Blackwater, County Wexford Explained

Blackwater
Native Name:Irish: An Abhainn Dubh
Native Name Lang:ga
Settlement Type:Village
Pushpin Map:Ireland
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Ireland
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Ireland
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Leinster
Subdivision Type3:County
Subdivision Name3:County Wexford
Unit Pref:Metric
Population As Of:2016
Population Note:(The environs of Blackwater village are labelled 'Castle Ellis' in census reports)[1] [2]
Population:339
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone1:WET
Utc Offset1:+0
Timezone1 Dst:IST (WEST)
Utc Offset1 Dst:-1
Coordinates:52.445°N -6.35°W
Elevation M:48
Blank Name:Irish Grid Reference

Blackwater [3] is a rural village in County Wexford, Ireland. It lies mostly within the townland of Ballynaglogh on the R742 regional road 16km (10miles) north of Wexford town.

Transport

Michael Gray operates a route linking the village with Wexford Mondays to Fridays inclusive [4] Bus Éireann route 379 serves the village on Mondays and Saturdays only linking it to Wexford, Gorey and intermediate locations such as Courtown Harbour.[5]

Amenities

The village has three pubs, Corrigan's, the Blackwater Lodge (which is also a hotel), and Whelan's. It also has a video arcade, a number of supermarkets, a large second-hand furniture store, and a clothes alterations shop.

In the 10 years between the 2006 and 2016 census, the population of the village increased from 173 to 339 people.[1] [2] Blackwater has competed in "category B" (places with populations of between 201 and 1000 people) in the national Tidy Towns competition.[6] [7]

Blackwater is close to Ballyconnigar beach, a site with one of the highest levels of erosion in the area, due to tidal forces. The stretch of beach from Ballyconnigar to Ballynaclash is used for bathing, walking and fishing. Species of fish encountered around this area include bullhuss, smoothhound, tope, bass, ray, codling, eels, and flounder. Other nearby beaches include Curracloe strand and Ballinesker beach, where the opening scene of the film "Saving Private Ryan" was filmed.

Blackwater also has a mobile-home holiday park called 'Abhainn Dubh Mobile home and Leisure Park' which has been open since 1993.[8]

Sports

The local GAA team is St. Brigid's Blackwater, established in 1885. The hurling team play in the Wexford Intermediate Hurling Championship. The Gaelic football team won the 2009 Wexford Junior Championship.

Blackwater has a par 3 golf course which is located outside of the village between Blackwater and Kilmuckridge. The golf course itself was opened in July 1993 although Blackwater Golf Society had its first outing in 1991. Blackwater Golf Course also has a FootGolf course.

In popular culture

Blackwater served as a setting of Mary Kay Tuberty's 2015 novel Keeper of Coin.[9]

Notable people

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sapmap Area - Settlements - Castle Ellis . Central Statistics Office . Census 2016 . 21 March 2020 .
  2. Web site: Castle Ellis (Ireland) Census Town . City Population . 21 March 2020 .
  3. Web site: An Abhainn Dubh / Blackwater . Irish Placenames Commission . 21 March 2020 .
  4. http://www.journeyplanner.transportforireland.ie/nta/TTB/EFA03__00005866_TP.pdf{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
  5. Web site: Timetable - Route 379 . 2012-02-27 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120412221207/http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1209047152-Table-379.pdf . 2012-04-12 .
  6. Web site: Rosslare, Ballycanew, Blackwater tops in tidy awards . wexfordtoday.com . 24 September 2018 . 21 March 2020 .
  7. Web site: Tidy Towns: The full list of winners for 2019 . Irish Times . irishtimes.com . 30 September 2019 . 21 March 2020 .
  8. Web site: Abhainn Dubh, Mobile Homes Wexford, Blackwater County Wexford . abhainndubh.ie. 2016-12-01.
  9. Book: Keeper of Coin (The Carty Sisters Series). 0-9961734-5-5. Tuberty. Mary Kay. 2015-08-31.
  10. Web site: How Colm Tóibín Burrowed Inside Thomas Mann's Head. The New Yorker. D. T.. Max. 20 September 2021.