19th June 2017.
Waterford (population 60,000) is the principal city in south west Ireland. Coach from Dublin thru Kildare, Laois, Carlow and Kilkenny,
As the name suggests it has Viking origins and is on the River Suir. The harbour and quay are parallel to the main street.
Beside Reginalds Tower.
A replica Viking longship.
There is a lot of medeival buildings centred on Reginalds Tower.
I was surprised to find that the statue of Fr Luke Wadding (1588-1657) is in a new location. Born in Waterford, he was the emmisary of the Pope to the Irish Confederates during their rebellion.
The Irish National Flag (or what would become the National Flag after independence) was first unveiled by Thomas F Meagher, a Young Ireland leader on 7th March 1848 from a window of the Wolfe Tone Club.
The Flag flies from the same window, now aI believe a wine importers.
A statue for Meagher, now stands in the street, underneath the Flag. Sentenced to death, for his part in the Young Ireland Rising, the sentence was commuted to deportation to Van Diemens Land. He escaped and made a new life in New York City. During the Civil War (1861-65) he was the General commanding the Irish Brigade. After the war, he was appointed Governor of the Territory of Montana. He died in mysterious circumstances, most likely by falling overboard from a paddle steamer. His body was never found.
Frederick Douglass the American abolitionist spoke at Waterford City Hall in October 1845.
A plaque commemorating Richard IIs arrival in Waterford at the head of the largest armada to sail into an Irish port in 1394.
The plaque above this store in the main street, commemorates John Moore who was President of the Republic of Connacht during the 1798 Rebellion. When the rebels were defeated he was taken to Waterford for transportation to Australia. He died in this building then the Royal Oak coaching inn en route to New Geneva Gaol. His grave was re-discovered in 1960 and the body exhumed and re-buried in Castlebar, County Mayo.
St Patricks…the oldest Catholic church in Ireland.
Waterford train station is named for Joseph Plunkett, one of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation.
Ireland: The Final Frontier 