A History of County Wexford

County Wexford lies in the south eastern corner of Ireland. It is bounded to the west by the River Barrow and the Blackstairs Mountains, to the north by the Wicklow Mountains and by the sea on the other two sides. The River Slaney flows diagonally through the centre, dividing the county north and south. Nicholas Furlong traces the history of the county from earth's early Christian settlements through its Norman colonisation and the uncertainties of the Elizabethan and Cromwellian periods through the great rising of 1798 and the institutional revival of Catholicism in the nineteenth century, which was particularly focused on this part of the country. In the twentieth century he emphasises the continuing prosperity of the county; its sporting and cultural revival in the 1950s with the Opera Festival and the legendary hurling team of that era; and its continuing importance as a holiday resort and transport hub.