The history of Wexford dates back to pre-Christian times, with Gaelic invaders attacking and conquering the south-east naming the area Uí Cheannselaig about 350 BC. However, they did not inhabit the sea flats near the present day town of Wexford. In 2AD Ptolemy drew maps which showed a settlement in the location of the present day Wexford Town.
In the late eighth and early ninth centuries, raids by the Vikings began. In 819 Vikings raided the Wexford area and later set up a trading post. In 839 Viking Attacks are reported at Ferns, Co. Wexford . These Vikings were mainly Norwegians and Wexford takes its name from the Norse "Waesfjord - the fjord of the flats". A second period of intensified Viking raids began in the early-mid tenth century as settlements began to be established. These Viking trading towns and their populations were gradually absorbed into the social and political system that surrounded them and the Vikings settled into Irish life as merchants and seamen.
After being ousted from his kingship in Leinster, and seeking help from King Henry II of England, Dermot MacMurrough enlisted the assistance of Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, better known as Strongbow. Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland in A.D. 1169 led by Strongbow. Norman barons Maurice FitzGerald and Robert FitzStephen were promised Wexford town and two adjoining cantreds for their services. Strongbow was promised the whole of Leinster upon Dermot's death. Dermot MacMurrough died in May 1171, and Strongbow established himself as lord of Leinster, after crushing a general revolt of the Leinster Irish and Ostmen within two years.
In his Irish campaign Henry received recognition and hostages from the
Ostmen (Vikings) of Wexford, who had captured Robert FitzStephen, as well as from many other kings in Ireland. Monarch, Henry II, armed with the authority of the Pope, proceeded to grant fiefs in Ireland to Norman nobles until they held extensive tracts of land in the east of Ireland that
became known as the Pale.
Like the Vikings before them, the Anglo-Normans assimilated into the local population until By the sixteenth century Markets, towns and cities had round the Gothic-style castles and cathedrals of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy who had become more Irish than the Irish themselves. Their fortified tower house residences became a common feature of the Irish landscape.
Henry VIII broke with the Pope in Rome in 1536 to declare himself "supreme head on earth" of the Churches of England and Ireland. Systematic repression of Catholicism came with the Reformation and began with the dissolution of the monasteries. By 1541, Henry VIII had assumed the title of King of Ireland, and the Tudor policies of surrender and regrant and planatation began dispossessing the Irish in favour of loyal English settlers.
The county suffered Cromwell's attacks in 1649, when he
attacked the town and murdered 200 people.
English rule continued and complete political, cultural and religious oppression of the native Irish by penal laws that forbade them the right to own land, vote, hold public office, maintain schools, practise their faith, speak the Irish language or play Irish music, marked the eighteenth century. This eventually led
to rebellion by the native Irish starting in County Wexford May 23,
1798
