Catholic Parish of Wexford, Diocese of Ferns

The Catholic Chapel for the town of Wexford before the 1860s was the Franciscan Friary, which although not officially a parochial church this was used as one, it was the only Catholic Church for the town until the opening of the twin Churches in the late 1850s - e.g. see the website of the Wexford Town Franciscans Ireland. The Friary complex is located on Francis Street/School Street in the town. The early records, i.e. pre 1868, listed as Rowe Street in some sources actually originate from the Friary.

Construction of the twin Churches in Wexford town, Church of the Immaculate Conception Rowe Street & Church of the Assumption, Joseph Street, Bride Street, both commenced in about 1851 and completed in 1858, and the first masses were said in both new churches in April 1858.

The Catholic parish boundaries shown in the usual sources Grenham/NLI etc are based primarily on the civil parishes mentioned in Lewis and therefore depict the parishes as they were in about 1837. In addition to the civil parishes based in and around the town (St. John’s, St Michael’s of Feigh, St. Bridget’s etc), a number of adjoining civil parishes were included in the parish union e.g. Kerlogue/Killogue, St,. Michael’s, Mauldlinstown etc, the combined area was known as the Catholic ‘Union or District of Wexford (town)’.

It's very likely that this Catholic parish, like many others, would have been even larger before the 1830s, primarily due to the fact that there were even fewer chapels in the early 1800s and late 1700s.

The main social/political change which would have had an effect of Catholic Records during that timeframe would have been Catholic Emancipation and the final repeal of the Penal Laws, which took place in 1829 (Catholic Relief Act). Following on from this more Catholic Churches were built, and better records were kept, and eventually additional parishes were established from some parts of older large parishes. 

Several factors would have contributed to the alteration of population in the town and surrounding area, firstly the general increase in numbers up the early 1840s, when Ireland had it's largest ever population of approximately 8 million. A second factor would have been the general drift of population towards urban centres like cities and towns, and finally of course the great famine, during this event it was not unusal for people in rural areas to move towards towns and cities in search of jobs and or food, some areas experienced net increases in  population as a result. In general much of the east coast did not feel the effects of the famine as severely as parts of Connaught and Munster.

Thanks, shanew147!