The locations of our churches are as follows
New Ross Y34 DN82 (Saint Mary’s, town centre)
Old Ross Y35 HF80
Killesk Y34 AV90 (All Saints, near Duncannon)
Whitechurch Y34 WP11 (near JFK memorial park and Campile)
Fethard on Sea Y34 XW52 (Saint Mogue’s located in the village)
The Community
The Church of Ireland community in South West Wexford is small in number, spread out over a huge geographic area, from the Hook head peninsula, along the east side of Waterford Harbour, passing the villages of Fethard on Sea, Duncannon, Arthurstown, Ballyhack, Campile and up the Barrow estuary to the town of New Ross, it continues past New Ross and upstream into County Carlow and the village of Saint Mullins, (Where there is a closed church which is now an excellent local museum).
Moving inland the Union covers the villages of Ballywilliam, Ballinaboola, and Southerly again to the sea at Wellingtonbridge,
In comparison to our Roman Catholic neighbours who have about 18 churches in the same area.
With the exception of New Ross which is a medium size town the rest of the parish is rural and quite remote, with considerable distances to drive to either Wexford or Waterford, soon to be made considerably nearer to Waterford with the opening of the New Pink Rock Bridge within a year, one side of which is in our Union.
Historically there is a multitude of historical monuments in the Union, both religious and secular, A selection of these include The Clonmines Medieval Borough, Dunbrody Abbey, The Hook head lighthouse, Saint Mary’s Abbey (in which our Saint Mary’s Church sits within part of) and Tintern Castle and gardens, nearby which is the location of another one of our closed churches is located
Being small in number and spread thinly over a huge area poses severe challenges for the future viability of regular services in our 5 churches, currently two of which only hold services 4 times a year (Killesk and Old Ross) whilst Whitechurch is monthly, both New Ross and Fethard on Sea maintain weekly services.
Currently, we are also without Clergy, and our services are being covered by a selection of retired and part-time ordained clergy and lay readers of which we are very appreciative, knowing the distances they travel to take our services.