County Waterford () is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is in the

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

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

and is part of the Southern Region. It is named after the city of

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

. Waterford City and County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county at large, including the city, was 127,363 according to the 2022 census. The county is based on the historic Gaelic territory of the '' Déise''. There is an Irish-speaking area, Gaeltacht na nDéise, in the southwest of the county.

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 . It also has many rivers, including Ireland's third-longest river, the River Suir (); and Ireland's fourth-longest river, the Munster Blackwater (). 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 The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

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

, a place of great geological importance. To the west of Dungarvan is the Déise

Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

, an Irish-speaking region comprising the areas of Ring, County Waterford and Old Parish.

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 parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

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

History

County Waterford - Ballynageeragh Tomb - 20190917074738

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 County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

. 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 Vikings were 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 settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

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 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 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 Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

. For elections to Dáil Éireann, the county is represented by the 4-seat constituency of

. For European elections, the city and county are part of the 5-seat South constituency.

Gaeltacht

is a Gaeltacht area in County 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%.

Culture

* In the Willows, alternative folk band from Waterford

References

External links

*
Waterford Tourism
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