Waterford City

A History

Cian Manning

• Publisher: THP Ireland
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781845889098
• eBook ISBN: 9780750992978
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

Founded by Vikings and later earning the nickname Parva Roma ('Little Rome') for its religious devotion, Ireland's oldest city has been witness to many significant historical events. From the marriage of Strongbow and Aoife to the splendour of the Georgian period, and from the first frog to be recorded in Ireland to the invention of the cream cracker, Waterford City: a History documents both momentous events and lesser-known stories. Discover the social and economic history of Waterford, and its notable characters who impacted the local, national and sometimes even the international scene.

1

VEDRAFJORDR:
Viking Waterford

TIMELINE

853 CE: Charles Smith’s The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Waterford notes that the foundation of Waterford by the Viking King Sitricus in CE 853.

914 CE: Deemed to be the most credible date for the foundation of Waterford by archaeologists and historians, with the Viking Ragnall establishing a longphort that formed the basis for Waterford City.

921 CE: Ragnall dies as the King of York and Waterford. He captured York (or Jorvik) the most significant city in the Viking world in CE 918.

1031 CE: Waterford is scorched to the ground. Six years later, the King of Leinster, Diarmuid Mac Maol na mBó, burnt the city in CE 1037. Just over fifty years later, in CE 1088, Waterford was destroyed by a fire started by the Vikings of Dublin.

1088 CE: A slaughtering of the Vikings who had settled at Waterford was carried out by the Irish and is detailed in The Annals of the Four Masters (which was compiled between 1632 and 1636).

1096 CE: Malchus is consecrated the first Bishop of Waterford by Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

1111 CE: Fire destroys Waterford, with the probable cause believed to be lighting.

1137 CE: The King of Leinster, Diarmuid Mac Murchadha, attempts to capture Waterford. Failing, he starts a fire which burns the city.

1170 CE: Waterford is captured by Richard de Clare, the Earl of Pembroke (also known as Strongbow). He marries the King of Leinster’s daughter Aoife in Christ Church Cathedral in the city.

Port Lairge. This is the ancient and present Irish name of the city of Waterford. It would appear to have derived this name from a Danish chieftain Lairge or Larac, or as the Danes write it Largo, who is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 951. The name Waterford or Vedrafiordr, was given it by the Danes; which is supposed to signify ‘weather bay.’

From The genealogy of Corca Laidhe (Author: Unknown), p.153

THE DANES OF WATERFORD

Like golden-belted bees about a hive
Which come forever and forever go
Going and coming with the ebb and flow,
From year to year, the strenuous Ostman strive.

Close in their billow-battling galleys prest,
Backhands and forwards with the trusty tide
They sweep and wheel around the ocean wide,
Like eagles swooping from their cliff-built nests.

And great their joy, returning where they left
Their tricorned stronghold by the Suirshore
’Mid song and feast, to tell their exploits o’er
– Of all the helm-like glibs their swords had cleft,
The black-haired damsels seized, the towers attacked.
The still monastic cities they had sucked.

St John’s Manor House, 17 September 1874

VIKINGS: FROM RAIDERS TO SETTLERS,
WOODSTOWN TO WATERFORD

The narrative of Waterford starts in the Viking Age, the period which saw Norse raiders plunder the island of Ireland from the eighth century and gradually settling by the eleventh century. First arriving in Ireland in 795, in the subsequent centuries the Vikings established what are today the island’s oldest cities and towns. The earliest archaeological level so far discovered in the modern city of Waterford dates to the eleventh century. However, an excavation carried out from 2003 to 2007 revealed a Viking settlement 9km west of the present city on the banks of the River Suir at Woodstown. Its discovery has prompted further theories into the foundation and development of Waterford.

It is not clear whether the Woodstown site was a short-lived raiding base or a more permanent settlement. More excavation is required, but so far over 6,000 artefacts have been discovered. Notable findings include balance-weights, a pagan-warrior burial and Kufic dirham (a ninth-century silver Arabic coin). The high amount of broken-up silver (known as hack-silver) suggests that the Vikings used Woodstown as a centre of trade. However, whether they were trading with their Irish neighbours or just with other Vikings still remains unclear.

Woodstown has been dated to the mid to late ninth century, possibly lasting until the beginning of the tenth century. The reason why it was abandoned is unclear, but it could have been because of another settlement downriver at Waterford. The historian Clare Downham believes:

the present site of Waterford may have been more easily defended … Waterford was closer to the estuaries of the Barrow and Nore … Waterford may have provided a better location for a quay than Woodstown.

There is not yet any archaeological evidence for any habitation at Waterford before the eleventh century, but historians and archaeologists have argued that it is likely there was early settlement around Reginald’s Tower and St John’s tributary. Earlier histories of the city have placed its foundation at 853, though this seems to be because Gerald of Wales asserts that three brothers, Amalavus, Sitricus and Ivarus, settled in Ireland and correspondingly established the cities of Dublin, Waterford and Limerick. Leaving aside the fact that Gerald was a Norman chronicler writing a couple of centuries later, the tale seems to be a neat foundation myth and Downham rejects its historical accuracy.

The foundation date of Waterford is placed at 914, when the Viking leader Ragnall arrived. Though he left Waterford for Dublin and then York to become a king on both sides of the Irish Sea, the Irish Annals reveal that there was constant settlement at Waterford after that date.

