Historic Wexford Ways book celebrates 30th anniversary
THIS year marks the 30th anniversary of a home-grown book about the walking history around Wexford town.
‘Walk Wexford Ways’ was one of the first books published offering an extensive examination of forgotten heritage associated with the town and in compiling the material authors Nick Rossiter, Willie Roche, Tomas Hayes and Kevin Hurley spent many hours researching the book.
Nowadays, there are many publications available relating to Wexford and its people and while that’s to be welcomed when the authors of Walk Wexford Ways brought out their book it was in many ways the first of its kind. The book was also researched, written, printed and published entirely in Wexford town, with only the binding being outsourced. It sold over 2,000 copies and all of the proceeds went towards the Franciscan Friary Restoration Fund.
The book contained over 140 photographs many of which were not previously seen - and it focussed attention on events like the 1911 lockout and the US Airforce base in Ferrybank.
It had a fold-out map section and an alphabetical list of the town’s streets and the origins of their names in addition to self-guided walking tour information.
The book was printed in The Print Shop in High Street - which was an offshoot of People Newspapers - and the launch in Wexford Arts Centre saw the venue packed to capacity.
The authors went on to produce another book, booklet, and publication of an old print of Wexford in addition to working on projects in their own right.
Mr Rossiter has published 13 books to-date and while he has no immediate plans to publish anything in the short term don’t bet against another book bearing his name hitting the shelves in the not-too-distant future.