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The menu has two main parts. The first presents modules that interrogate Ireland’s culture though its history. The second offers themed modules, each focused on a particular Irish cultural phenomenon (e.g., sports or music or regional identity). Prior to the menu proper, the page offers a “Greatest Hits” list of experiential-learning sites in County Wexford and Southeastern Ireland. Faculty members and students are encouraged to explore the various “Hits,” as well as to suggest edits and additions.

 Greatest Hits: County Wexford And Southeast Ireland

Each entry spotlights a venue highly likely to feature in a student’s experience at GS’s Wexford Campus, whether under the leadership of a course instructor or that of the Campus Director. Using text and images, the entries describe the significant of and the principal assets at the focal sites. The data should be useful when designing and delivering educational field trips to enhance Wexford Campus-based courses.

Enniscorthy, County Wexford
The second-largest settlement in County Wexford, Enniscorthy is home to the multi-award-winning National 1798 Rebellion Center, which presents the bloodiest uprising in Irish history in terms of the American and French revolutions and broader Enlightenment debates about human rights and self-government. The town’s Elizabethan castle, Atheneum, and A.W.N. Pugin-designed Gothic Revival cathedral provide a variety of learning opportunities. Enniscorthy was the birthplace of Eileen Gray, a first-order modernist furniture designer, whose career is celebrated at the Castle. During Ireland’s Easter 1916 Rising, seen as precipitating the modern nation, the Atheneum provided the headquarters for the most significant rebel action outside Dublin. The cathedral underscores how Ireland’s Roman Catholic majority increased its power and influence across much of the nineteenth century. Enniscorthy became a film location when the novel Brooklyn was adapted for the screen; written by Enniscorthy native Colm Tóibín, the tale explores an Enniscorthy-Brooklyn emigration experience from the 1950s. Tóibín is a patron of the annual Wexford Literary Festival, held in Enniscorthy in early July. An exciting new development is the emerging research-and-training facility for Nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB), being constructed just outside Enniscorthy as a United Nations center of excellence.

New Ross, County Wexford
On the River Barrow, bordering County Kilkenny and close to Waterford City (in County Waterford), New Ross was developed by a power couple, Isabel de Clare and William Marshal, to function as medieval Ireland’s chief river port. Its town walls are but one artifact from the Middle Ages depicted on the Ros Tapestry, a “tale in thread” begun in 1998. New Ross was the site of and gives its name to the the bloodiest engagement of Ireland’s 1798 Rebellion. Around 3,000 Irish rebels died in the town’s streets on June 5 of that year. During the nineteenth century, New Ross bustled as a trade and emigration center, with direct sailings to Britain, the Black Sea, Peru, and North America (principally Québec, New York, and Savannah). Due to emigration, it claims strong associations with an American political dynasty: the Kennedys. Early each September, New Ross hosts the Kennedy Summer School, which brings together thought leaders to explore Irish-American politics and culture — past, present, and future.

Hook Peninsula, County Wexford
In the southwest of County Wexford, the triangle-shaped Hook Peninsula contains significant Norman structures, not least: Hook Tower, earth’s oldest operating lighthouse; Clonmines, a deserted borough (small town); and the impressive ruins of two Cistercian abbeys — Dunbrody and Tintern. The Normans first entered Ireland (in 1169) via Bannow Bay, on the eastern side of the peninsula. The western side, Waterford. Harbor, is the combined estuary of three major rivers and, thus, the maritime gateway to the river ports of New Ross, Belview, and Waterford City. Now promoted to visitors as a haunted mansion, Loftus Hall provides a case study of a landed estate. A European Union Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Hook Head permits study of coastal flora and fauna, including whales and dolphins. Plaques at two locations on the peninsula commemorate native son Peter Whelan, who became Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah. During the American Civil War, Father Whelan’s humanitarian care for Union prisoners of war at Georgia’s notorious Andersonville camp earned him the moniker “Angel of Andersonville.”

