Since starting with Monday’s official launch of an exhibition to celebrate the Rosslare-Fishguard route's 120th anniversary, more than 700 people have enjoyed visiting the free public event at Rosslare Europort, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Following the launch, officially opened by Capt. Sean Boyce, a large audience attended by the public, port officials, local T.D.s, and dignitaries from both Ireland and Wales, among them the Lord Mayor of Fishguard town, which last year, along with Goodwick, was officially twinned with the Co. Wexford ferry port. A joint signing agreement ceremony was aptly held on board the Stena Nordica, with the historic moment marked midway during a routine St. George's Channel crossing.
Due to popular demand, the organisers of the exhibition, the Rosslare Harbour Maritime Heritage Centre, in co-operation with their host, Rosslare Europort, have extended the original one-week only exhibition at the terminal, which was to conclude today, Sunday, 30 August (see their facebook for updates), by opening daily from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
On this date, 120 years ago, Thursday, 30 August, 1906, the steamship S.S. St. Patrick performed the inaugural sailing from Fishguard for the original operator, the Great Western Railway (GWR), in partnership with counterparts of the Great Southern and Western Railway Company of Ireland. This was to make a faster crossing of the Irish Sea. It was not until 1925 when the GWR took over full ownership of the service, which ran under the name of the “Fishguard & Rosslare Railways and Harbours Company.”
A model of the G.W.R. turbine steam ship, S.S. St. Patrick, is among others at the exhibition currently held in Rosslare Europort’s ferry terminal (upstairs). The exhibition space is where many years ago a bar once occupied along with an adjoining restaurant, permitting passengers also to step out onto a balcony area with tables so as to take in the ferry activity and commanding views of the St. George's Channel
Intriguingly, the company remains valid, as it owes its origins to the Fishguard Bay Railway and Pier Act of 1893, which was amended by the Fishguard & Rosslare Railways & Harbours Act, 31 July 1894, both of which are acts of the UK Houses of Parliament.
This rail and sea service had also enabled the subjects of the UK Empire to travel from London to the scenic setting of Killarney, Co. Kerry.
To you and me, the Co. Kerry tourism hotspot is linked with the Irish Rail network and connected to the ‘Rail Sail’ service with its UK counterparts, Avanti West Coast, and Transport for Wales. So we thank those original pioneers of joint-linked-up transport, benefiting those travelling by foot most appreciatively.
Since then, the St. George's Channel route between Ireland and Britain (through Wales) has been forged by this ‘Sea-link’ with successive ships, generations of crew, and port personnel that have helped to strengthen economic ties, but also through shared heritage and, importantly, culture in both port communities, only separated by less than 60 nautical miles.
Despite the challenges of two World Wars and major events of recent years, along with both domestic and foreign influences from further overseas, the route has endured its service for trade and holidaymakers alike, forming the success of modern-day Rosslare Europort.
On my recent visit to the exhibition, there was a wonderful display of fascinating historic photographs, maritime memorabilia, and artefacts that told the story of the steamships, ferries, and fastcraft too, and models too, which Afloat will have more to report on.
Also to be discovered are the stories of the dedicated crews, the port staff, and passengers who have helped to shape this iconic route over the past 120 years.
A father and daughter living in the UK, highlighted in delight by reminiscing on the years of travelling back and forth between these Isles. Among their memories was being onboard the chartered Stena Normandica (built 1974), which by coincidence was my first ferry, from Fishguard (during the early 1980s), and that of the route itself.
A model of the steamship S.S. St. David (3) served the Wales-Ireland link between 1947 and 1969, and that year was transferred to Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire duties. The model is on permanent display at Fishguard’s ferry terminal, where in the background is the current routes’ ropax, Stena Nordica, which Afloat took a trip on just days ago in advance of today’s 120th anniversary sailing, where further events are to take place.
The ferry radically changed the route and (intermittently served between 1979 and 1990) with its modern Scandinavian design and would continue service, including ownership transferred to Sealink/British Rail, Sealink U.K., and Sealink British Ferries as St. Brendan (and at one stage notably running a joint, albeit brief, service with B&I Line) until replaced by another Nordic ferry, the impressive Felicity, at the start of that decade and later renamed the Stena Felicity.
St. Brendan was sold overseas for use in the Mediterranean Sea; however, the decades caught up with the veteran vessel, which in 2024 was scrapped at Aliaga, Turkey. Only this month, Afloat tracked and first reported the scrapping of a former B&I Line ferry, M.C. Connacht (a ‘rare’ Irish-built car ferry!), that last served the state-owned company out of Rosslare Pembroke in 1988 before also moving on to the Med but, likewise, after many years in service, succumbed to the same shipbreaker.
For ferry fanatics in particular, further detailed history (such as the above examples) can be discussed with the exhibition team from the Rosslare Harbour Maritime Heritage Centre, as some members include those who served as seafarers on the route to Fishguard.
As for this weekend, members of the exhibition team made a special excursion to Fishguard to celebrate and commemorate the 120th anniversary today, Sunday. At the time of writing this morning, the Stena Nordica had departed Rosslare and was underway on the St. George's Channel and was scheduled to arrive at Fishguard at 11.30.
The ferry's arrival will bring both port town communities together to celebrate another maritime milestone through the rich heritage of the Ireland-Wales service of the past, the present, and what the future holds for the link, where both Rosslare and Fishguard ports have rail connections.
Also already in port is a visitor, the cruise ship Corinthian, which is berthed ahead of the ferry berth linkspan, and aptly arrived from Holyhead, another port operated Stena Line Ports Ltd.
So not to leave out railway enthusiasts, the exhibition back at Rosslare includes a model railway from the Wexford Model Railway Club.
