Waterford

Waterford, the county town, but itself a county of a city and a municipal and parliamentary borough, is on the river Suir, at the head of the tidal estuary, Waterford Harbour, 97 miles SSW. of Dublin by rail. The city, with the exception of its suburb of Ferrybank, with which it is connected by a wooden bridge of thirty-nine arches, lies on the right bank of the Suir, along which a handsome and spacious quay extends for a distance of nearly a mile, and from which the city ascends gradually in well-built streets. Vessels of 2000 tons can now discharge their cargoes at the quay; but the place has not a thriving look. The chief public buildings are the Protestant and Roman Catholic cathedrals, the Protestant episcopal palace, the (Catholic) college of St John, the city and county court-houses, besides hospitals, &c. The chief trade is with England in the export of butter, pork, bacon, corn, flour, eggs, and livestock. There is a shipbuilding-yard, with patent slip, graving-bank, and dock on the Kilkenny bank of the river. Waterford is originally of Danish foundation, but in 1171 the city was taken by assault by Strongbow, by whom it was enlarged and made a place of strength. It received a charter from John, which was forfeited under James I., but restored by Charles I. in 1626. But few remains of its ancient buildings are now to be seen. Pop. (1881) 22,457; (1891) 21,693; and of parliamentary borough, 27,623 (of whom 25,418 were Catholics). See Ryland's History of the County and City of Waterford (1824).