Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [159]
Eating
De Olde Bridge ( 053-923 8624; Templeshannon; snacks €2.50-4, meals €6-11.50; 8am-4pm Mon-Sat, 9am-4pm Sun) With its worn booths and vinyl tablecloths, this dusty cafe is the kind of place you thought had long disappeared. Old-fashioned stomach-stokers include lamb cutlets, mixed grills and traditional full Irish breakfasts.
Baked Potato ( 053-923 4085; Rafter St; dishes €5.50-8.50; 8am-6pm Mon-Sat) One of a cluster of cafes doing a brisk trade in homemade cakes, pies, sandwiches and daily specials.
Bailey ( 053-923 0353; www.thebailey.ie; Barrack St; lunch mains €9-14, dinner mains €13-26.50; 10am-10pm) Leather armchairs lurk between Jurassic potted plants in this converted riverside grain store. Dishes range from finely honed pub grub to more interesting options like Cajun salmon steak.
Galo Chargrill Restaurant ( 053-923 8077; 19 Main St; 2-/3-course menus from €19/23; lunch & dinner Tue-Sat, noon-9pm Sun) Fame seems to have gone to the head of this Portuguese restaurant, whose spicy chargrills like double chicken fillets with chilli are overpriced for what you get. Still, you can wash them down with a fine Portuguese beer or wine.
Enniscorthy’s farmers market (Abbey Sq; 9am-2pm Sat) sells local and organic veg, bacon, cheese, bread, fish and fruit.
Drinking & Entertainment
Antique Tavern ( 053-923 3428; 14 Slaney St) Slanted on the side of a hill, this creaky black-and-white pub has traditional live music most weekends in summer.
Bailey (above) This riverside landmark also incorporates a venue staging local and national music and comedy.
Slaney Plaza Cinema ( 053-923 7060; www.slaneyplaza.net; Templeshannon; adult/child €8/5.50) Screens mainstream and art-house films.
Shopping
The Enniscorthy area has been a centre of pottery since the 17th century. Continuing the tradition, Kiltrea Bridge Pottery ( 053-923 5107; www.kiltreapottery.com; 10am-1pm & 2-5.30pm Mon-Sat) creates handthrown terracotta pots including some stunning oversized conversation pieces. It’s 6.5km west of Enniscorthy off the Kiltealy Rd (R702).
Getting There & Away
BUS
Bus Éireann ( 053-912 2522) stops on the Shannon Quay on the eastern bank of the river, outside the Bus Stop Shop ( 053-923 3291; 9am-10pm) where you can buy tickets. There are nine daily buses to Dublin (€10.50, 2½ hours), and eight to Rosslare Harbour (€9.30, one hour) via Wexford (€5.80, 25 minutes).
TRAIN
The train station ( 053-923 3488) is on the eastern bank of the river. The one line serves Dublin Connolly Station (€22.50, 2¼ hours), Wexford (€6.50, 25 minutes) and Rosslare Europort (€7.70, 45 minutes) three times daily.
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FERNS
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It’s hard to believe that this workaday village was once the powerhouse of the kings of Leinster, in particular Dermot MacMurrough (1110–71), who is forever associated with bringing the Normans to Ireland (Click here). The Normans left behind a cathedral and a doughty castle, later smashed to pieces by Cromwell. An hour or so will allow you to take in the town’s major sites.
Chief among them, Ferns Castle ( 053-936 6411; admission free; 10am-6pm mid-Jun–mid-Sep) was built around 1220. A couple of walls and part of the moat survive; you can climb to the top of the one complete tower. Parliamentarians destroyed the castle and executed most of the local population in 1649. The ruins are thought to stand on the site of Dermot MacMurrough’s old fortress. In the visitor centre are a cafe and a tapestry depicting local history.
At the eastern end of the main street is St Edan’s Cathedral, built in early Gothic style in 1817. Its graveyard contains a ruined high cross, said to mark the resting place of Dermot MacMurrough.
Behind the cathedral are two medieval ruins: the Norman-built Ferns Cathedral and, with an unusual square-based round tower, St Mary’s Abbey. Dermot MacMurrough founded it in 1158, inviting Augustinian monks to run a monastery here. An earlier Christian settlement founded here by St Aedan (also