- Curracloe Beach (including Ballinesker Beach), near Curracloe: This long, wide sandy beach with gentle dunes and Atlantic waves famously doubled as Omaha Beach for the intense D-Day landing sequence in Saving Private Ryan (1998), directed by Steven Spielberg; the location’s natural gradient and isolation allowed for realistic recreations with real explosions, pyrotechnics, and thousands of Irish Army Reserve extras, transforming the peaceful strand into a harrowing World War II battlefield.
- Curracloe Beach and Enniscorthy town: The same golden sands of Curracloe featured in scenes depicting 1950s Irish emigration in Brooklyn (2015), the Oscar-nominated adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel starring Saoirse Ronan; Enniscorthy itself provided authentic hometown settings with its historic streets (including John Street, Court Street, and The Folly), St Aidan’s Cathedral, and the Athenaeum theatre, capturing the quiet, period atmosphere of mid-20th-century small-town Ireland.
- Enniscorthy town (various sites including historic buildings and streets): The charming second-largest town in Wexford served as the primary Irish setting for Brooklyn (2015), with locations like Mrs Kelly’s shop, Vinegar Hill, and Enniscorthy Castle adding to the film’s evocative portrayal of 1950s life and the protagonist’s roots before her journey to America.
- Loftus Hall, Hook Head peninsula (near Fethard-on-Sea): This isolated, atmospheric 18th-century mansion, reputedly one of Ireland’s most haunted houses, stood in as the eerie, gothic family home in the horror film The Lodgers (2017), where its grand but decaying interiors and remote coastal location amplified the story’s themes of supernatural dread, twins, and cursed inheritance.
- New Ross and surrounding areas: The historic riverside town and nearby rural spots featured in Small Things Like These (2024), the acclaimed adaptation of Claire Keegan’s novella starring Cillian Murphy; the location’s understated midlands-town feel and period-appropriate streets helped convey the quiet, morally complex 1980s Irish community setting amid revelations about the Magdalene Laundries.
These locations highlight County Wexford’s diverse appeal, from expansive beaches ideal for epic war sequences to historic towns and haunted houses perfect for period dramas, literary adaptations, and atmospheric horror. The county is especially renowned for Saving Private Ryan’s groundbreaking use of Curracloe, one of the most iconic beach-filming sites in cinema history.
Movie locations in the county
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County Wexford:
Ireland’s county Wexford combines coastal beauty with historic sites, with the Hook Lighthouse, one of the world’s oldest, offering scenic coastal views. The Irish National Heritage Park recreates ancient and medieval settlements, while Wexford’s beaches, like Curracloe, provide sandy shores for walking. Other attractions include the historic town of Enniscorthy and its castle. Wexford is Ireland’s 13th largest county by size (2,351 square km) and 14th largest by population (163,919). Population peaked at 202,033 in 1841 and reached its lowest point, 83,308 in 1961. In terms of hospitality, Wexford is Ireland’s eighth most visited tourist county with around 229,000 international visitors per year.
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