Overview
Ballyhack Castle is one of the few Irish tower houses where you can still climb to the wall walk, and it costs nothing to do so. The Knights Hospitallers of St John built the five-storey tower around 1450, high on a steep-sided valley above the mouth of Waterford Harbour, where the Nore, Suir and Barrow meet the sea. Below it sits the village: a shop, a traditional pub, a small working quay, and the car ferry that shuttles across to County Waterford. If you have an hour in this corner of County Wexford, spend it on the castle and the crossing.
The castle
The tower is now a National Monument in state care, and a visit takes about 45 minutes. The entrance was guarded twice over: a machicolation projecting from the wall above, and a murder hole in the ceiling of the passage inside. Built into the second floor is a small 15th-century chapel that still has its piscina, aumbry and altar. On display are replica pieces of Crusades- and Norman-era armour, which matter more for the order that built the place than for their own sake.
The reason to make the climb is the wall walk. The walls survive complete to the top, so you can step out onto the parapet and see the whole harbour, the estuary and across to Waterford. The catch: the only way up is a tight, steep stone stair, so the upper floors are out for anyone unsteady on their feet, and the ground-floor exhibition is as far as wheelchair users will get.
Ballyhack earned a grim place in the language during the 1641 rebellion, when Cromwellian forces held the castle and used it as a point of transportation for people cleared off their land under the 1652 Act for the Settlement of Ireland. The phrase ‘Go to Ballyhack’ – meaning to be sent packing – comes from here.
The village and the ferry
The village is small and worth a slow wander rather than a plan. The quay is a quiet spot to watch the boats; St Catherine’s National School sits up on the hill; and a memorial unveiled in 2015 remembers local fishermen lost at sea. Don’t expect much beyond the one shop and the pub, so bring water if you’re walking.
The car ferry is the useful bit. It runs continuously through the day between Ballyhack and Passage East on the Waterford shore, and it saves a long road loop around the estuary if you’re heading for Waterford city, Woodstown or Dunmore East. It also gives you the best view there is of the castle, framed against the hill from the middle of the water. Ballyhack is the southern end of the 77 km Wexford Coastal Path, which heads off north and east along the shore from here.
Practical information
- Getting there: Ballyhack is reached via the R734 from Duncannon, about 5.5 km away. Free parking is on site, but the handful of spaces fill quickly on summer weekends.
- Opening and admission: Free. Open 7 May–26 August 2026, Saturday–Wednesday, 10:00–17:00, with last admission 45 minutes before closing. Guided tours run through the summer at no extra cost; outside tour times the castle is self-guided.
- Accessibility: The ground-floor exhibition is wheelchair-accessible and assistance dogs are welcome; disabled parking is near the entrance. The upper floors and wall walk are reached by steep stairs only.
- Nearby: Combine it with the Dunbrody Famine Ship at New Ross or the drive out to Hook Lighthouse for a full day on the south-east coast.
Come early if you want the wall walk to yourself and the light low across the harbour – by mid-morning on a fine summer Saturday you’ll be sharing the parapet.