County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

Waterford City and County Council Waterford City and County Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach agus Contae Phort Láirge) is the authority responsible for local government in the City of Waterford and County Waterford in Ireland. It came into operation on 1 June 2014 after the ...

is the

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

for the county. The population of the county at large, including the city, was 116,176 according to the 2016 census. The county is based on the historic

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

territory of the '' Déise''. There is an Irish-speaking area,

Gaeltacht na nDéise Gaeltacht na nDéise is a Gaeltacht area in County Waterford consisting of the areas of Ring and Old Parish. It is located 10 km from the town of Dungarvan. Gaeltacht na nDéise has a population of 1,816 people (Census 2016) and encompass ...

, in the south-west of the county.

Geography and subdivisions

County Waterford has two mountain ranges, the

Knockmealdown Mountains The Knockmealdown Mountains ( ga, Sléibhte Chnoc Mhaoldomhnaigh) are a mountain range located on the border of counties Tipperary and Waterford in Ireland, running east and west between the two counties. The highest peak of the range is Knockmea ...

and the

Comeragh Mountains The Comeragh Mountains () are a glaciated mountain range situated in southeast Ireland in County Waterford. They are located between the town of Dungarvan and stretch inland to the town of Clonmel on the County Tipperary border and the villages ...

. The highest point in the county is

Knockmealdown Knockmealdown ( ga, Cnoc Mhaoldomhnaigh, meaning 'hill of Maoldomhnach') is the highest peak of the Knockmealdown Range of mountains, located on the border between Co Tipperary and Co Waterford. Geography The peak itself is located in County W ...

, at . It also has many rivers, including Ireland's third-longest river, the

River Suir The River Suir ( ; ga, an tSiúr or ''Abhainn na Siúire'' ) is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through Waterford after a distance of . The catchment area of the Suir is 3,610 km2.

(); and Ireland's fourth-longest river, the

Munster Blackwater The Blackwater or Munster Blackwater ( ga, An Abhainn Mhór, The Great River) is a river which flows through counties Kerry, Cork, and Waterford in Ireland. It rises in the Mullaghareirk Mountains in County Kerry and then flows in an easterly ...

(). There are over 30 beaches along Waterford's volcanic coastline. A large stretch of this coastline, known as the

Copper Coast Copper Coast is a region of South Australia situated in Northern Yorke Peninsula and comprising the towns of Wallaroo, Kadina, Moonta, Paskeville and Port Hughes. The area approximately bounded by Wallaroo, Kadina and Moonta is also known as ...

, has been designated as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant sciences. In 20 ...

, a place of great geological importance. To the west of

Dungarvan Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of ...

is the Déise

Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially recog ...

, an Irish-speaking region comprising the areas of

Ring, County Waterford Ring (, its official name) or Ringagonagh ( ) is a parish within the Irish language, Irish-speaking Gaeltacht na nDéise area in County Waterford, Ireland. It lies on a peninsula about south of Dungarvan. The main settlement is the village of ...

and

Old Parish Old Parish ( ga, An Sean Phobal) is a village in west County Waterford, Ireland. It is part of the Gaeltacht in Waterford Gaeltacht na nDéise. Geography ''An Sean Phobal'', as it is known locally, is a large parish covering about 35 square kil ...

Waterford City "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

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

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

for Waterford County Council.

Baronies

There are eight historic baronies in the county:

Coshmore and Coshbride Coshmore and Coshbride () is a barony in County Waterford, Ireland. Etymology Coshmore is derived from Irish ''Cois Abha Móire'', "bank of the Great River", referring to the Munster Blackwater. Coshbride means "banks of the Bride", referrin ...

Decies-within-Drum Decies-within-Drum (; ) is a barony in County Waterford, Republic of Ireland. Etymology Decies (''Déisi Muman'') bounded in by the Drum Hills (''Drom Fhinín''). Geography Decies-within-Drum is located in the southwest of County Waterford, ea ...

Decies-without-Drum Decies-without-Drum (; ) is a Barony (Ireland), barony in County Waterford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Etymology Déisi#Déisi Muman, Decies (''Déisi Muman'') north of the Drum Hills (''Drom Fhinín''). "Without" is used with the meaning ...

, Gaultiere, Glenahiry, Middlethird,

Upperthird Upperthird or Upper Third () is a barony in County Waterford, Republic of Ireland. Etymology Upperthird was originally called ''Uachtar Tíre'', "upper country", referring to its high altitude (by Irish standards). ''Tír'' became "third" pre ...

and Waterford City.

Largest towns

History

County Waterford - Ballynageeragh Tomb - 20190917074738

County Waterford is colloquially known as "The Déise", pronounced "day-shah" or, in Irish, /dʲe:ʃʲɪ/ ( ga, Na Déise). Some time between the 4th and 8th centuries, an Irish tribe called the

Déisi The ''Déisi'' were a socially powerful class of peoples from Ireland that settled in Wales and western England between the ancient and early medieval period. The various peoples listed under the heading ''déis'' shared the same status in Gaeli ...

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 The Diocese of Waterford and Lismore (Irish: ''Deoise Phort Láirge agus Leasa Móire'' ) is a Roman Catholic diocese in Ireland. It is one of six suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cashel (also known as Munster) and is subjec ...

thus including part of south

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

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

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

ic tombs and

ogham Ogham (Modern Irish: ; mga, ogum, ogom, later mga, ogam, label=none ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish langua ...

stones in the county. The

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

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 Woodstown ( ga, Baile na Coille, IPA: �bˠalʲəˈnˠaˈkɛl̪ʲə is home to a historic settlement measuring 1.5 km by 0.5 km, located on the southern bank of the River Suir, about 5.5 km west of Waterford City in the southeast ...

, a settlement dating to the 9th century, was discovered west of

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 The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly san ...

and its effects.

Local government and politics

As of 1 June 2014,

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 The Local Government Reform Act 2014 (No. 1) is an act of the Oireachtas which provided for a major restructuring of local government in Ireland with effect from the 2014 local elections. It merged some first-tier county and city councils, ...

, and succeeded the functions of

Waterford City Council Waterford City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Phort Láirge) was the authority responsible for local government in the city of Waterford in Ireland until 2014. As a city council, it was governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council ...

and

Waterford County Council Waterford County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Phort Láirge) was the authority responsible for local government in County Waterford, Ireland. The remit of Waterford County Council also included some suburbs of the Waterford city not within t ...

. The

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 Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

. For elections to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

, the county is represented by the 4-seat constituency of

. For

European elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

, the city and county are part of the 5-seat

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

constituency.

Gaeltacht

is a Gaeltacht area in Co. Waterford, consisting of the parish of ' and '. ' is located 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 ' was 45.6%.

References

External links

Waterford City and County Council website– Official Waterford Tourism website
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