Overview
Courtown was built, more or less, as famine relief. Between 1839 and 1846 Lord Courtown spent £25,000 putting local men to work on a harbour, and the village grew up around it once fishing took hold. It sits on Courtown Bay in north County Wexford, about 6km south-east of Gorey and under 90 minutes from Dublin – squarely in what’s marketed as the ‘sunny southeast’, and not idly: Wexford records around 1,600 hours of sunshine a year, more than anywhere else in the country.
If you’re deciding what to prioritise, here’s the honest version: the two most reliable reasons to come are Seal Rescue Ireland and Courtown Woods, not the beach. The strand has eroded badly in recent years, and the village leans more ‘caravan-and-chipper holiday resort’ than scenic gem. Knowing that, it’s a good, cheap family day out.
The beach, and a straight word about it
Courtown’s beach has a complicated present. It carried Blue Flags in the past – the north beach won European recognition as far back as 1999, and the beach held the award again in 2018 – but in recent years the council stopped entering it because the sand hadn’t recovered enough to qualify. Visitors have turned up to find shingle and great banked mounds of replenished sand rather than the wide golden strand the brochures promise. It’s roughly 3km long but narrow at the main access points, widening as you head north, which is also the better end for a swim.
Lifeguards are on duty through the summer, from around late May to early September; swim between the flags. Courtown has its own RNLI inshore lifeboat station (a small class D boat) covering the bay. None of this makes it a bad spot for a walk and a paddle – just don’t drive two hours expecting Curracloe.
Seal Rescue Ireland
This is the standout, especially with children. Seal Rescue Ireland is the only seal rescue and rehabilitation centre in the country, a charity that takes in sick, injured and orphaned seal pups from around the Irish coast, nurses them back and releases them. The visitor centre runs feeding experiences where you help staff feed the pups – currently around €20 a head, and you must book ahead rather than turn up. It’s the one thing in Courtown genuinely worth planning a day around.
Courtown Woods
A short walk from the village, Courtown Woods is a free, 25-hectare patch of woodland open around the clock, with four way-marked trails to suit how much time you have:
- River Walk – 1.9km, about 40 minutes
- Canal Walk – 1km, about 25 minutes, following the old harbour canal
- High Cross Walk – 1km, about 30 minutes
- Top Walk – 1.2km
They’re flat and well signposted, good for an early-morning ramble or a picnic. The long-distance Wexford Coastal Path (Slí Charman) also runs through the area if you want to keep walking along the shore.
The harbour and village
The harbour is still the centre of things, with a promenade round the basin, fishing and leisure boats, and the lifeboat station. For families, Pirates Cove at the harbour has crazy golf and ten-pin bowling (high season and weekends), and there’s a seasonal seafront amusement arcade. For food, the local order is chips from the Dinky Take-Away on The Strand, which the 2FM Marty Whelan show once crowned the best in Ireland – a bold claim, but the queue suggests it’s not far off. Courtown Golf Club, in the old Courtown demesne, has an 18-hole course nearby.
A bit of history
The name Courtown goes back to 1278 – in Irish, Baile na Cúirte, ‘the town of the court’ – and the manor sat in what was once MacDamore’s territory. The big house, Courtown House, seat of the Earls of Courtown (the Stopford family), was demolished in 1962; the remains of the family’s private church and cemetery survive in the townland near the golf club. During the Celtic Tiger years the village merged into neighbouring Riverchapel, and the combined population more than tripled between 2006 and 2022, when it reached 4,365.
Practical information
- Getting there: By car off the M11 onto the R742; about 90 minutes from Dublin. The nearest railway station is Gorey, roughly 7km away, on the Dublin–Rosslare line into Dublin Connolly.
- Public transport caveat: Buses are sparse – broadly one a day to and from Gorey except Sundays, with Bus Éireann route 379 running to Wexford via Curracloe on Mondays and Saturdays. In practice you want a car.
- Parking: Free car parks near the harbour, along the beach promenade and at the golf club. The main beach car park fills fast on warm weekends, so arrive before 10am.
- Seasonality: Lifeguards, water-sports hire and many seafront stalls run summer only; the woods, harbour and village shops stay open year-round.
Nearby
- Gorey – The nearest town, 6km inland, for shops, the railway and a wider choice of food.
- Curracloe Beach – The long, dune-backed strand south of Wexford town, a 40-minute drive and the bigger beach day out.