Sights in County Waterford
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Reginald's Tower
The oldest complete building in Ireland and the first to use mortar, 12th-century Reginald's Tower is an outstanding example of medieval defences, and was the city's key fortification. The Normans built its 3m- to 4m-thick walls on the site of a Viking wooden tower. English-appointed local officials stayed in this 'safe house', as did many royal visitors.
Over the years, the building served as an arsenal, a prison and a mint. The exhibits relating to the latter role are interesting: medieval silver coins, a wooden 'tally stick' with notches indicating the amount owed, a 12th-century piggy bank (smashed) and a coin balance used to determine weight and bullion value. Archit…
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Waterford Museum of Treasures
Waterford Museum of Treasures is one of Ireland's widest-ranging and most hi-tech museums. It's a dazzling, intriguing, provoking, and at times plain bewildering maze of metal, glass and state-of-the-art audiovisual displays. The fun begins on the 3rd floor, from where (plugged into an audioguide) you follow the exhibitions as they wend their way through history.
A highlight is the 'Viking longship', a rocking ride narrated by Waterford's Nordic forebears, who call themselves 'children of the raven' but sound more like comedic Scotsmen. You can also attend the marriage of Strongbow and local princess Aiofe, who promises to teach her Anglo-Norman lord how the Irish feast. …
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Waterford Crystal Visitor Centre
The pride of every middle-class living room, Waterford Crystal has become one of the world's most famous luxury brands. The Waterford Crystal visitor centre, complete with restaurant and tourist office, is 2km south of the centre. You can lurk in the shop, but we recommend the one-hour factory tour.
The transformation of glowing-hot balls of glass into diamond-cut crystal is near miraculous, and the guides have real insider knowledge of the factory's workings. In summer buy tickets in advance from the tourist office to avoid queues. The first Waterford glass factory was established at the western end of the riverside quays in 1783, but closed 68 years later because of pun…
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Copper Coast European Geopark
Stretching 25km west of Tramore, the rugged coastline of the Copper Coast European Geopark takes its name from the 19th-century copper mines outside Bunmahon. Among the area’s scalloped coves and beaches are geological formations dating back 460 million years, including quartz blocks, fossils, and former volcanoes. Free one-hour guided walks are available in July and August, or you can pick up a map from the park office in Bunmahon. The park encompasses Annestown, which has the dubious distinction of being the only village in Ireland without a pub.
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Gardens
From the Cappoquin road there are stunning glimpses of the riverside Lismore Castle, which is closed to day-trippers but available for groups to hire. You can visit the 3 hectares of gardens, thought to be the oldest in Ireland, divided into the walled Jacobean upper garden and less formal lower garden. There are brilliant herbaceous borders, magnolias and camellias, and a splendid yew walk where Edmund Spenser is said to have written The Faerie Queen. There are contemporary sculptures dotting the gardens.
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Curraghmore Estate
Lord and Lady Waterford dwell at the 1000-hectareCurraghmore Estate, which has belonged to the family since the 12th century. Its lavish gardens incorporate the whimsical shell house built by Catherine Countess of Tyrone in 1754, who arranged for sea captains docking at Wexford's port to bring her seashells from distant shores. By prior appointment, the fine Georgian house , containing some superior plaster work, is open to visitors.
Curraghmore is 14km northwest of Waterford town, 3.5km northwest of the pretty village of Portlaw. Suirway buses from Waterford can drop you 1km from the estate entrance.
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French Church
The elegant ruin of the stone French Church is announced by a statue of Luke Wadding, the Waterford-born Franciscan friar who persuaded the Pope to negotiate with Charles I on behalf of Irish Catholics. Hugh Purcell gave the church to the Franciscans in 1240, asking them in return to pray for him once a day. The church became a hospital after the dissolution of the monasteries, and was then occupied by French Huguenot refugees between 1693 and 1815. John Roberts is buried here. Ask the staff at Reginald's Tower to let you in.
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Christ Church Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral is Europe's only neoclassical Georgian cathedral. Designed by local architect John Roberts, it was built on the site of an 11th-century Viking church, also the site where the 12th-century marriage of Strongbow and Aiofe took place. The highlight is the 15th-century tomb of James Rice, seven times lord mayor of Waterford: sculpted worms and frogs crawl out of the statue of his decaying body. Guided tours (adult/child €6/5) take place at 11.30am and 3.30pm. The cathedral also acts as a concert venue with wonderful acoustics – its broad program of performances features every- thing from choirs to pop quartets.
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Mt Melleray Cistercian Abbey
The beautiful Mt Melleray Cistercian Abbey is a fully functioning monastery with 28 Trappist monks, but welcomes visitors wishing ‘to take time for quiet contemplation’. The abbey was founded in 1832 by 64 monks who were expelled from a monastery near Melleray in Brittany, France. There are tearooms (closed Monday) and a heritage centre. It’s signposted 6km north from Cappoquin in the Knockmealdown foothills.
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Dungarvan Castle
Renovation is restoring this stone fortress to its former Norman glory. Once inhabited by King John's constable Thomas Fitz Anthony, the oldest part of the castle is the unusual 12th-century shell keep, built to defend the mouth of the river. The 18th-century British army barracks house a visitor centre with various exhibits. Admission is by guided tour only.
