Ford is the canonical name of the Wexford settlement commonly known as Kilmuckridge, whose older buildings and coastal connections reveal several layers of local history.
Illustration, Morriscastle Beach, near Kilmuckridge (Ford)
⊕Recorded locationFord52.51173° N · 6.28481° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
Ford· English · main form
Place & story
The village and the neighbouring shore
Samuel Lewis's 1837 account describes Kilmuckridge village as straddling two parishes, Kilmuckridge and Killancooly. Its fairs and police station served a farming district where tillage benefited from fertile soil and locally available marl. At nearby Morris Castle, herring and oyster fisheries linked the area with boats from the neighbourhood and from Arklow. Lewis also noted coal being landed there. These details place the inland village within a coastal trading economy, while keeping the fishing and landing activities at their recorded location rather than moving them into the village street.[2]
A house that changed its front door
The owners' account of a thatched house at Ballygarran, published by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, traces a building already shown on the 1841 Ordnance Survey map. Its entrance moved from the farmyard side to face the church and school. Internal changes included moving the stairs and extending the upper floor, while additions lengthened the house. The account illustrates how vernacular homes grew through practical alterations over generations. Its exact construction date remains uncertain, even though the surviving fabric and maps allow parts of its development to be reconstructed.[3]
The Church of Ireland building
Kilmuckridge's Church of Ireland church was built in 1815 with support from the Board of First Fruits and renovated in 1877. Its entrance tower, pointed windows and slender stone pinnacles give the relatively compact building a Gothic character. The architectural inventory highlights the survival of slate hanging on part of the exterior, a weather-protective treatment once more familiar in County Wexford. Memorials and furnishings also preserve local family connections, including a lectern presented by William Bolton in memory of his parents. The church adds a different building tradition to the district's thatched domestic architecture.[4]
Kilmuckeridge or Ford — Census 2016 settlement footprint
Population within 2016 settlement boundaries
827people · 2022
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
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Kilmuckeridge or Ford — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
Kilmuckeridge (Ford), Wexford — Census town, CSO 2006 report
2002–2006: census town
467people · 2006
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
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Kilmuckeridge (Ford), Wexford — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
Kilmuckeridge (Ford), Wexford — Census town, CSO 1996 report
1991–1996: census town
235people · 1996
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
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Kilmuckeridge (Ford), Wexford — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
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Ford, Wexford — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Kilmuckeridge (Ford), Wexford
Published census settlement populations
722people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
placenames
