Monaseed

Monaseed Irish: Móin Na Saighead
County Wexford
Road sign on approach to Monaseed
Location
Grid reference:	T085647
Location:	52°43’22"N, 6°23’43"W
Data
Local Government

Monaseed is a small village in north County Wexford.

The small village centre comprises a primary national school (established in 1913), a Catholic church, and a community hall. Monaseed is approximately two and a half miles from Craanford, and eight and half miles from the larger town of Gorey. Monaseed is one half of a parish with the other half being the village of Craanford.

The Myles Byrne Community Hall was built in 1948.

The name of the village is from the Irish Móin Na Saighead, meaning 'boggy place of flint arrows'.

History

King James I decreed the plantation of the north of County Wexford with Englsih and Scottish settlers, clearing out the owners and occupiers of the land. Monaseed Castle was built in 1613 and granted to William Marwood. The subsequent plantation caused a huge displacement of local families, some of whom were transported to Virginia. In 1630, according to one source, '[The] Plantation in the Co. has extirpated the Irish almost quite.' Following the Cromwellian invasion soon after, Monaseed Castle was destroyed, and only four Irishmen still resided in Monaseed.

Monaseed National School established in 1913. Some repairs were carried out in 1965, but by the 1980s it was in a poor condition, and refurbishment took place in 1991.