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Cappoquin House and Gardens
This is a magnificent 1779-built Georgian mansion and 5 acres of formal gardens overlooking the River Blackwater. It’s the private residence of the Keane family who’ve lived here for 200 years. The entrance to the house is just north of the centre of Cappoquin; look for a set of huge black iron gates.
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Holy Trinity Cathedral
The sumptuous interior of this Catholic cathedral boasts a carved-oak baroque pulpit, painted pillars with Corinthian capitals and 10 Waterford Crystal chandeliers. It was built between 1792 and 1796 by John Roberts, who, unusually, also designed the Protestant Christ Church Cathedral.
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Waterford County Museum
Small but nicely presented, this museum covers maritime history (with relics from shipwrecks), Famine history, local personalities and various other titbits, all displayed in a former wine store.
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Coast Guard Station
Regular art exhibitions take place at the cliff-top 19th-century Coast Guard Station, which has been turned into a community arts centre.
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Old Market House Arts Centre
A building dating to 1641 hosts regularly changing local exhibitions.
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St Declan's Well
Pilgrims once washed in these waters, which are located in front of the ruins of Dysert Church, behind the hotel development above Ardmore Pottery.
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St Declan's Stone
Different geologically from other rocks in the area, this stone steeped in lore is at the southern end of the beach. It was perhaps brought by glacier from the Comeragh Mountains but, according to legend, St Declan's bell, which he is often pictured with in his hand, drifted across the sea from Wales on the stone after his servant forgot to pack it. He decreed that wherever the stone came to rest would be the place of his resurrection.
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St Declan's Church
In a striking position on a hill above town, the ruins of St Declan's Church stand on the site of St Declan's original monastery alongside an impressive cone-roofed, 29m-high, 12th-century round tower, one of the best examples of these structures in Ireland.
On the outer western gable wall of the 13th-century church, weathered 9th- century carvings set in unusual arched panels show the Archangel Michael weighing souls, the adoration of the Magi, Adam and Eve, and a clear depiction of the judgement of Solomon. Inside the church are two Ogham stones featuring the earliest form of writing in Ireland, one with the longest such inscription in the country. Local lore claims St D…
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St Carthage's Cathedral
'One of the neatest and prettiest edifices I have seen', commented William Thackeray in 1842 about the striking 1679 cathedral. And that was before the addition of the Edward Burne-Jones stained-glass window, which features all the Pre-Raphaelite hallmarks: an effeminate knight and a pensive maiden against a sensuous background of deep-blue velvet and intertwining flowers. Justice, with sword and scales, and Humility, holding a lamb, honour Francis Currey, who helped to relieve the suffering of the poor during the Famine. Among the cathedral's oddities and wonders are some noteworthy tombs, including the elaborately carved MacGrath family crypt dating from 1557 and fossil…
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St Augustine's Church
On the east side of the bridge overlooking Dungarvan Harbour, this solitary church was built in 1832 and once had a thatched roof. There are features incorporated from the original 13th-century abbey, including a well-preserved tower and nave. The abbey was destroyed during the Cromwellian occupation of the town, but the church remains in use today.
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Lismore Heritage Centre
Features a 30-minute audiovisual presentation taking you from the arrival of St Carthage in AD 636 to the present day via the discovery of the Book of Lismore behind a wall in the castle in 1814 and John F Kennedy's visit in 1947.
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Lismore Castle
From the Cappoquin road there are stunning glimpses of the riverside 'castle', which has lots of windows that would undercut any efforts at defence. While you can't get inside the four impressive walls of the main, crenulated building (unless you're looking to rent it for a group event), you can visit the 3 hectares of ornate and manicured gardens. Thought to be the oldest in Ireland, they are divided into the walled Jacobean upper garden and less formal lower garden. There are brilliant herbaceous borders, magnolias and camellias, and a splendid yew walk where Edmund Spenser is said to have written The Faerie Queen. There are contemporary sculptures in the gardens and a …
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House of Waterford Crystal
The city's famed Waterford Crystal is almost an icon in name only. A symbol of Irish success during boom times in the 1980s and 1990s, the company fell on hard times after a disastrous series of ownership changes and management decisions that saw debt piled on amid unwise expansion. (The first Waterford glass factory was established at the western end of the riverside quays in 1783 but closed 68 years later because of punitive taxes imposed by the British before its revival last century. It was reconstituted in the 1940s.) In 2009 the company's operations in Waterford County were suddenly closed – as many as 3000 skilled workers had been employed just a few years before. …
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Historic Buildings
The Mall, a wide 18th-century street built on reclaimed land, was once a tidal inlet. From the river end, its stateliest buildings are John Roberts' City Hall (1788) and beautifully refurbished Theatre Royal, arguably Ireland's most intact 18th-century theatre.
Crumbling fragments of the old city wall include Beach Tower at the top of Jenkin's Lane and Half Moon Tower (both are just off Patrick St). One impossible-to-miss building in Waterford is its landmark 1860s clock tower.
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Chorister's Hall
Set to open in 2012, this new museum traces the city's rich medieval past and covers all the steamy and stinky details of local life until 1700. It's located in the renovated 12th century Undercrofts. The star attraction will be the magnificent 1372 4m-long Great Charter Roll which shows portraits of five medieval kings of England.
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