New Ross
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| New Ross Ros Mhic Thriúin |
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| Location | ||
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| Irish Grid Reference S715278 |
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Leinster | |
| County: | County Wexford | |
| Elevation: | 75 m (246 ft) | |
| Population (2002) - Town: - Rural: |
4,810 1,727 |
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New Ross (Ros Mhic Thriúin in Irish) is a small town in southwest County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. It has a population of about 6,500 (2002 census). It is the twin town to Newcastle, County Down.
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[edit] History
The town grew up around a bridge built in 1189 by William Marshal, son-in-law of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (Strongbow), and a leader of the Norman invasion of Ireland. The port gained concessions from King John in 1215 and again in 1227 but these were later revoked by Henry III and Edward I to protect the port of Waterford. Even with these handicaps, New Ross was Ireland's busiest port in the thirteenth century. These restrictions were lifted in the fourteenth century by Edward II and Edward III.
The town was fought over in the Irish Confederate Wars of the 1640s.In 1643 the town resisted the siege by James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, who fought a battle near the town with an Irish army under Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara. However it was later taken by Oliver Cromwell, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649.
The town is an important crossing point on the River Barrow, being located between the river's estuary, and the point where the River Nore joins the Barrow and was the location of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 rebellion.
[edit] Famous people descended from New Ross Inhabitants
Dunganstown, four miles south of New Ross is the ancestoral home of the Kennedy family which includes Joe Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the USA, Robert Kennedy and Massachusetts senator Edward Kennedy whose great-grandfather Patrick Kennedy emigrated to America from there.
Other emigrants included the grandparents of Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, the American playwright and winner of the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. Before emigrating, they lived in Rosbercon, just across the river Barrow from New Ross.
[edit] Education
There are four primary schools in New Ross, two for boys, one for girls and one mixed-school. The two boys schools are Michael Street National School which caters for children from Junior Infants up until 1st Class, they then move up to the Senior school, New Ross CBS, which children attend from 2nd class up until the time they leave primary school in 6th class. The girls primary school, St. Josephs, caters for students the whole way up from Junior Infants to 6th Class. There is also a mixed school in New Ross, St. Canices, which is situated in across the bridge in Rosbercon.
Recently there has been talks of amalgamating the CBS and St. Josephs to create a mixed school and build a new school on a green-field site on the outskirts of the town. There has been increased pressure on the Department of Education to provide this new school in New Ross because of the state of the CBS which is over 150 years old.
There are 6 Secondary Schools in New Ross, one is all-boys, two are all-girls, and the two are mixed. The St Augustine's and Good Counsel College, New Ross is an all-boys school which caters for over 750 students making it by far the biggest school in New Ross. St. Mary's and Our Lady of Lourdes(Holy Faith) are the two all-girl secondary schools. The two mixed schools are the Vocational College and the CBS Secondary. The number of students attending the Vocational College and the CBS has been in sharp decline over recent years due to the popularity of the other secondary schools in the area. The McCarthy Report which was commissioned by the Department of Education to asess the schools in New Ross recommeneded the amalgamation of Our Lady of Lourdes Secondary School, New Ross Vocational College and New Ross CBS Scondary. It has yet to be decided whether the findings of this report will be implemented.
[edit] Sport
There are many sporting organisations in the town of New Ross, such as the Geraldine O'Hanrahans GAA Club, New Ross Rugby Club, New Ross Celtic Soccer Club, New Ross Town Soccer Club, New Ross Boat Club, New Ross Badminton Club, New Ross Swimming Club and New Ross Golf Club. The sporting organisations in New Ross have been making great strides to serve the people of New Ross even better in recent years with the GOH GAA Club having recently completed a massive development at the club grounds incorpoarting a brand new clubhouse with a meeting room, 6 new dressing rooms, a shop and a ball alley to add to their already impressive grounds. New Ross Celtic Soccer Club have also only recently completed a major development at their club grounds in Butlersland which they in fact built from scratch. They now have a clubhouse, two full size soccer pitches and two astro-turf pitches. New Ross Rugby Club recently added a second pitch to cope with the increasing popularity of their club. It seems the future certainly is bright for sports in New Ross.
[edit] Transport
[edit] Road
The road crossing the Barrow is the important N25 road linking Cork, Waterford City (18km-12miles away) and Rosslare Harbour (40km-30miles away). The N30 links Enniscorthy and New Ross.
[edit] Rail
The town had a rail link from Waterford that originally connected to the Dublin–Rosslare line and once served passengers. For many years this branch remained open as far as New Ross carrying freight; this line was closed in 1963 and is now disused, parts of it are now buried beneath the New Ross to Waterford road.
[edit] Sea
New Ross is Ireland's only inland port, some 32km from the sea on the River Barrow.
[edit] Economy
Until the creation of ships too large to reach the port, in the nineteenth century, New Ross was a prosperous port town. However, the river is too shallow to admit passage of large ships and the port gradually went into decline. The town continued to be a prosperous market town for the rich agricultural hinterland, but suffered from severe recession throughout the 1970s, 80s and early part of the 1990s. As of now there is a small amount of industry in the area and most businesses centre around services and retail although the local retail trade is under pressure from a number of larger retail outlets like Tesco, Lidl and Aldi which aim to attract business away from the centre of town to the outskirts.
Latterly it has benefited from professionals making their homes in the town but working in the larger city of Waterford, about 25 kilometres away. There is also a strong international community in New Ross associated with the transport and manufacturing industried. A degree of tourism associated with The Dunbrody replica famine ship and the connection with the Kennedy family also benefits the town.
