Blackwater, An Abhainn Dubh, Co. Wexford

An Abhainn Dubh · Co. Wexford

Sixteen kilometres north of Wexford. A crossroads village with the sea at the end of the road.

Blackwater is a small inland coastal village on the R742 about sixteen kilometres north of Wexford town. It is not on the sea; it is a kilometre or two back from it, sitting in the townland of Ballynaglogh, with the road running through the middle and a handful of pubs, a shop, a church and a GAA pitch on either side. If you arrive expecting a harbour or a pier you will be surprised. The pier is at Ballyconnigar, down at the end of the next road.

The village is older than it looks. Ringforts, a holy well, a motte and an ecclesiastical enclosure are scattered through the surrounding townlands at Ballynaglogh, Inch, Glebe and Castletalbot. Castletalbot itself, a five-bay three-storey country house built around 1753 by Mathew Talbot, sits north of the village and gave the Talbot family their seat in Wexford for the next century and a half. St Brigid's Catholic Church was put up in the village in 1831 and renovated more than once since. The GAA club, St Brigid's Blackwater, was established in 1885 - one of the first in the county after the GAA itself was founded in Thurles the previous year.

What the village actually does, on a Tuesday in March, is run on its pubs and its road. The road brings traffic up the coast between Wexford town and Curracloe and Ballyconnigar. The pubs hold the village together. Etchingham's has been on the street since before the 1830s; the Blackwater Lodge does food and rooms; Whelan's and Corrigan's keep their own counsel. Drive five minutes out of the village in any direction and you are in dunes, low cliffs, barley fields and old Talbot lanes. That's the whole offer.

Population

485 (2022)

Walk score

Whole village in eight minutes; the beach is two kilometres east

Founded

Ringforts and ecclesiastical sites pre-date the village; St Brigid's church 1831

Coords

52.4333° N, 6.3500° W

01 / 08

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 village

Four pubs and a church on the R742.

Blackwater is a single-street crossroads in the townland of Ballynaglogh, sixteen kilometres north of Wexford town. The population was 105 in 1881 and 485 by 2022 - most of that growth has come since the late 1990s.

Stories & lore → 02 The strand

Ballyconnigar is two kilometres east.

Take the road past the church and you hit the sea at Ballyconnigar. The stretch from Ballyconnigar to Ballynaclash is the local bathing, walking and fishing beach. Soft glacial cliffs, yellow sand, no promenade.

Walks & outings → 03 The pub

Etchingham's has been here since before the 1830s.

Thomas and John Etchingham were running a pub on this street before the 1830s. It is still trading under the same name. That is most of what you need to know about Blackwater.

Pubs & sessions →

02 / 08

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Etchingham's

Old, local, year-round

Traditional village pub

On the village street since before the 1830s when Thomas and John Etchingham ran it. Same name, same building, several owners on. The historic pub of Blackwater. If you only step into one, step into this one.

Blackwater Lodge

Family-run, food-led

Pub, restaurant, B&B

The pub-with-rooms in the village. Bar, dining room, a handful of guest rooms upstairs. The default option if you want to eat properly in Blackwater and not move.

Whelan's Bar

Quiet local

Country pub

One of the four village pubs. Local trade, no fuss. The kind of place you go for a slow pint after a walk on Ballyconnigar.

Corrigan's Bar

Locals, year-round

Village pub

The fourth of the village's traditional pubs. Counter, fire, regulars. Hours can be elastic outside summer; ring before you bank on it.

03 / 08

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
Blackwater Lodge dining room	Pub restaurant	€€	The proper sit-down option in the village. Pub food done well - chowder, fish, a roast on Sunday. Open year-round and the most reliable kitchen between Wexford and Ballyconnigar.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

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

The Talbot seat

Castletalbot

Castletalbot is a five-bay three-storey country house built around 1753 by Mathew Talbot, on a T-shaped plan, north of the village. The Talbots had been in this corner of Wexford since the seventeenth century - Walter Talbot of Ballinamony (later renamed Talbot Castle) was here in the 1600s, and by 1885 the Wexford Directory was describing Castle Talbot as the finest residence in the neighbourhood and the seat of John H. Talbot JP. The house is still a private home. The lanes around it still carry the family's name.

The village church

St Brigid's, 1831

St Brigid's Catholic Church was built in the village in 1831 - three years before the GAA's founder Michael Cusack was born and fourteen years before the Famine. It's a four-bay double-height Catholic church on a T-shaped plan, renovated in 1897-8 and again in 2000. The cemetery beside it holds most of the families that have run this village for the last two hundred years, including the original Etchinghams.

