County Waterford

Geography and subdivisions

County Waterford has two mountain ranges, the Knockmealdown Mountains and the Comeragh Mountains. The highest point in the county is Knockmealdown, at 794 m. It also has many rivers, including Ireland's third-longest river, the River Suir (184 km); and Ireland's fourth-longest river, the Munster Blackwater (168 km). There are over 30 beaches along Waterford's volcanic coastline. A large stretch of this coastline, known as the Copper Coast, has been designated as a UNESCO Geopark, a place of great geological importance. To the west of Dungarvan is the Déise Gaeltacht, an Irish-speaking region comprising the areas of Ring, County Waterford and Old Parish.

Waterford is the county seat; prior to the merger of the 2 Waterford authorities in June 2014 Dungarvan was the county seat for Waterford County Council.

Baronies

There are eight historic baronies in the county: Coshmore and Coshbride, Decies-within-Drum, Decies-without-Drum, Gaultiere, Glenahiry, Middlethird, Upperthird and Waterford City.

Largest towns

|1600|14456 |1610|9887 |1653|13136 |1659|13286 |1821|76103 |1831|85217 |1841|196187 |1851|164035 |1861|134252 |1871|123310 |1881|112768 |1891|98251 |1901|87187 |1911|83966 |1926|78562 |1936|77614 |1946|76108 |1951|75061 |1956|74031 |1961|71439 |1966|73080 |1971|77315 |1979|87278 |1981|88591 |1986|91151 |1991|91624 |1996|94680 |2002|101546 |2006|107961 |2011|113795 |2016|116176 |2022|127363 ||footnote={{cite book |editor2-first=L. A.|title=Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell

History

County Waterford is colloquially known as "The Déise", pronounced "day-shah" or, in Irish, /dʲe:ʃʲɪ/ (). Some time between the 4th and 8th centuries, an Irish tribe called the Déisi were driven from southern county Meath/north Kildare and moved into the Waterford region, conquering and settling there. The ancient principality of the Déise is today roughly coterminous with the current Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore thus including part of south County Tipperary.

The westernmost of the baronies are Decies-within-Drum and Decies-without-Drum, separated by the Drum-Fineen hills.

There are many megalithic tombs and ogham stones in the county. The Viking influence can still be seen with Reginald's Tower, one of the first buildings to use a brick and mortar construction method in Ireland. Woodstown, a settlement dating to the 9th century, was discovered 5.5 km west of Waterford city. It was the largest settlement outside Scandinavia and the only large-scale 9th-century Viking settlement discovered to date in Western Europe. Other architectural features are products of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland and its effects.

Local government and politics

As of 1 June 2014, Waterford City and County Council is the local government authority for the local government area of Waterford City and County. The authority was formed following the merger of the local government areas of the county of Waterford and the city of Waterford under the Local Government Reform Act 2014, and succeeded the functions of Waterford City Council and Waterford County Council. The local authority is responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and real-estate development, libraries, the collection of automobile taxation, local roads and social housing.

For elections to Dáil Éireann, the county is represented by the 4-seat constituency of Waterford. For European elections, the city and county are part of the 5-seat South constituency.

Gaeltacht

Gaeltacht na nDéise is a Gaeltacht area in County Waterford, consisting of the parish of An Rinn and An Sean Phobal. Gaeltacht na nDéise is located 10 km from the town of Dungarvan, has a population of 1,816 people (Census 2016) and encompasses a geographical area of 62 km2. According to Census 2016 the percentage of daily Irish speakers in Gaeltacht na nDéise was 45.6%.

Culture

• In the Willows, alternative folk band from Waterford

References

References

1. "County Profiles – Waterford". [[Teagasc]].
2. "Interactive Data Visualisations: Local Authorities (County Councils): WATERFORD CITY AND COUNTY COUNCIL". [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland).
3. "A Short History of County Waterford". Waterford County Council.
4. "Geology of the Copper Coast – Copper Coast Geopark". Copper Coast Geopark.
5. "Waterford County Council website".
6. "Census 2016 Sapmap Area: County Waterford City And County". [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland)]].
7. For 1653 and 1659 figures from Civil Survey Census of those years, Paper of Mr Hardinge to Royal Irish Academy 14 March 1865.
8. "Census for post 1821 figures.". CSO.
9. [http://www.histpop.org histpop.org] {{webarchive. link. (7 May 2016)
10. (27 September 2010). "NISRA – Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (c) 2013". Nisranew.nisra.gov.uk.
11. (November 1984). "New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700–1850". The Economic History Review.
12. (August 2023). "Census 2022 - F1015 Population". [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland).
13. Egan, P.M.. (20 November 2004). "History of Waterford".
14. "Prehistoric Waterford tombs, dolmens and standing stones". Prehistoricwaterford.com.
15. {{Cite Irish legislation. (2014). (27 January 2014)
16. {{cite Irish legislation. (2017). (23 December 2017)
17. {{cite Irish legislation. (2019). (12 March 2019)
18. "Archived copy".