Enniscorthy Field Trip

Last Tuesday, we all went as one big group to Enniscorthy to see the Rebellion of 1798 Visitor's Center, the site of the Battle of Vinegar Hill, and Johnstown Castle.

The visitor's center is pretty neat. The exhibit on the 1798 Rebellion is very well done, and very informative. The exhibit is very interactive, though some of the projections are slightly creepy. The guide was very well informed and kinda cute. The exhibit goes through the length of the Rebellion, but the main focus is the Battle of Vinegar Hill.

 

The narrative shows a small slice of the story of one 'Croppy Boy' and how he lost his little sister and mother in the confusion of the battle and in the end lost his own life. The way the story is told puts you directly in the middle of the battle, and with the projections make it more personal, intentionally pulling on your heartstrings.

After the visitors center, we took a short busride up to the actual site of the Battle of Vinegar Hill. Called "The Longest Day", June 21, was just a few days before we visited. Our guides led us up and did a small reenactment using student volunteers to show the logistics of how the battle happened. There were some 15,000 men, women, and children, mostly civilians, on the hill at the time of the battle, while the men only had pikes to protect themselves and their families. The only true defensive building was a round tower where they kept prisoners. The memories of what happened in and around that tower is a dark spot as the rebels tortured and slaughtered their enemies without mercy. 
















From the top of the hill, you can see all of Enniscorthy below, which makes it easy to see why the rebels chose this spot, but as the British troops were better equipped with muskets and trained how to use them, it was a major victory for them.

To balance out the violence and emotion of the exhibit at the visitors center and Vinegar Hill, we took a little time at Johnstown Castle. The Gorgan Morgan family had the castle built between 1810 and 1855, incorporating an already existing castle that had been there. It was given to the Irish government in 1945 and is now used for weddings and other very special events. Surrounding the castle is a very peaceful gardens with exotic flora as well as an agricultural center that is worked by the Department of Agriculture.