Ballyhack, County Wexford

Ballyhack Baile Hac
Town
Ballyhack Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°14′38″N 6°58′01″W / 52.244°N 6.967°W / 52.244; -6.967Coordinates: 52°14′38″N 6°58′01″W / 52.244°N 6.967°W / 52.244; -6.967
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
County	Wexford
Population (2006)
• Urban	189
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Area code(s)	051

Ballyhack Castle, Co. Wexford.

Ballyhack (Irish: Baile Hac)^[1] is a small village located in the south-west of County Wexford, in Ireland, on the eastern shore of the Waterford Harbour, which is the estuary of The Three Sisters.

History

The village contains a 15th-century Norman castle or tower house, which probably belonged to the Knights Hospitallers.

Name

It is believed that Ballyhack comes from the Irish for stable: “Seasmhach”, Ballyhack meaning “Townland of the Stable“

There is also a belief that Ballyback translates to "Town of Excrement",^[2]^[3]^[4] but this may have been caused by English settlers trying to translate the old gaeilge to the old English. Baile(Bally)“Town or Townland and Chac (hack). Chac or Cac was old English slang for “dung excrement, kack, a privy, a boat“^[5]

Details

The village contains a shop, a pub and a small quay for fishing boats.

A Ferry service operates between Ballyhack and Passage East (County Waterford), over the broad estuary of The Three Sisters.^[6]

There is also a cemetery located on a height near the edge of the village.

The school in the village is called St. Catherine's NS and is located on top of Ballyhack Hill. It opened in 1959.

Sports

The local GAA club is St James GAA which currently plays in the Intermediate grade of the Wexford Championship. The local soccer team is Duncannon FC.

References & footnotes