In terms of landscape assessment, County Wexford is divided into four landscape character units: uplands, lowlands, river valleys and coastal. The coastal landscape character unit is subdivided into its two geographical components: the east coast of the county and the south coast. The South Wexford Coast, otherwise known as the ‘Coastal South’ landscape character unit, comprises nine ‘Distinctive Landscapes’ (Figure 1) in the following five categories (Source: Wexford County Development Plan 2022-2028, Volume 7: ‘Landscape Character Assessment’, Table 7-2 on pages 9-13).

• Waterbodies: Lady’s Island, Tacumshin Lake, Ballyteige Burrow, and Bannow Bay.
• Coastal Promontories: Forlorn Point and Carnsore Point.
• Peninsulas: Hook Peninsula.
• Sloblands: Inish Burrow and Ballyteige Burrow.
• Islands: Saltee Islands and Keeragh Islands.

The Plan sets out 15 objectives to conserve the county important landscapes (ibid., pages 21-23).

Figure 1. Nine ‘Distinctive Landscapes’ (edged with red dashes) within the ‘Coastal South’ (lilac) and ‘Lowlands’ (green) ‘Landscape Character Units’. (Source: Wexford County Development Plan 2022-2028, Volume 7, extract from Map 7.1 on page 24).