Overview
Cullenstown is a small village and townland on the south coast of County Wexford, about 25 km by road from Wexford town. It has none of the promenade bustle of the bigger resorts, and that is the point. Two things bring people down the lane: Cullenstown Strand, a long run of fine sand backed by grassy dunes, and the Shell Cottage, a piece of pure local invention. Together they make a good stop on the Bannow Drive coastal route, or a quiet base for a day of walking and swimming.
Cullenstown Strand
The beach is the reason to come. It holds a Green Coast Award, the mark given to beaches that may be smaller or less built-up than the Blue Flag sites but keep excellent water quality and a clean, natural shore. The sand shelves gently, which suits older children, but there are no lifeguards, so this is a beach for calm summer days and ordinary sea sense rather than one to trust in a swell.
Parking could hardly be easier: a free car park sits just off the road with spaces looking straight out over the sand, and the public toilets are on the western side of it. Because Cullenstown stays low-key, there is usually room even on a fine weekend – a real advantage if you are arriving with a boot full of beach gear.
The Shell Cottage
A short walk from the road stands the Shell Cottage, known locally as Cliff Cottage. It began as an ordinary 19th-century thatched farmhouse and became something stranger over about thirty years, as Kevin Ffrench worked scallop and razorfish shells across its walls and thatch until the whole front of it caught the light. The inside is a private home and not open, but the exterior is free to look at and hard to walk past without a photograph. The village also keeps an old Gaelic handball alley, listed in the national architectural inventory – a plainer bit of local heritage beside the shells.
Coastal walks and the view
The strand walks well in any season. There is good fishing off it, too. Out across the water the Saltee Islands rise from the sea, with Keeragh Island closer in, and the strand looks along the coast toward the Ballyteige Burrow dunes. Early morning is the pick of it for walkers and photographers, when the light is soft and the sand is empty.
There is a curious footnote to the place. Local tradition holds that Cullenstown was once granted a charter by an English king, leaving its foreshore outside the county council’s control – a small ‘republic’ by the sea, at least in the telling.
Practical information
- Getting there: turn off the R736 from Wexford town onto the local lanes; the beach car park is signposted from the village. Come early on a hot day for a space near the dunes.
- Facilities: free parking and public toilets by the beach. There is a pub in the village, but no shop or café at the strand itself, so bring what you need or stock up at Kilmore Quay.
- Swimming and safety: no lifeguard service. Check the tide tables and forecast before you go in.
- When to go: summer for swimming and family days; winter and early spring for empty walks and Atlantic weather off the sea.
- Dogs: the beach is generally dog-friendly; clean up and keep dogs under control near the dunes.
Nearby
- Bannow Bay (about a 5-minute drive): where the Normans first landed in 1169, now a quiet estuary of sand and tidal mudflat.
- Kilmore Quay (about 20 minutes): a working fishing village of harbour pubs and seafood, and the ferry point for the Saltee Islands, a breeding ground for gannets, puffins and grey seals.
- Hook Peninsula (about 20 minutes): Ireland’s oldest working lighthouse, medieval ruins and cliff-edge views.
