Passage East

Historic fortified settlement and fishing village in County Waterford, Republic of Ireland, on the River Suir, strategically situated 10 km/7 mi below the entrance to Waterford Harbour. Founded by the Vikings in the 10th century, it is now a tourist centre noted for its charming streets and thatched cottages. A car ferry connects with Ballyhack, County Wexford, on the Hook Peninsula. Local salmon fishing is a long-established industry. To the south lie the ruins of Geneva Barracks, a British army base and notorious prison during the Rebellion of 1798; atrocities committed towards the insurgents are commemorated in the ballad ‘The Croppy Boy’.

The barracks were constructed in the 18th century to house Swiss refugee gold- and silversmiths, and were originally intended to be part of a planned town following plantation of the area.