IN ORDER not to be over-shadowed by bigger crowded happenings later this year and next, local organisers decided to get in early and Fethard recently had the honour of hosting the first event in the extensive bicentennial commemoration of the 1798 rebellion.
It was on June 10th, 1798, that the harbour near the small village of Fethard-on-Sea, on the south coast of Co Wexford, was bombarded by two British gunboats and 13 fishing boats were destroyed.
The opening event in the Comoradh `98 calendar recalled the only significant maritime encounter in the south-east in 1798.
The Minister of State for Finance, Ms Avril Doyle, unveiled a plaque at the quay to commemorate the bombardment. The procession to the quay included an FCA contingent, the New Ross District Pipe Band and about 70 "Pikemen".
A spectacular marine exercise followed, involving the RNLI and the Irish Marine Emergency Service.
Mr Tom Hickey, vice-chairman of the organising committee, said the bombardment took place five days after the major battle of New Ross and probably represented an act of reprisal, as the rebels had a local headquarters in the area.
Villages such as Fethard-on-Sea, though small, had an exaggerated importance two centuries ago because strategic considerations such as location and function bad a greater significance than size, and even the major cities were miniscule compared to their present scale.
The sparse historical accounts do not record that anyone was injured in the 1798 bombardment of Fethard. But the potato store at the quays was destroyed, along with the fishing boats, and the traumatic impact on a small village has gained a permanent place in local tradition and in the history books.