Kilmore Quay And Saltee Islands, County Wexford
In southeast County Wexford, the village of Kilmore Quay is home to a commercial fishing fleet and seafood-processing facilities. Thus, it offers means to study Ireland’s fisheries sector and marine-conservation strategies. Two important festivals occur annually in the village: the Kilmore Quay Seafood Festival in mid-July; and the Write by the Sea Literary Festival in late September. From Kilmore Quay, one can take boat rides to the Saltee Islands, approximately three miles offshore, which exhibit precambrian bedrock, some of Europe’s most ancient rock. Visitors are permitted on Great Saltee, the larger of the two principal islands; however, simply navigating around the islands without landing affords opportunities for bird- and seal-watching. Situated on an important migratory corridor, the Saltees constitute a major sanctuary for such bird species as fulmar, gannet, guillemot, great black-backed gull, kittiwake, Manx shearwater, puffin, and razorbill. The islands accommodate one of the few breeding colonies of grey seals in eastern Ireland. Human interaction with the Saltees includes a history of pirate activity. East of Kilmore Quay is Lady’s Island, a regionally important site of Christian pilgrimage, both during and after the Middle Ages.

Modules For Understanding Ireland’s Culture Through Its History

¶ One possible approach (presented here) is to attempt two modules per week across a seven-week semester.
¶ The initial module spotlights the special connection between the county of Wexford and the city of Savannah, which emerged in the 1840s and 1850s.
¶ Subsequent modules are chronological.

History Modules • Week 1.7

Wexford-Savannah Axis
Students discover the unique trade-and-emigration links, dating back 170 years, that informed Georgia Southern’s decision to select Wexford as the site of its first international campus.

Mythologies And Prehistory
Students explore how Irish mythology narrates the Spanish origins of the Gaels (or native Irish). They also examine core aspects of Ireland’s most popular ancient epic, which centers on a huge army’s attempt to kidnap a stud bull. In addition, they develop an understanding of ancient monuments and artifacts that the Irish value as identity-markers.

History Modules • Week 2.7

Vikings And Normans
Students interrogate two of the most significant invader peoples to shape Ireland in the Middle Ages: Vikings (or Norse) from Norway and Denmark; Normans from England and, more especially, from Wales (Cambro-Normans). Both groups used Wexford as an entryway into Ireland.

Plantations, From The Tudors to Cromwell
Students analyze Early Modern Ireland in terms of a series of plantations, initiated by the Tudor dynasty, whose second monarch, King Henry VIII of England, declared himself King of Ireland. Often, armed conflict resulted in the English regime’s appropriation of Irish lands for “planting” — that is, redistribution to non-native loyalists. While the Tudors pioneered this colonial initiative, subsequent English heads of state, King James I and Oliver Cromwell, continued it.

History Modules • Week 3.7

18th Century: Anglo-Irish Ascendancy

1798 Rebellion: The Year Of The Hill

History Modules • Week 4.7

Act Of Union And O’Connell 

Great Hunger And Other Famines

History Modules • Week 5.7

Land War And Parnell

Great War And Easter 1916 Rising

History Modules • Week 6.7

War Of Independence • Treaty And Partition • Civil War

Irish Free State And De Valera

History Modules • Week 7.7

Northern Irish Troubles And Good Friday Agreement

Celtic Tiger • Crash • Celtic Phoenix • Brexit

Modules About Irish Cultural Phenomena

¶ One possible approach (presented here) is to attempt two modules per week across a seven-week semester.
¶ Conceivably, a student might complete two culture modules and two history modules in any given week.

Culture Modules • Week 1.7

The Irish Cultural Revival: Making a National Culture

Provinces, Counties & Place Names

Culture Modules • Week 2.7

Gaeilge: Ireland’s Indigenous Langauge

Irish Sports

Culture Modules • Week 3.7

Mná na hÉireann: Women of Ireland

Irish Music & Dance

Culture Modules • Week 4.7

The National School System & Education in Ireland

Irish Literature, Drama & Entertainment

Culture Modules • Week 5.7

Irish Agriculture: Family Farms; the Cooperative Movement; Agrifood Giants

Irish Architecture, Art & Design

Culture Modules • Week 6.7

Emigration & Ireland’s Global Diaspora • Ireland & the EU • Immigration into Ireland

Religion in Ireland

Culture Modules • Week 7.7

Modern Ireland’s Economic Model: Foreign Direct Investment

Ireland’s Parliamentary Democracy • Minorities & Equality