One of Wexford's first GAA clubs

St Brigid's, 1885

The GAA was founded in Thurles on the 1st of November 1884. Blackwater was one of the first clubs set up in Wexford in its wake - St Brigid's Blackwater, established in 1885, with the hurlers formally affiliating in 1887. Hurling in the parish was older than the GAA itself; in 1844, the local paper described a 'great hurling match' between Ballyvalloo and Castle Ellis. By 1888 the Blackwater hurlers had beaten neighbours Oulart to win the Wexford County tournament. The club still plays out of the same village, on a pitch you pass on the way in.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Ballyconnigar Strand Two kilometres east of the village. The local strand. Park at the end of the road and walk south toward Ballynaclash or north toward Morriscastle on soft, dune-backed sand. No promenade, no lifeguards in winter; the cliffs are glacial clay and crumble - don't sit under them.

3 km of beachdistance

However long you havetime

Ballyconnigar to Ballynaclash The classic local stretch. Quiet beach walking on a falling tide, sea on one side, low clay cliffs and dune on the other. Turn around when you've had enough; there's no fixed end.

4 km one waydistance

1 hour one waytime

The Cahore Cliff Walk Twenty minutes north of Blackwater. Opened in 2019 by Wexford County Council and Ballygarrett Tidy Towns. Wide, level, buggy-friendly trail along the cliffs from Cahore Pier, with the remains of a WW2 Éire sign and views over Old Bawn, Morriscastle and Ballinoulart beaches. Not in Blackwater itself but the obvious extension.

2.4 km one way (almost 5 km looped)distance

1.5 hourstime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The strand mostly to yourself. Sea cold but the light is unreal. The village is in its working clothes; the pubs are full of locals and nobody else.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Blackwater itself stays quiet - the holiday crowds head for Curracloe and Courtown. But the road through the village gets busy, parking at Ballyconnigar is full by mid-morning on a sunny Saturday, and the Lodge books up on weekends.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The best time. Empty beach, warm-enough sea into late September, the pubs settling back into themselves. The light over Ballyconnigar in October is the reason people drive down from Dublin for a weekend.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

The strand is wild - wind, big skies, half a coast and nothing on it. Bring layers. Two of the pubs may keep shorter hours; Etchingham's and the Lodge usually keep going.

◐ Mind yourself

07 / 08

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

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

Looking for a harbour in the village

Blackwater is two kilometres inland from the sea. The strand and the small pier are at Ballyconnigar, not in the village. If you want a pint with a view of the water, drive on through.

Treating it as a substitute for Curracloe

Curracloe Strand, ten minutes south, is seven kilometres of flat film-set sand with car parks, lifeguards and a shop on the beach. Ballyconnigar is shorter, scrappier and quieter. Pick the one that matches the day.

Sitting under the clay cliffs at Ballyconnigar

The cliffs from Ballyconnigar north are soft glacial clay and they fall regularly. Walk along the sand, not under the lip. The county council signs are not decorative.

Getting there.

By car

Wexford town to Blackwater is 16 km north on the R741 and R742 - about 20 minutes. Dublin to Blackwater is 2h 15m via the M11/N11 to Enniscorthy or Wexford and out from there.

By bus

Local Link Wexford runs services from Wexford town through the coastal villages including Blackwater, with limited frequency. From Dublin take Bus Éireann to Wexford or Enniscorthy and connect locally.

By train

No train. Wexford O'Hanrahan station on the Dublin Connolly-Rosslare Europort line is the nearest, then a 25-minute taxi or local bus.

By air

Dublin Airport (DUB) is about two hours by car. Rosslare Europort is 35 minutes south if you arrived by ferry.

Next on the tour

Co. Wexford

Curracloe

Ten minutes south. Seven kilometres of yellow sand, the Saving Private Ryan beach, and the Raven Nature Reserve at the southern end.

Co. Wexford

Castlebridge

On the way back to Wexford town. A Slaney-side mill village that fed Guinness with malt for two centuries.

Co. Wexford

Wexford

The county town, sixteen kilometres south. Norse port turned Norman town turned opera town. The obvious base if you want a working dinner after the strand.

Co. Wexford

Kilmuckridge

Six kilometres north-east up the coast, a junction village with the beach two kilometres on.