Bunclody, Bun Clóidí, Co. Wexford

Bun Clóidí · Co. Wexford

A border town between Wexford and Carlow with a mountain at the back and a stream down the middle of the main street.

Bunclody sits on the Slaney where it picks up the Clody, in the corner of Wexford that is more or less inside Carlow. Mount Leinster is the hill at your back wherever you stand in the town. The county line runs through the parish, the GAA loyalties argue gently, and on a Saturday morning the cars in the SuperValu car park have plates from both sides.

The main street is a wide one, and down the middle of it runs an island of lime trees with a stream beside it - the Mall, drawn off the Clody in the 19th century to give the town drinking water and somehow never closed. It is the feature of the place. The pubs and the shops sit either side of it. The bench under the trees is where the day happens.

The history here is mostly two stories. The 1798 rebellion came through on 1 June and broke against the garrison; five thousand United Irishmen had the town for an afternoon and then lost four hundred dead in an hour when the redcoats came back. And the name of the town was Newtownbarry from the time James Barry got it in the 16th century until 1950, when a local poll and Wexford County Council put the Irish name back on the signs. Older locals still call it Newtownbarry. The signs do not.

The third reason to come is the hill. Mount Leinster is 794 metres on the county line, the high point of the Blackstairs, and the road runs nearly to the top because there is a transmission mast up there. Drive up to where the public road ends, walk the last stretch, and on a day with the cloud off you can see Wexford, Carlow, Wicklow, Kilkenny, and a long way into Tipperary. You can also see the weather coming. Bring a coat.

Population

2,053

Walk score

Main street and the Mall in fifteen minutes end to end

Founded

Post town from 1577; renamed Bunclody 1950

Coords

52.6500° N, 6.6500° 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 Mount Leinster

The Blackstairs from your back door.

794 metres of granite on the Wexford-Carlow line, the highest of the Blackstairs. There is a 2RN transmitter mast at the summit and a road most of the way up. On a clear day you see five counties.

Walks & outings → 02 The Mall

A canal down the centre of the main street.

A 19th-century channel drawn off the River Clody runs down a tree-lined island in the middle of the wide main street. It is the thing about Bunclody that people remember. Sit on a bench and watch it.

Stories & lore → 03 1798

A battle on the way to Dublin.

Five thousand United Irishmen under Fr Mogue Kearns and Myles Byrne came at the garrison here on 1 June 1798. They had the town for an afternoon. Then the redcoats came back and 400 rebels did not leave.

Stories & lore →

02 / 08

The pubs.

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

Charles Meyler's

Country pub, family-run

Pub on Main Street

Family-run on Main Street. Sing-song sessions in the lounge at weekends from April to October, sport on the big screen the rest of the time. The kind of pub where the same crowd is there on a Sunday night that was there on a Sunday night ten years ago.

Redmond's

Locals, the racing on

Pub & turf accountant

Pub on the main street that is also the bookies. A perfectly Wexford combination. Goes hard on a big-race day; goes quiet on a Tuesday.

Ryan's (The Moss House)

Roadside, steady

Pub at Carrigduff

Out at Carrigduff on the N80, attached to the Moss House guest accommodation. Useful if you are staying that side of the town and do not feel like walking back in.

03 / 08

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Carlton Millrace Hotel	4-star hotel at Carrigduff	Seventy-two rooms on the edge of town at Carrigduff, leisure club and spa attached. The big bed in Bunclody. Functions, weddings, midweek breaks; the place most visitors end up.
The Monkey Puzzle	Guest accommodation	Renovated historic building at Carrigduff, smaller and quieter than the hotel. Walking distance into the town if you do not mind ten minutes on the footpath.
Moss House	B&B at Carrigduff	Roadside B&B on the N80 with Ryan's pub attached. No-frills, useful, and the pub is twenty paces away when you come back from Mount Leinster wet.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

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

1 June 1798

The Battle of Bunclody

On the morning of 1 June, around five thousand United Irishmen under Fr Mogue Kearns and Myles Byrne came down off the hills at the rebels' camp on Kilcumney Hill and attacked the garrison in what was then Newtownbarry. They had the numbers and the surprise and they took the town. Then they stopped to loot the whiskey stores. The Crown forces, who had pulled out under fire, regrouped, came back, and caught the rebels disorganised on the streets. Around four hundred United Irishmen were killed in an hour. The road north toward Dublin was closed at Bunclody and the rebellion in Wexford was forced south, toward Vinegar Hill three weeks later.

A name that came back

Newtownbarry to Bunclody

The town was Bun Clóidí - bottom of the Clody - for centuries before James Barry, a Dublin alderman and sheriff, was granted the lands in the 16th century and renamed it Newtownbarry. The Barry name stuck on the maps for the better part of four hundred years. After Irish independence the pressure to put the original name back grew, and in 1950 Wexford County Council ran a local ballot and a Dáil order made the change official. Older people in the town still slip and call it Newtownbarry. The post office took it off the postmark and never put it back.

