Bridgetown, County Wexford

Bridgetown (Irish: Baile an Droichid)[2] is a small rural village, located sixteen kilometres from Wexford town on the R736 regional road. It is close to Duncormick and six kilometres from the fishing village of Kilmore Quay. As of the 2016 census, the population of the village was 462.[1]

Bridgetown
Baile an Droichid
Village
Bridgetown Post Office
Bridgetown Post Office
Bridgetown is located in Ireland
Bridgetown
Bridgetown
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°14′44″N 6°32′56″W
CountryIreland
ProvinceLeinster
CountyCounty Wexford
Population
 (2016)[1]
462
Time zoneUTC+0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-1 (IST (WEST))

Education
Further information: Bridgetown Vocational College

The local co-educational secondary school, Bridgetown College, draws students from southeast County Wexford. Originally opened in the 1960s, an extension to the school was opened by then Minister for Education Mary O'Rourke in 1984, and a further modern extension was opened in 2008.[3]

Transport

Railway

Bridgetown railway station opened on 1 August 1906.[4] The rail service consisted of a solitary train each way between Rosslare Europort and Waterford (Plunkett) with no service on Sundays. This railway service ceased after the last train in September 2010[5] but the line remains maintained.[6]

Road

The rail service was replaced by a revised Bus Éireann route 370 service. Wexford Bus operate a shuttle bus that services Bridgetown, the Wexford town - Kilmore Quay route 390.[7] Other bus services include Bus Éireann route 381 (Blackhall-Wexford) that operates only on Tuesdays,[8] and Local Link services that operate to Wexford and Kilmore Quay.[9]

Nearby villages include Ballycogley, Duncannon, Duncormick, Kilmore, Kilmore Quay, Murrintown, Taghmon, and Wellington Bridge.

Industry and economy

The village of Bridgetown has a supermarket/filling station, garage, post office, bookshop, cafe, take-away, pubs, hair salons, a tailor, an upholster, an interior design business, a doctors' surgery, pharmacy, a fish monger, and the nearby Ballycross Apple Farm.[10] There are also two play school/creche facilities.

An eighteen turbine wind farm, capable of producing 27MW and powering approximately 17,000 homes, was commissioned in Richfield, near Bridgetown in December 2006.[11]

Festival

An arts, literature music and crafts festival, the Kathleen Browne Arts & Literary Festival, was held in Bridgetown in September 2018 and September 2019.[12][13] The festival is named in honour of Kathleen Browne, a former senator who was born in Bridgetown in 1876.

Developments

The population of Bridgetown increased from 183 residents as of the 2002 census, to 462 people in the 2016 census.[1][14] While, as of the late 1990s, there was only one housing development in the village, owing to the proximity of Wexford town, the short commute to Waterford, and the corresponding increased in population, a number of new private housing developments have been built.

See also

References
  1. "Sapmap Area - Settlements - Bridgetown". Census 2016. Central Statistics Office. April 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  2. "Baile an Droichid/Bridgetown". Placenames Database of Ireland (logainm.ie). Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  3. "About Us - Our History". bridgetowncollege.ie. Bridgetown College. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  4. "Bridgetown station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
  5. "End of the line". independent.ie. Independent News & Media. 21 September 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  6. "Encouraging recent developments on the Wexford-Waterford rail line". Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  7. "Wexford Bus enhance the Kilmore Quay bus service". wexfordbus.com. 20 December 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  8. "Bus Eireann 381 Timetable" (PDF). buseireann.ie. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  9. "Local Link Wexford Timetables" (PDF). Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  10. "Ballycross Apple Farm". Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  11. "Richfield Wind Farm". ireland.see.com. SSE. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  12. "Brownes gather for Bridgetown festival". wexfordpeople.ie. Wexford People. 29 September 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  13. "Festival Schedule 2019". kathleenbrownefestival.net. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  14. "Bridgetown (Ireland) Census Town". City Population. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
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