ALL IN THE NAME:
VEDRAFJORDR, PORT LÁIRGE AND LOCH DÁ CHAECH

Waterford is the only Irish city to retain its Viking name, which is fitting for Ireland’s oldest continuous urban settlement. Waterford is older than most northern European capital cities (bar London and Paris). Furthermore, Waterford was Ireland’s second city after Dublin until the end of the seventeenth century.

Waterford was known to the Vikings as Veðrafjorðr, which is believed to mean the Fjord of Castrated Rams, or Windy Fjord. The latter meaning is related to the modern explanation of ‘Winter Haven’ and would tie in to the possibility that Waterford originated as a winter camp for the raiding Vikings who did not want to risk the stormy sea journey home.

The Irish name for Waterford, Port Láirge, means ‘Port of a Thigh’ with one explanation of the name coming from the Táin Bó Cúailnge (a tale from Irish mythology known as the Cattle Raid of Cooley) which tells of how the Brown Bull overcame his foe Findbennach, whose thigh-bone was thrown to Port Láirge. One more account comes from the pre-eleventh-century book Dindshenchas Érenn which details a young prince called Rot who dies at sea, torn apart by sirens, with his thigh-bone washed ashore at Port Láirge. From 915 to 918, the alternative name Loch dá Chaech was used for the Waterford harbour area, which translates as ‘the lake of the two-blind people’. However, the reason for this remains unclear.

In addition to the origin story told by Gerald of Wales, there is another one in the thirteenth-century biography of the Welsh king, Gruffudd ap Cynan. It claims that the Norwegian king, Harald Finehair, created Dublin and gave Waterford to his brother, whose descendants continued to rule the city. This era of Waterford’s history remains murky, but further archaeological excavation could provide more answers to this fascinating period.

VEDRAFJORDR:
VIKING RULERS TO ANGLO-NORMAN CONQUERORS

Veðrafjǫrðr was a triangular-shaped settlement formed on a tidal inlet at the confluence of the Suir and St John’s rivers. It was defended by a fort named Dundory (deemed to have been where Reginald’s Tower stands today). Unfortunately, this did not stop the city being destroyed four times in 1031, 1037, 1088 and 1111. This Viking area had three main thoroughfares with High Street being the commercial hub of the city, while four smaller streets intersected the larger streets. Archaeological excavations in the 1980s and ’90s uncovered the remains of seventy-two sub-rectangular houses dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries. These dwellings were constructed with wattle-and-daub walls and thatched roofs. A timber floor of a Viking Age ship was discovered in 1996 by archaeologist Orla Scully whilst excavating a quay wall on the Mall beside the present location of City Hall. The inhabitants of Waterford in the eleventh century were Hiberno-Norse, descendants of the Vikings who had intermarried with the indigenous Irish.

The advancement of the Uí Briain (O’Brien) family to power in Munster led to them ruling Waterford from 976. In 984, the city was the location for the meeting of the King of Munster Brian Boru (and later High King of Ireland) and the sons of Aralt, the Norse King of Limerick. Boru wanted a fleet from Limerick to assist his assault on Dublin, eventually taking place in 1014 at Clontarf. He received support from the Hiberno-Norse of Limerick and Waterford. Though Brian Boru died in battle, the Waterford group overpowered one of his rivals to the high kingship in Máel Sechnail. This defeat leads the historian Eamonn McEneaney to highlight ‘the importance of the port towns in Irish politics and the close relationship existing between the native population and the descendants of the original Viking settlers’. These towns had political significance, conferring wealth and status to the rulers who governed them.

The Marriage of Strongbow & Aoife by artist Daniel Maclise was painted in 1854 as an interpretation of a key moment in Irish history, which sees the narratives of Britain and Ireland entwined for centuries (photographic reproduction). National Gallery of Ireland

Waterford was starting to transfer allegiance from the kingdom of Munster to Leinster by the eleventh century. In 1037, the city was seized by Diarmait mac Máel na mBó, King of Uí Cheinnselaig (Kinsella); subsequently coins were minted in Waterford under his patronage.

Upon the death of mac Máel na mBó in 1072, Toirdelbach, the grandson of Brian Boru, took control of Leinster and realigned Waterford with Munster after assuming control of the city. He was later succeeded by his son Muirchertach in 1086, who became the most dominant king of Ireland, reigning as High King from 1093 to 1114. In 1088, Waterford was attacked in vain by a rival to the King of Leinster. Diarmait, brother of Muirchertach, was appointed ruler of Waterford in 1096. That same year, the Ostmen (people of mixed Gaelic and Norse ancestry and culture) of Waterford wanted a bishop to lead those who worshipped at buildings such as St Olaf’s. This led to Malchus being appointed the first bishop of Waterford that year. He managed to bring Christian practices in line with those of mainland Europe during his forty years in the position.

It is not apparent who succeeded Diarmait, who had deposed his brother in 1114 and died four years later. By 1137, Waterford was protected by King Cormac Mac Cárthaigh (McCarthy) of Desmond when confronted by the forces of Diar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Waterford, its Historians and Historiography
• 1 Vedrafjordr: Viking Waterford
• 2 A Royal City: Anglo-Norman Waterford
• 3 Urbs Intacta Manet Waterfordia: Late Medieval Waterford
• 4 Parva Roma – Little Rome: Waterford in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
• 5 The Crystal City: Eighteenth-Century Waterford
• 6 Waterford in the Long Nineteenth Century
• 7 From Here to Modernity: Twentieth-Century Waterford
• Epilogue
• Bibliography