OULART HILL, Wexford Walk – Jean Kennedy Smith Walk
We read about the Jean Kennedy Smith walk in Oulart the Ballagh in the Irish Independent newspaper. It was voted the top historic walk in Ireland. It is a 30-minute drive from where we live and believe it or not we have never heard of this walk before. Well, what a hidden gem, it was such an enjoyable walk. And talk about picking the right time to do it, we walked through the village just in time to see the Parade and marching band for the unveiling of Mise Eire.
About OULART HILL and this Wexford Walk
It is an 11.5km looped walk that will bring you past a number of very interesting sights like Tulach a’t Solais on the top of Oulart Hill which consists of a grassy burial mound cut in half by a narrow passage that leads to a modern chamber. Oulart Hill was a scene of a United Irishman victory in 1798. The monument was erected to commemorate the battle. Along the walk, there are lovely viewing points of the countryside and Father Murphy’s grave, the bygone day’s storytelling house and also the tree of Liberty that Jean Kennedy Smith planted on her visit here in 1995.
We started the walk at the large carpark up the road from the church. Keep driving straight on the road until you see a large 1798 memorial stone at the entrance of the carpark.
The path is signposted and it cuts between a grass ditch and a field. The trail provides great panoramic viewing points with information signs detailing hills and historic locations in the distance, this is great for people that are not from the area.
Tulach a’t Solais Wexford Family Walk
We walked through a young small wooded area to be greeted by an amazing monument called Tulach a’t Solais on Oulart Hill. The monument was built to commemorate the 1798 rebellion and Jean Kennedy Smith turned the first sod of the building in 1999.
After taking many pictures around the monument we continued walking the blue loop. We continued down the back of the monument into a pine tree wooded area. At the end of the pine forest, we came to the edge of someone’s house and backyard but the signs pointed us through the yard. We sheepishly nudged and egged each other through the yard hoping that we were not intruding on someone’s privacy.
After passing through the yard we then crossed a busy main road and walked onto an old skinny horse and cart lane that was grown over. I’m sure 100 years ago this road was a hive of activity especially on market days in the town.
The hike then progressed to another busy road which we crossed to see the Jean Kennedy Smith monument, this town in Ireland is tiny in the scale of things, it’s amazing to think that Jean Kennedy Smith visited here.
We continued walking down another horse and cart trail but this time it was more overgrown than the last one and full of stingy nettles (not good for shorts). We walked out of the overgrown cart track onto another main road leading into the town but this time there were police at the exit.
We could see in the distance a large crowd and the road was closed off, we continued walking the trail and came up to the crowd. There was a marching band, and a parade full of people dressed up in 1798 army gear (We picked a good time to do this Wexford hike).
We started walking back toward the middle of the town and passing all the music and marching army folk, it made for an entertaining hike. We walked back to the church that we passed on our drive up to the carpark. We continued walking on this road until we arrived at the carpark where we started.
The verdict of Oulart Hill walk and the Jean Kennedy Smith trail
It was a very nice walk with an outstanding memorial at the start on Oulart Hill. There was a lot of road walking but the roads were very quiet and most of them were too small to fit cars on. Take care when crossing the busy road sections.
The Tulach a’t Solais on Oulart Hill is a monument that needs to receive greater publicity, as it is simply amazing and totally free.
