Gorey
- This article is about the town in Ireland. For the artist, see Edward Gorey, for the town in Jersey, please see Gorey, Jersey
Gorey (Irish: Guaire) (Population (2002) 3,090), is a market town, in north County Wexford, Ireland, situated on the main N11 Dublin to Wexford road. The town is also connected to the railway network along the same route. Local newspapers include the Gorey Guardian and Gorey Echo.
Gorey is an hour's drive from the outskirts of Dublin. With the problems of finding housing in Dublin, many people have bought houses in Gorey and commute each day to the capital. As a result, there has been a dramatic increase in the building of new houses in Gorey. Between 1996 and 2002, the population has risen by 44% in the town, and by 23% in the surrounding district.
Many new shops have been added in the last few years; Esmonde Street has been developed from a residential street to a mainly shopping street. Many of the shops are centred on ladies fashion, but men also have a few choices of shops, with up-to-date fashions. Three supermarkets, soon to be four, are competing for customers.
For visitors, there is a modern hotel, with leisure centre, swimming pool and conference facilities. The town has several restaurants, catering for Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai and of course Irish cuisine.
Cultural: Gorey has a vibrant cultural life, with a very active Theatre Group, producing several plays through the year, and bringing plays in performed by visiting groups. They also host an annual week long Drama Festival. In the summer months, they put on a twice weekly play, which is popular with locals and visitors alike. Every second year, a Pantomime is produced, which is always well received.
Gorey Musical Society has one production a year: In 2006, they staged the All Irish Musical: "The Ha'penny Bridge". They were the first amateur group to have been given the honour to do so. In 2007 the Society staged 'OKLAHOMA' and were very successful as the performance received several nominations in the annual, Association of Irish Musical Society's "Oscar". When the result got known at the Gala Dinner in Killarney, Gorey MS won the Best Overall Show in Ireland and also the Best Male Singer and Best Supporting Actress.
There are several local music groups, both Traditional Irish, as well as Rock.
Gorey Choral Group, a mixed Voice Choir of around 38 members, has participated in contests all over Ireland and Wales, and brought many trophies back home.
In the 1970's and early 80's, an eclectic arts festival was held in the town during the summer. Many big and soon-to-be big name performers appeared including U2, the Horslips, the Virgin Prunes, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Glasnevin Musical Society, the Wexford Festival Choir, Niall Toibin, Eamonn Morrissey to name but a few.
Traffic through the town, which lies on the N11 (Dublin to Rosslare) route, can at times be hectic, with tailbacks on all major approach roads. It is especially bad on Friday afternoon/early evening, when people are coming down from Dublin for the weekend. A by-pass route has been planned, and the archaeological investigation of some interesting sites, found through trenching is well under way. Actual work on the road began in the late autumn of 2005, with a planned completion date of June 2007. The road will be ca. 24 km long and consist of two lanes in each direction, in the style of motorway lay-out.
There are 2 major problems facing Gorey apart from the traffic issues; These are, firstly, the roads in and around Gorey are in a very poor state, compared to the majority of other large towns in Co. Wexford, and secondly, there is a distinct lack of any proper recreation area for the town, with no parks or even swingparks for children. (There is a small town park and a tennis club and two local soccer clubs, however)
The town's rapid growth has led to an overcrowding problem in its schools, with the secondary school, Gorey Community School having the largest student population of any school in Ireland. Four local primary schools feed the Community School, as do a number of schools in various local areas.
Five kilometres (three miles) from Gorey is Courtown Harbour or Courtown, a small holiday resort, popular with weekend visitors from Dublin.
See also
- List of Irish Towns with a Market House
- List of towns in the Republic of Ireland
- Gorey railway station