Once upon a time there lived a man in this locality named John Morgan. He worked many years with my grandfather. His work consisted of building and repairing ditches. One day while building a ditch belonging to his master, he found a large tin or cannister of silver coins, thin and worn dating back to 17th century. It was explained by a Mr Stafford of Baldwinstown who was a very well educated man and took a great interest in reading the history of Ireland, that they may have been buried there in troubled times as there were great communication between the castles of Baldwinstown and Mulrankin and the place where

in the boiler. They cleared away that day and they were glad to have escaped with their lives from the haunted castle of Baldwinstown.

There are about three or four forges in the parish of Rathangan. Parle's forge is at Baldwinstown and is situated on the side of the road. Parle's forge is on the crossroads from Duncormack to Baldwinstown. The general class of roof is slate and thatched, but some of them have felt roofs. The forge doors are sometimes the shape of an arch. All the smiths shoe asses and horses. In some forges there is but one fire-place, whilst in others there are two. The bellows is a round affair with a shaft coming out from them with which they are blown. They do not be made locally.The smith's tools consist of :-
an anvil, a sledge, and a hardy with which he cuts the iron. The implements

the coins were found is on a direct line from one castle to the other. He gave some of the coins to people in the parish including my grandfather and Mr Phillips P.T Baldwinstown. He sold the remainder of them to Mr Patrick Hayes who was a proprietor of White's hotel Wexford at that time. It is not known how much he recieved for them, but it is thought he sold them cheap as he often went on a "spree" and he may have been in want of money.

There are four forges in this parish. There is one in Garristown, one in Adamstown, one in Baldwinstown, and one in Oldtown. A man of the name of Brown used to work the forge in Oldtown. Then he went to Garristown, and set up a forge there. There used to be a forge at Nag's head, and people called Donnelly's used to work the forge there. Then it was sold and Michael Donnelly who was a native of Nag's Head came to Oldtown and did the work of the here. He is the smith in Oldtown at present.The forge is built beside a river. It has a felt roof with tar put on it and sand thrown over the tar. There are two big half-doors on it. There is one fireplace in the forge. It has a large bellows with a long handle.The implements he used are a hammer, a chisel, a rasp, a pliers, a sledge and an anvil. The smith shoes horses. He is very strong. If there were any farm implements broken he mends them. This work is done in the open air. Forge water is good for curing chilblains.The forge in Garristown owned by Mr Brown, is situated right on the hill going into the village. It is very old. The forge in Baldwinstown is about a halfmile from Garristown. It is beside a crossroads. It is owned by Mr Murphy. He always

A man named Mick Rodgers, Baldwinstown, Garristown, Co. Dublin is a cooper. He makes churns, tubs etc. out of oak-timber and iron hoops. He puts bulrushes between the joinings to keep the vessels waterproof.
Mc Evoys, Tobeen, Garristown were nailers. They used to make the nails out of nail rods that they boughr for the purpose. They hammered them out in different sizes from an inch up to six inches. The implements they used were a hammer and an anvil with an edge on it to form the heads on the nails. They put the iron rod in the fire till it was red hot and then they hammered a point on it. Next they cut the length required for the nail and then hammered a head on it on the edge of the anvil. The people round bought them by the dozen.
There were three families who lived in the Bog of the Ring, who made baskets out of black sallies which

The farmers long ago had a name for every field.
Mr Byrne of Kilmannon has a field called the "Gravel hole" field so called because there is a gravel quarry in it.In the river running through Brideswell and Baldwinstown there is a very deep hole called the "Lord's Hole". This hole got its name from a man called the "Lord Doyle" who lived near it.

The castle in Baldwinstown belonged to a family the name of Esmond. After they left this place a man by the name of Carthy became owner. He employed a man by the name of Johnny Morgan and his wife to care-take this place. He had use of all the castle and place except one room which he was told not to go near.
He got on all right in it for a while. One day they made up their minds to see what was in this room so Johnny got a ladder and got up to the window and pushed back the catch with a penknife. He raised up the window and stepped into the room. The first thing he saw was a stone coffin

There once lived a family in a little house near Baldwinstown known by the name of the O'Briens. Every single night at 12 - o'clock a lot of noise was heard in a little press in a room.
The people of tthe house began to get afraid. The next thing they did was, they went to the priest and told him about it. The priest was astonished and told him when he would hear the noise again to shake holy water and to say, "begone Satan I will denounce you." He shook the holy water and said what he was told and still it was no better as the noise was still heard. He shook a bottle of holy water and no better.
In the latter end his patience

The name of the district I live in is Baldwinstown and the townland Newtown. It is situated in parish of Rathangan which is in the Barony of Bargy. There are only three houses in my townland, Newtown, and the number of people living here is twelve.
One of the houses is a labourer's cottage and the other two are farm houses. Both of them are slated. Houses were more plentiful formerly than they are now. The ruins of some of these houses are still to be seen. The families that lived in other districts long ago were, Cooneys, Sinnotts and Flaherty. Cooneys lived about half a mile from where my grandfather lived and there is a barn now where their house was, and other house still standing

Then ho, for the west wind, for oh, 'tis the best wind to save all poor fishers from dree;
And raise high chorus, Kilmore lies before us,
With our boat full of spoil from the sea.Patrick McCall the author of the above lines spent while in the summer in Kilmore on several occasion. He stayed in Baldwinstown.