A canal down the main street

The Mall

In the 19th century a channel was drawn off the River Clody and run down the centre of the wide main street to give Bunclody clean drinking water. The drinking-water need is gone, the canal is not. It runs down a tree-lined pedestrian island between the two carriageways, lined with limes, with benches and a bandstand and the town's annual festival when the time comes. It is the thing that makes the main street legible - half of Bunclody happens on the Mall.

A song that travelled

The Streams of Bunclody

The folk song Streams of Bunclody was written by a local emigrant in the 19th century and worked its way around the Irish ballad tradition for a hundred and fifty years. It was one of Luke Kelly's favourites. The town named the summer festival after it. If you have heard the song and not heard of the town, you have heard of the town now.

A GAA club on the other side of the line

Mount Leinster Rangers

The big GAA name in this corner of the country is Mount Leinster Rangers, a hurling club founded in 1887 and based in Borris on the Carlow side of the mountain. They won the All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship in 2012 and have been the most successful Carlow hurling club of the last two decades. The mountain belongs to both counties; the trophy cabinet sits in Borris.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

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

Mount Leinster Drive up the Nine Stones road off the R746 - the public road climbs most of the way and ends at a parking spot on the shoulder. Walk the last service track to the transmitter at the summit, 794 metres. On a clear day you see five counties. On the days that are not clear you see weather coming at you sideways from Wexford. Coat, boots, do not start in cloud.

6 km return from the car parkdistance

2.5-3 hourstime

The Mall and the Slaney bridge Down the Mall under the lime trees, across the granite arch bridge over the Slaney, along the river and back. The simplest walk in town and the one most days end with. Slow.

2 km loopdistance

30 mintime

Clody Valley walking trails Riverside path along the Clody where it comes off the hills. Quiet, herons, the kind of walk you do twice in a week and notice something different both times.

3 km loopdistance

1 hourtime

Coolmeelagh and Kilbranish off-road trails Forestry tracks on the lower slopes of Mount Leinster, signposted out of Kiltealy and the Nine Stones road. Bike or walk; the surfaces are mixed and the views back over the Slaney valley are the reason you came.

Variousdistance

1-3 hourstime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Mount Leinster opens up after the worst of the weather. The Mall is in leaf by late April. Quiet on the streets and the long evenings are starting.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

The Streams of Bunclody Festival runs in July and the town fills for it - busking, markets, music on the Mall. Otherwise summer is steady rather than mobbed; this is not a coastal town and the day-trip crowd goes elsewhere.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The hills behind the town go through their colour in late September and the Slaney walks are at their best. Pubs back to local rhythm after the festival summer.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Mount Leinster is not a winter walk unless you know what you are doing - the road ices, the cloud sits, the wind off the summit will take a coat off you. Town itself keeps going; pub-and-fire is the season.

◐ 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.

Driving up Mount Leinster in cloud

The summit is exposed, the road is narrow, and the visibility goes from clear to ten metres in minutes. There is no view to be had on a low-cloud day. Wait for a forecast you trust.

Looking for the All-Ireland Fleadh in Bunclody

The All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann was in Sligo in 2014 and 2015 and is in Wexford town in 2024 and 2025 - not Bunclody. The town has a summer festival of its own (Streams of Bunclody, July) and pub sessions, but it is not the Fleadh. Anyone telling you different is misremembering.

Treating Bunclody as a base for the Wexford coast

The coast at Curracloe and Rosslare is an hour and twenty minutes away. Bunclody is a base for the hills and the Slaney valley, not the sea. If you want beaches, stay in Wexford town.

Booking a Mount Leinster summit hike without checking forecasts

The Blackstairs change weather faster than the forecast updates. Met Éireann's mountain forecast and a check of the cloud line on the morning are part of the kit for this walk, not optional.

Getting there.

By car

Dublin to Bunclody is about 1h 30m on the M11 to Gorey, then the N80 west. Carlow town is 35 minutes north-west on the N80; Enniscorthy is 25 minutes south. The N80 is the main road through and parks on it.

By bus

Bus Éireann route 132 (Dublin-Wexford via Bunclody) and Wexford Bus services link the town to Dublin and Wexford several times daily. The stop is on the main street.

By train

No station. Nearest is Enniscorthy (25 minutes by road) on the Dublin-Rosslare line, then bus or taxi.

By air

Dublin Airport is 1h 45m by car. Waterford Airport is closer (1h 15m) but with limited services.

Next on the tour

Co. Carlow

Clonegal

Ten minutes north over the river. End of the Wicklow Way, working temple of Isis in the castle basement, one good pub. A village built around a 17th-century house.

Co. Carlow

Borris

30 minutes west, on the other side of the mountain. Home of Mount Leinster Rangers GAA and a wide stone main street that runs to a viaduct over the Barrow.

Co. Carlow

Bagenalstown

40 minutes north-west on the Barrow. Planned 18th-century town with a courthouse that thinks it is a Greek temple and a working towpath along the river.

Co. Wexford

Clohamon

Three kilometres up the Slaney, a bridge and a Georgian house by the old cotton mill.