Wexford Irish Heritage Park

Time-Travelling in Ireland

Time-travelling is a human dream featuring in many movies such as "Back to the Future" ... meanwhile, a bit of it is possible in heritage parks that bring the past back to life. One of them is the Irish National Heritage Park in Wexford in the Southeast of Ireland near the coast. Buses bring you there ...

The long history of Ireland begins in prehistoric times, exemplified in these wooden huts with roofs of reed, long boats and a small fireplace. Sometimes, I am humbled by these sights because it would take skills and hardiness to survive with only these simple tools. Passing untouched nature (forests!) and many herbs (wild garlic!), we also saw some Ogham stones on which there were inscriptions in the archaic Ogham language, a rune-like script used in the early Middle Ages to write Irish words.

As always, a monastic site plays an important role also in Wexford: Christianity has been around Ireland since at least the 5th century with St Patrick, and many treasures and books have been preserved in monasteries and passed on to modern times. Monks spent lives on prayer, copying sacred texts, caring for the community and educating the youth, but many also lived in a hermitage. The typical Irish high crosses as the one in this picture have a celtic form with the ring around the cross. This one is painted in red, and in contrast to many other crosses, here you can still see the colour.

In the 9th and 10th century, Viking raiders sacked many places in Ireland, especially monsteries for their treasures of gold and silver. Here you can see one of their ships recreated in life-size. Cities such as Dublin show considerable Viking influence ... in the park, there were also some recreated Viking houses (some of which in a defensive position surrounded by water) to give a better impression of everyday life in these centuries.

On a wall in a tunnel, they wrote some historical scenes like battles with Normans and Vikings and wrote some aphorisms such as this one ... in Ireland, drinking is indeed a big part of everyday culture. Guinness, whiskey, rum, gin and ale are not famous for no reason! "Let's go for a drink!"

A highlight in the heritage park was the Norman castle. Invaders of the 11th century had left their traces: Blocky, robust buildings used to secure power and safely hoard resources ... you can also see them in England (of course), even in Sicily! In the background, you see a typical round tower used as a keep to flee to in times of danger.

My personal highlight in the park (besides gold panning) was archery! Yes, you could just try it out in the Norman castle! It takes precision and focus to hold the bow and aim, some strength to pull the string, and it's very rewarding to see the arrow fly into the target! You can also try archery at Maynooth University (see my other post!)

Leaving the zone of time-travelling, we went on to explore the South of Ireland ... 'til next time!