Baskets are made out of sally rods in Lusk and other places around here.
The only Cooper round here is the Cooper Rogers. He lives in Baldwinstown. He makes tubs and churns.
Wheels are made by wheelwrights out of wood and the wheel is surrounded by iron.
Candles are not made round here but they were made long ago by the old people. They used to make tallow candles out of fat. First of all they used to render down all the fat they had in the house. Then they had a cylindrical shape made out of tin with one end pointed. Through this they placed a long string made of flaxen thread. They poured the melted fat into this shape and when it cooled they took out the candle. Those candles when burning gave out a very strong odour.

South Wexford
Gibberwell RathThere was a man wan time, a farmer, and one day he was ploughing in a field. There was a Rath, at the end of his field. It is called 'Gibberwell Rath' and is only a couple of miles from Baldwinstown.The man was greedy, and he dug up the rath in order to make more room.That night a cock followed him home and craved (crew) all night outside the door. The man got up during the night and he caught a spade and cut the head off the cock.In the morning there was nothing to be seen in the place where he killed him but something like frog's 'spawn'. After that he became insane. He got in under the bed adn set the bed on fire. It happened he was burned to death himself.Sighle Ni Odhra, Baile Báildín, Co. Loch Garman. Aois 15. Do scríobh síos ón a hathair atá um beo.

South WexfordAn old RathIn this district, Baldwinstown, there is an old Rath and it is supposed to have been inhabited by fairies long ago. And some people said that there was money buried under a large flat stone about twenty (20) feet down.One day a party of men went in search of the gold, they dug down about twenty (20) feet and there was the stone sure enough. They tried to raise the stone and were just succeeding when they heard a noise! They got up out of the rath, and there within a couple of yards of them they saw a furious bull So they had to run for their lives. A couple of hours after they went back again to the Rath and found it was closed up again. So the Rath was never meddled with from that day to this.It was said that when a man buries his money in the older times that he used to get a man and make him swears to guard the money dead or alive. The man would then be put to death, and if anyone would ever come after in search of the money. The man (guardian) would come in the form of a mad bull.

Folklore.In Kilmore (Protestant) church there is a beautiful marble monument, testifying to the importance of the Whitty family in the 16th Century - one of whom was Bishop of Fern from 1418 to 1457.
There was an old mass-house at the lake (Mulrankin) and a chapel called the "Long Chapel" at Tullibards but no trace of these two now remain.
There are castles at Ballyteige, Mulrankin, Ballyhealy, Bargy and Baldwinstown, formly belonging to the Whitty, Brownes, Denns, Harveys and Keatings respectively. Rathronan Castle (Mulrankin) is still in excellent preservation.
In the town land of Grange is the curious old church of St. Patrick, Kilmore of which three of the walls still stand - the western gable having disappeared in the 18th Century. There is a fine eastern window of brown stone, and a beautiful choir arch. a large cemetery - now disused is attached. About three hundred yards east of the ruins is St. Patricks Well.
The protestant church of Kilturk occupies the site of the now disappeared Catholic Church. In 1810 the ancient temple dedicated to St. Luana

The Local Forges . . . 12 . 7 . 38There are three local forges in this Parish.
The names of the smiths are Jim Parle, Stephen Parle, and Jack Keane
This occupation has been carried on for, at least, four generations by the Parle family,
Jim Parle's forge is situated on a crossroads in Baldwinstown village.
Jack Keane's forge is situated on a crossroads at Woodgraigue
There is a large square door on it.
There is a big high fire-place outside the door and there is a big fan beside it.
The tools he uses are hammers, tongs, pincers, vice, rasps, nails, anvil, knives, tool-box grind-stone, and
There is a small stream beside the forge.
There is a slate roof on the forgeCarmel Roche
Johnstown,
Duncormick,
Co. Wexford.

The Local Forges. Jim Byrnes forge is situated down a long lane in Scar.
The forge is now roofless.
He was the grandfather of Jim Parle of Baldwinstown
Jim Byrne was fond of walking to Wexford, and one evening he was found dead by the roadside.
His son was killed in the explosion at St Kearns in Fethard
Jim Byrne was one of the best smiths in County Wexford.
This occupation had been carried for, at least, three generations.
There is a large arched door on the forge.Carmel Roche,
Johnstown,
Duncormick,
Co. Wexford.

Local Tradition
(Tracey's Public house was in Baldwinstown up to 35 years ago)
Rhymes.
Mr Tracey your rum is weak indeed,
My eyes they are my author,
Your stout is only single
Your whiskey is half water.Boasting Bill, you have drank your fill,
Yours jaws are thin and yellow
You are a disgrace to your father's place,
And your mother below in the hollow.Pat Jack you have a white back
You are white before and behind,
I think you should not be here to-night
When you have wind enough to grind.These rhymes were composed by
Joe Sutton of The Moor, Mulrankin.

south of Ballymore Church
stands a castle which is
called after the townland.
It is square, high in good
preservation, having it's original
roof, and is still in use.
1840 statement made - by Dr O'Donovan ) There is nothing
else of antiquarian interest
in this Parish. This Castle
of which there are no
remains left, was built by
the turners who lived here
in the early part of 16th century,
400 years ago and owned
land in and about the
town until the Keating's
of Baldwinstown intruded.