Wexford Genealogy Tours
My Ireland Heritage find your Ancestors and exact house location from the 1700’s to the late 1800’s, and all available records in Ireland. We are an Irish family business dedicated to assisting you in your Irish Genealogy research for your roots and records of your family history of past generations in Wexford, as well as providing you with a once in a lifetime Irish Genealogy tour experience to visit your families original family house and Walk in the Footsteps of your Irish Ancestors.
Sean and the Team at My Ireland Heritage are a Government certified & approved Genealogy & Touring Company, and will personally guide you on the journey into your Irish ancestry to any County in Ireland.
Many companies are genealogy research only, many companies are touring companies only, we at My Ireland Family Heritage are proud to be able to encompass your research and tour together enabling us to work with you throughout the process to customize your tour with you and for you. To achieve a full genealogy tour experience consider adding one of our one-day historical tours.
Our Tours
Our Ancestral Townland Experience Tours
County Wexford has one of Ireland’s strongest Norman heritages, reflected in its place names, its historic towns and its long agricultural tradition in the southeast’s relatively mild, fertile land. Wexford is also known internationally as the ancestral county of the Kennedy family, whose homestead near Dunganstown remains a well-documented site of American presidential heritage, though most Wexford descendants researching their roots today are tracing far less famous, but no less meaningful, family stories.
Wexford’s parish records reflect this long settled history, with many families staying on the same land for generations before economic change or the Famine pushed later descendants to emigrate, often through the county’s own coastal towns. As with every county, the civil parish on an old record doesn’t always match the actual church congregation, and we work through this carefully, confirming the true parish, graveyard and townland connected to your family before building your tour.
A Wexford tour can take in the historic Hook Head Lighthouse, one of the world’s oldest operational lighthouses, alongside the county’s Norman-founded towns and your own family’s specific townland, a rich historical backdrop for a deeply personal piece of research.
- Wexford has 10 Baronies
- Wexford has 138 Civil parishes
- Wexford has 124 Electoral Divisions
- Wexford has 2304 Townlands
- Wexford has 1 Sub townland
County Wexford is in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wexford and was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Kinsella, Uí Ceinnsealaigh, whose capital was Ferns. The population of the county is 145,273 according to the 2011 census.
The county is rich in evidence of early human habitation. There are many items such as Portal tombs existing from the Neolithic period. Remains from the Bronze Age period are far more widespread. Early Irish tribes formed the Kingdom of Uí Cheinnsealaig, an area that was slightly larger than the current County Wexford. County Wexford was one of the earliest areas of Ireland to be Christianised, in the early 5th century. Wexford town became a Viking settlement near the end of the 9th century.
Wexford (Bannow Bay) was the site of the invasion of Ireland by Normans in 1169 at the invitation of Diarmuid Mac Murrough, king of Leinster , which led to the subsequent colonisation of the country by the Anglo-Normans.
On 23 October 1641, a major rebellion broke out in Ireland, and County Wexford produced strong support for Confederate Ireland. Oliver Cromwell and his English Parliamentarian Army arrived 1649 and his armies rampaged until 1653. The lands of the Irish and Anglo-Normans were confiscated and given to Cromwell’s soldiers as payment for their service in the Parliamentarian Army for services against the then King Charles the 1st. At Duncannon, in the south-west of the county, James II, after his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne, embarked for Kinsale and then to exile in France.
The Irish Celtic Tribes By Ptolemy 1st Century 500BC-500AD
- County Wexford – The Koriondoi
Family Dynasties 1500-1600 AD
- Irish – Kavanagh, Mc Murrough
- Norman – Cheevers, Dalton, Talbot
- Scottish – None
- Viking – None
County Wexford – Things to do and may be possible to include within your Ancestral Townland Experience Tour
- Tintern Abbey
- Our Ladys Island Lake
- Irelands ancient east Trail
- The Twin Churches: Church of the Assumption and Church of the Immaculate Conception
- Slade Castle
- Wexford Gaol
- Secret Valley Wildlife Park
- Wexford National Heritage Park
- Colclough Walled Garder
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wexford connected to any well-known American families?
Yes, County Wexford is the ancestral county of the Kennedy family, with a documented homestead near Dunganstown, though we research families of every background across the county.
Does Wexford's Norman heritage affect genealogy research?
It contributes to the county’s place names and historic town structures, though most family research still centres on standard parish, graveyard and townland records regardless of era.
Can a Wexford tour include Hook Head Lighthouse?
Yes, this can be included alongside your family’s specific parish and townland, depending on your itinerary.
