Crossabeg’s history recorded
HISTORIAN NICKY COWMAN LAUNCHES FACINATING SECOND VOLUME
LOCAL HISTORIAN Nicky Cowman was in mischievous form at the launching of ‘Crossabeg, the Parish and its people' in the Hotel Ferrycarrig last week.
The book is the second volume produced by him and his team, arriving 16 years after the initial book produced to mark the bicentenary of the 1798 rebellion.
Speaking to a packed function room in the hotel, editor Cowman threw down the gauntlet to a younger generation of historians and suggested that there are plenty of topics waiting to be explored in volume three.
He pointed to the fate of 16 Crossabeg men convicted of rebellion in 1641; to the impact of Cromwell on the parish; to the possibility that John Murphy of Crossabeg may made as significant a contribution to the events of '98 as the priest of the same name; and to the mystery surrounding the burial place of murder victim Lizzie Reck.
He called on the youngsters to start work and make sure that another 16 years does not elapse before the next instalment is produced by the parish which remains a strong community despite being cut in two by the N11 national road.
In the meantime, volume two was in brisk demand at the Ferrycarrig, where copies of the 400-plus page hard back retailed at €20 each.
The contents include a meticulous survey of the gravestones in four local cemeteries undertaken over several years by Alice Devine and Anne Cowman.
Guest speaker at the launch was Wexford mayor George Lawlor who recalled that his printing firm was responsible for the original production in the nineties.
He described the new 2014 publication, with its 50 much varied chapters on the past commercial, religious, social and sporting life of the area, as a ‘wonderfully presented book'.