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Waterford – Ireland.com County Guides

County Waterford

Try kayaking on the Suir, visit craftsmen at Waterford Crystal and St Declan’s Round Tower – the door is 4 metres above sea level!

Part of the 'sunny south east', this county is best known for its iconic Waterford Crystal.

But it has a lot more to offer including the rural charm of inland towns and villages, a beautiful coastline where sailing and other watersports are pursued with passion and a city steeped in history.

The county is known locally as The Deise, after an ancient tribe that were driven south from the Hill of Tara. The ancient kingdom of the Deise has a rich history of megalithic sites and ogham stones, displaying the first forms of writing known.

Waterford city is the oldest city in Ireland and its modern streets easily co-exist with medieval city walls, cobbled streets and historic buildings including a tower which protected the people since the Vikings.

Coastal towns including Dunmore East Tramore and Passage East are all great bases to explore the county and to the west of the county close to the Comeragh Mountains lie the pretty towns of Lismore, Cappoquin and Ballymacarbery.

West of Waterford City, the Copper Coast Drive embraces panoramic seascapes, cliffs, bays and coves between Tramore and Dungarvan as well as many blue flag beaches; some magnificent castles and strands suitable for swimming and diving.

The South East Coastal Drive offers stunning views of rock formations, coves and imposing headlines.

There is also a Gaeltacht area in the Ring region which even boasts a vineyard.

On the food front, Waterford has a unique bread-making speciality. No visit to the county can be complete without tasting the delicious blaa – an extra-soft doughy bread roll that simply melts in the mouth.

The Waterford Crystal Visitor Centre is one of Ireland's top visitor sites and although the factory has spend years in financial doldrums its future was secured in 2009 with plans to extend the Visitor Centre.

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CR- Centre Closed Last 2 Years. Touraneena Heritage Centre is a three hundred year old traditional thatched farm depicting Irish rural life in the 1890's. Staff dress in costumes of the time. In the farmhouse kitchen there are hands-on demonstrations of bread-making and scone baking over a turf fire, using an original crane and oven pots. In the working dairy you can see how butter ...

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Reginald's Tower is the oldest civic urban structure in Ireland and has played a pivotal role in the country's history. The precursor of this tower is believed to be Dundory, a Viking fortification built on this site during the 10th century. This early fort formed the apex of the triangular Viking settlement and was in all probability a port for Viking longboats. It was strategically located on the high ground between a ...

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