Goresbridge

Colonel Ralph Gore built the nine-arch granite bridge here in 1756, and the village took his name; a carved granite memorial beside it recalls June 1798, when Wexford insurgents routed the militia guarding the crossing. Goresbridge is best known today for its sport horses and horse sales. On the river, the Goodly Barrow café and waterways museum, in a restored canal store, serves home-made soups, pies and sweet treats and tells the story of the people who worked the barges. Waterways Ireland lists a public slipway, and across the bridge the village has supermarkets and a grill restaurant. Downstream the navigation passes Lower Ballyellen Lock and then Ballytiglea Lock and bridge as the valley deepens towards Borris; the reach on to Graiguenamanagh is a favourite of canoeists, and the towpath has no services, so stock up here.