Ballywilliam, Baile Liam, Co. Wexford

Baile Liam · Co. Wexford

A west-Wexford crossroads with the first railway station the county ever had.

Ballywilliam is a small village on the R731 in the west of County Wexford, about 8 km north-east of New Ross and 12 km south of Enniscorthy. It sits in the civil parish of Templeludigan, in the old Barony of Bantry, and is part of the wider parish cluster of Rathnure-Templeudigan-Ballywilliam - one parish for most practical purposes, three names on the map. The village is a junction, a few houses, two pubs and a Garda station. The pitch belongs to Shelburne United, founded in 1971 and based just outside the village in Templeudigan.

The reason the name travels further than the place itself is the railway. The Bagenalstown & Wexford Railway, sanctioned by Parliament in 1854, crawled south through Carlow for the better part of a decade and reached Ballywilliam in March 1862. The station opened that year. It was the first railway station in County Wexford - the line ran out of money before it got any further east, and Ballywilliam was the terminus for over twenty years. The connection south to New Ross, with its bridge and short tunnel, was not built until 1885. The whole line closed in 1963 in the general cull. The track is gone, the station building survives, and the parish remembers.

Beyond the railway and the pitch, Ballywilliam is what it has always been: a quiet road through the foothills with the Blackstairs to the west and the Barrow valley dropping away to the south. New Ross is the town. Rathnure is the parish. The village itself you can drive through in a minute. Stay if you have business with one of the pubs or the football; pass through if you don't.

01 / 05

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The first station

County Wexford's first railway, 1862.

The Bagenalstown & Wexford line reached Ballywilliam in March 1862. The station opened that year - the first in the county. The line closed in 1963.

Stories & lore → 02 The parish

Rathnure-Templeudigan-Ballywilliam.

One parish, three names, spread across the foothills. The pitch is in Templeudigan, the village sits on the R731, the mountain is always to the west.

About Ballywilliam → 03 The mountain

Blackstairs on the horizon.

Mount Leinster and the ridge fill the western sky from any field around the village. The summit road is twenty minutes by car.

Next stops →

02 / 05

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

March 1862

The first station in Wexford

The Bagenalstown & Wexford Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1854 and the first sod was turned at Borris in January 1855. The line was a slow business - money ran short, contracts were re-let, and the route ran out of momentum before it could reach Wexford town. The contractor J.J. Bagnall completed the section as far as Ballywilliam in 1862, and the station opened there that year as the first in County Wexford. For more than twenty years it was the terminus of the line, with goods and passengers transhipping by road for New Ross five miles south. The connecting line south, with its bridge and short tunnel through to New Ross, was finished in 1885. The whole route closed to passengers and freight in 1963 during the post-Beeching rationalisation of Irish rural railways. The station building is still there at the side of the road. The track bed is hedge and bramble.

Where the village sits on the old map

Templeludigan and the Barony of Bantry

Ballywilliam is in the civil parish of Templeludigan, in the old Barony of Bantry - a Wexford barony, not the Cork one, taking its name from the medieval Mac Murrough lordship of Bantry south of the Blackwater. The village shares its life with Rathnure to the north and Killanne over the hill, all three under the modern Catholic parish of Rathnure-Templeudigan-Ballywilliam. The pitch is in Templeudigan townland. The school catchment overlaps. The funerals come to the same churches. Three signposts, one community.

Founded 1971

Shelburne United

The local soccer club, Shelburne United AFC, was founded in 1971 and plays out of a ground in Templeudigan just outside the village. Black and white the home colours, red and white the change. The club runs teams from under-sevens up through senior in the Wexford and District League and the schoolboys' and women's leagues. It is the social spine of the village along with the two pubs - Sunday games, fundraisers in the lounge, a long line of Ballywilliam and Rathnure names on the team sheets going back fifty years.

03 / 05

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Hedges greening up, lambs in every field, Mount Leinster snow gone off by April. Quiet roads.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings. Club soccer running every weekend. The Blackstairs at their best.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Bracken turning on the hills. The quietest months on the parish lanes.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Roads are passable but the hills are in cloud for days at a stretch. Pub-and-fire weather, not exploring weather.

◐ Mind yourself

04 / 05

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Coming to see the station

The building is there, beside the road, but the line is gone and there is no museum or interpretive board. If you want railway heritage in this part of the country, drive to New Ross or Borris - or just enjoy the fact that the building is still standing and keep moving.

Treating it as a destination on its own

Ballywilliam is a village to pass through on the way somewhere - Rathnure for the Rackards, New Ross for the town, Mount Leinster for the view. Plan it as one stop in a loop, not a half-day in itself.

Getting there.

By car

About 8 km north-east of New Ross on the R731. 12 km south of Enniscorthy on minor roads via Clonroche. Dublin is roughly 2 hours.

By bus

No direct service through the village. Nearest Bus Éireann stops are in New Ross and Enniscorthy; you will need a car from there.

By train

No station - the line through Ballywilliam closed in 1963. Nearest is Enniscorthy on the Dublin-Rosslare line, about 20 minutes by car.

By air

Dublin Airport is about 2 hours by road. Waterford is closer but flights are minimal.

Next on the tour

Co. Wexford

Rathnure

The parish next door - home of the Rackards and Conran's, the best local pub in the south-east.

Co. Wexford

Killanne

A crossroads, a church and the monument to John Kelly, the boy from the ballad.

Co. Wexford

New Ross

The town five miles south, on the Barrow. Pubs, the Dunbrody famine ship, and a road bridge that climbs out of the river.