Abbeyside () is a

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

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 ...

County Waterford County Waterford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. ...

, Ireland. It lies on the east bank of the Colligan River.

History

MacGrath's Castle was a notable landmark in Abbeyside, overlooking Dungarvan Harbour, until it collapsed in January 1916. It was situated at Friar's Walk in Abbeyside, near the Augustinian abbey. It was a six-storey

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...

, reputedly built by the MacGrath family, and labelled MacCragh's Castle in the Civil Survey of 1654. While, as of the mid-18th century, it was still in a "good state of preservation", by the mid-20th century only fragments of the walls remained. These were subsequently removed, and no remnants of the castle remain visible above ground.

Sport

The local GAA club is Abbeyside/Ballinacourty GAA. The club plays both

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and

gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

and competes in both senior codes in the county. The village also has a local

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team, Abbeyside AFC, the team plays in the Waterford District league Division 1B, the club's most successful moment came in 2011 winning the 1B division. The club also have a u14 team youths and a division 3 team. Stage 2 of the

1998 Tour de France The 1998 Tour de France was the 85th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. The race was composed of 21 stages and a prologue. It started on 11 July in Ireland before taking an anti-clockwise route t ...

passed through Abbeyside.

Notable people

* Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton (6 October 1903 – 25 June 1995),

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

was born in Abbeyside. Walton is known for his work with

John Cockcroft Sir John Douglas Cockcroft (27 May 1897 – 18 September 1967) was an English nuclear physicist who shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ernest Walton for their splitting of the atomic nucleus, which was instrumental in the developmen ...

on the splitting of the atom. The "Walton Causeway Park" in Abbeyside was dedicated in his honour. Walton himself attended the ceremony in 1989. After his death, a plaque was placed on the site of his birthplace in Abbeyside. * Louis Claude Purser (28 September 1854 – 20 March 1932),

classical scholar Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

, was born here. * Sarah Purser (22 March 1848 - 1943), portrait painter, was raised in Abbeyside.

References

External links

Abbeyside Heritage Archive
{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Waterford Townlands of County Waterford