placenamesRosslare
Ros Láir
Lewis recorded an unusual use of coastal material alongside the parish’s fishing and farming.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Ros Láir · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Rosslare · English · main form
Place & story
A small coastal employment scheme
In his 1837 Rosslare account, Samuel Lewis described collecting a sea plant he called alga marina to provide work for children. After its salts had been extracted, the material was sent to Dublin and Liverpool for use in mattresses and cushions. He reported that collection still took place occasionally. Elsewhere in the same account, seaweed appears as manure for the land: the parish’s coastal resources thus supplied both agricultural use and this separate trade in filling material. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Rosslare. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Rosslare: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.