APRIL 12 - Eat a few croissants bought last night in the local grocery store. I have an unfair advantage when it comes to breakfast, as every place we will stay for the next week is bound to have a hot pot to make tea. Pouring down rain as we take a walking tour of the waterfront and the historic district of Waterford.
Christ Church Cathedral, founded in 1096 and built on the site of an earlier church that had been the focus of converting the resident Vikings to Christianity.
An engraved tree in the shape of a sword, claimed to be the longest wooden sculpture in the world. The sides depict a rendition of the arrival of the Vikings to Ireland. This story starts with the appearance of a comet, an all-too-common source of omen in the pre-industrial world, through various battles, until the eventual pacification of the invaders through assimilation.
Odette meets a real Viking.
The Chorister’s Hall, now below the Medieval Museum. This is the only building to remain of a much larger complex. This is probably because it was essentially buried for hundreds of years. It was constructed in the late 13th Century. It connects to a wine cellar, owned by the wealthy wine merchant James Rice, and donated to the church in 1644.
Waterford has quite a dense history, being a focal point for the invasion and subsequent settling, of Vikings starting in 10th Century, and later invasion by the Anglo-Normans in the 12th Century. Its strong defenses notably repelled an attack in 1495 by a pretender to the throne of England, and was unsuccessfully attacked again by Oliver Cromwell in 1650.
The Medieval Museum also happens to have a collared die pair for striking of coins. King John established a mint in Waterford in 1210.
This stone Royal Coat of Arms was awarded to Waterford by King Henry VII for the city’s loyalty to the English crown.
Reginald’s Tower. This sturdy fortification forms one corner of the ‘Viking triangle’, a very effective fortress that withstood a number of attacks through the centuries. It is the only building in Ireland to be named after a Viking. Besides a defensive tower, it also housed a mint, a prison for petty criminals, and now a museum.
King Reginald of the Vikings figures big in Irish history. He originally established the settlement of Waterford in 917, cutting off a competing Viking settlement further upriver. Soon after he would also take over the settlement of Dublin.
Along the waterfront of Waterford. I’ve always like the color combination of the Irish flag.
We depart from Waterford, heading west. Pay a 2 Euro toll! Take a detour south to the town of Ardmore. This unassuming hamlet of about 500 inhabitants is, according to tradition, the first Christianized settlement in Ireland, having been inhabited by St. Declan in the 5th Century. This would place his efforts earlier than those of St. Patrick.
The scenic cemetery at the top of the hill is home to St. Declan’s Tower (12th Century), and St. Declan’s Oratory. The tower is curious in that I could not see an entrance.
Interior of the ruins of the Ardmore Cathedral. It contains several old gravestones, and an Ogham stone.
On the edge of town is the Cliff Walk, which starts at a ruined church out of which a spring flows.
Of course it is known as St. Declan’s Holy Well. The church grounds are a destination for pilgrims, who are meant to circumambulate it three times.
Go on a beautiful walk along the sea cliffs.
The metal hulk is what remains of a crane ship that wrecked during a storm in 1987.
There are some watchtowers along the cliffs, used to watch for Napoleon’s troops (which never came) and for Germans in WWII (only their U-boats came to lurk offshore).
Back on the main road, arrive in Cork (Corcaigh) about 18:00. Our airbnb is way up the hill from downtown. Eat a good meal at a Polish-Irish restaurant. Quite a slog to get back to the room.
Today’s route: (A) Waterford, (B) Ardmore, and (C) Cork.
