, not to worry. Alongside
the operas a huge programme of fringe events takes place incorporating everything
from traditional sessions to opera-slanted street theatre.
Opera Note: Don’t expect light classicals. It is part of Wexford’s business
to revive operas which other festivals neglect — Prokofiev’s The Gambler,
or Bizet’s Les Pecheurs des Perles for example.
If you think you recognise the title of an opera, it won’t be the one
you’re thinking of, but an abstruse piece of the same name — La Bohème,
not by Puccini, but another production of the same name by a 13th century
Swedish monk.
The best known of this year’s offerings is Il Giuramento by Sevario Mercadante,
although that may be the other way round: Sevario Mercadante by Il Giuramento.
Phone the opera house direct: 00 353 53 22 144. They’ll know. Probably.
The Town
Wexford is a handsome town, ideal for dandering about.
Stroll down to Wexford Quays where you can see a harbour boasting more
than 1,000 years of history. The town has progressed from its early days
as a Norse trading port through to the Anglo Saxon takeover, the sacking
of the town by Cromwell and on to the Pikemen of the 1798 Rebellion.
Not far from the harbour stands the West Gate Tower, part of the five
original entrances to the walled settlement. Modern-day commercialism has
set in here, and for a sum of euros you can now watch a potted history of
the town. Soon they’ll boast a television programme “Who wants to be a Shelmalier?”
Probably better off to continue your stroll round the medieval town.
Towards the end of the harbour boardwalk, at Crescent Quay, stands the imposing
statue of Commodore John Barry, a native of the town who started out as
a cabin boy, became an American naval hero during the War of Independence
and earned fame as “the father of the American navy”.
The Pubs
A Viking tribe apparently once raided England because they had run out of
beer.
I don’t know if that’s why the first raiding party came to Wexford, but
there’s no doubt the place is well served with watering holes.
Pubs with traditional music, pubs with jazz, upscale pubs with first
class nosh — the famous Macken’s pub even doubles up as an undertakers.
Each year at festival time these places are at full throttle competing
for the Singing, Swinging Pubs of Wexford competition. Judges assess the
quality of singing and musicianship in each establishment.
As you can imagine, competition is fierce and the main beneficiary is
you, the customer.
Bars worthy of note include Centenary Stores, Charlotte Street and The
Thomas Moore Tavern, Cornmarket. But really, there’s no shortage. Brush
up on a few Wexford songs, and you might even pick up one of the best-visitor
awards.
The Restaurants
There’s a wide range of restaurants in Wexford, and seeing as we’ve been
talking opera it would be churlish not to mention La Dolce Vita, Westgate,
serving real pasta and authentic pesto.
Seafood is naturally a speciality — sea bass with olive oil and tagliatelle
is worth tasting. Not badly priced for this quality of restaurant with main
courses beginning around E20.
One of the traditional dining delights is to take The Galley River Cruising
Restaurant.
Now this is a boat trip which one of Wexford’s most famous sons, Arctic
explorer Robert McClure (he found the North West Passage) would have probably
turned his nose up at.
Because it consists of a gentle cruise up the river stuffing your face
with food, turning round and returning with a post-prandial brandy in your
fist while contemplating the soporifically beautiful riverside landscape.
(Tel. 00 353 51 421723)
The Day Trips
Day trips from Wexford are varied. You can go bird-watching in the afore-mentioned
Wexford Slobs — you don’t need to be an anorak, but you’ll definitely need
to wear one, because the easterlies fairly whip in off the Irish Sea.
Wexford is conveniently situated at the very bottom of the country, and
the Slobs, aka Wexford Wildfowl Reserve, is located on the N25 south of
Wexford town.
You’ll not even need a pair of binoculars — half the world’s population
of Greenland white-fronted geese stop off here to dine.
South of the town remote Hook lighthouse on the Hook Peninsula dates
from the early 13th century, probably the oldest operational lighthouse
in Ireland or Britain and one of the oldest in the world.
A visitors’ centre boasts first class displays tracing its history —
it seems the world’s first beam team was composed of monks.
Nobody is quite sure who first vowed to take Ireland by Hook or by Crooke
— contrary to popular belief it probably wasn’t Cromwell — but the phrase
is a reference to the settlement of Crooke on the Waterford side of the
Barrow estuary and Hook Head on the other.
But by hook or by crook try to visit this shining example of Irish technology.
The Conclusions
Wexford? Great place to go. I wish you’d been with me.
