By Dan Walsh

Against the rising background of Vinegar Hill as the sun was setting this evening (Friday) the first three-day Archaeological Conference was launched by Cllr Keith Doyle at a pleasant ceremony in the presence of a number of guests, pikemen, redcoats and re-enactors, in The Presentation Centre at Enniscorthy.

VINEGAR HILL “o’er the pleasant Slaney.”

Cllr Doyle had a warm welcome for all and said that “the people of Enniscorthy are passonate about their history” and he complimented “the Longest Day Project a multi-disciplinary research programme funded by Wexford County Council.”
Renewed interest in the Battle of Vinegar Hill has its origins in an archaeological survey which commenced four years ago and has unearthed a number of artefacts such as lead bullets, weapon fragments and a possible fragment of an unexploded shell!
So there is so much more now known about the events of June 21st 1798, when a camp of 20,000 insurgents, dependant on locally forged pikes and pitch forks was surrounded and attacked by a military force.
The keynote opening presentation was given by well-known political analyst, barrister, The Irish Times columnist, and Wexfordian, Noel Whelan.
On Saturday, there will be a series of lectures in the Prestentation Centre that will include;
Jacqui Hynes – The Battle of Vinegar – 10 things we didn’t know.
Edmund Joyce -The Architectural Landscape of Enniscorthy in 1798.
Dr. Niall Brady – As seen from the River: underwater perspectives and the Longest Day – Cian Brady, Vinegar Hill; Geophysical Investigations; and Damien Sheils; The Battlefield Archaeology of Vinegar Hill.
On Sunday morning there is a morning site visit to Vinegar Hill.