Church of the Immaculate Conception on Rowe Street
I was up at 8:00. After a shower, I took a morning stroll to the beach to skip a few rocks and sat on a rock to eat breakfast. The waves of Saint George’s Channel were comparable in magnitude to those of Long Island Sound, but the water was notably clearer than would be found at any Connecticut beach.
At the bus terminal, I bought a three-of-eight-day pass and headed for Wexford en route to Waterford. The scenery along the ride was a beautiful. We passed flat plains, pastures, farmhouses, livestock, thatched roof houses, and B&Bs. There were colorfully flowered roundabouts, palm trees, rocky hills, and narrow two-story multiple dwellings.
From the bus stop in Wexford, a short up-hill hike brought me to the Church of the Immaculate Conception.
Church of the Assumption on Bride Street seen from the parking lot of its twin, Church of the Immaculate Conception on Rowe Street
Empty when I entered, the neo-gothic chapel was simple but large with pink interior walls, an enormous stained glass window behind the alter, and a high ceiling that created a cavernous feel. From the front parking lot, I could see its twin, Church of the Assumption on Bride Street, in the distance.
Following my brief visit to the church, I walked down to the quays along Wexford Bay. Rounding Crescent Quay (or “The Crescent”), a semicircular road along the perimeter of a small cove with the statue of Commodore John Barry as its centerpiece, I passed some young lads fishing and gave assistance to one of the boys when asked for my help turning a “rock-solid” nut on his reel. My next stop was at the ruins of Saint Selskar’s Abbey, a church first erected in 1216, destroyed, rebuilt, and then the roof was lost to fire in 1960. Only the walls of stone remain.
