The Sunny Side of Ireland: How to see it by the Great Southern and Western Railway — John Shaqi
The Sunny Side of Ireland: How to see it by the Great Southern and Western RailwayO'Mahony, John
History
The Sunny Side of Ireland: How to see it by the Great Southern and Western Railway
O'Mahony, John
Ireland -- Guidebooks
King John landed here, and the town was walled in and fortified against
the Irish, who hung like wolves around a fold in the outlying country.
In the Revolution the town adhered to the King. It was the port most
used by the Confederates, and here many of their proclamations were
printed. It was the one place in Ireland which successfully resisted the
all-conquering Cromwell, and hence received the name from the Cavaliers
of _Urbs intacta_. An object of historic interest which has been
restored within the present century is Reginald's Tower. It was built
originally by Reginald the Dane, son of Sitrius, the great Danish King
of Dublin and Fingal (The Fair Strangers), whom Brian Boru defeated at
Clontarf. Here, it is said, DeClair married Eva, whose fair face induced
him to join his forces to her father's fallen fortunes. Maclise, in his
wonderful historical picture "Bartered Away,"[4] represents the nuptials
as taking place on the battlefield, dyed with the blood of the
vanquished Irish. There could not have been much love in the match after
all. Strongbow was scarcely dead when his young widow wrote to Raymond
Le Gros that "a great tooth had fallen out," which he understood to mean
that the time had arrived for him to come and make her his own, which he
did. The patron saints of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore are Saint
Cartach and Saint Otteran, the latter being a Dane who embraced
Christianity. The Cathedral (Episcopalian) occupies the site of the old
Danish Cathedral, the existence of which, together with that of Christ
Church in Dublin, bears testimony to the zeal with which the Danes
embraced Christianity. The Quay is the most characteristic bit of
Waterford. Across the bridge, from Mount Misery or Cromwell's Rock, two
points of vantage, excellent views of the surroundings can be had. The
Suir, shining silvery, steals in and out among the hills and by the old
town into the sea. The most interesting of the ancient monuments in
Waterford is what is commonly called the "French Church," which, more
correctly, is entitled "The Holy Ghost Friary." Authorities agree in
assigning the date of its foundation to 1240, but its history has never
been written. After the Edict of Nantes, the fugitive Huguenots formed a
little colony in Waterford. The Corporation granted a salary to their
minister, and they were provided with a place of worship in the choir of
the old church. All that remain of this once gorgeous pile of
buildings are the ruins of the tower, Lady Chapel, chancel, and nave.
The style is Early English, and the most attractive feature is the
graceful three-lighted east window. The Catholic Cathedral is worth a
visit. Within easy reach of the Quay is Ballybricken, the heart of the
bacon industry, and the home of the best known body of pig-buyers in
Ireland. These men are almost a community to themselves. They have their
own traditions, and are more like an organisation which would have
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