Waterford, Ireland

by WBlackwell on December 5, 2017

As I approached Waterford on the bus, off in the distance I watched as the clouds descended on the hills like a blanket being laid on a bed.

The Medieval Museum is the only museum that is built over a medieval building.

Waterford City Seal

Have you ever wondered that the if all the “true” pieces of the cross were gathered together it might be the size of a redwood?

Thomas Francis Meagher is a really big deal in Ireland. He is the man who designed the tricolor flag with the white in the center signifying the truce between the Orange (Williamites/English) and Green for the Irish. He found himself arrested fro treason, deported to Tasmania from whence he escaped to America. He was a Union General in the Civil War, a Pall Bearer for Lincoln and first governor of the state of Montana. When he mysteriously fell into the Missouri River and drowned with his body never found he was only 44. Michael Keropian, a childhood neighbor from Manchester, Ct, was commissioned to create a memorial.

This memorial can be found behind his wife’s grave in Green-Wood Cemetery Brooklyn, NY.

Reginald’s Tower was built by the Anglo-Normans as part of a walled defense of the city. The present tower is likely to have been built in the 13th or 14th century; it may have been constructed between 1253 and 1280 with base walls 10′ thick reducing to 7′ at the top of the the 54’/16m high structure. It now houses a Viking Museum.

Joe Caslin is a social awareness artist and last year created this piece overlooking the city. It was literally the first thing I saw as the buss approached the River Suir the city’s original lifeline. It’s all to raise awareness of Pieta House, the centre for the prevention of self-harm and suicide in Waterford, and A Lust For Life, an organisation dedicated to personal wellbeing. Suicide is a big problem in Ireland with about 10/year/1oo,ooo.

Largest Waterford Chrystal glass ever? About 5′ tall.

John Roberts’ claim to fame is a result of his being the only person to build two cathedrals in one city. Both Christ Church Cathedral, the Anglican Cathedral build in the 1770’s and Holy Trinity Cathedral, begun in 1792 was the first Catholic church built in Ireland in 100 years. The resemblance is noticeable.

Note the chandler in Christ Church and the columns.

It is said that the bishop worked all week on a windup, hell’s fire & brimstone sermon every Sunday and had this cadaver sepulchre presents to instill fear in his parishioners. I can see how it would work.

Dating from the 1460s the Waterford cloth-of-gold vestments are made from Italian silk woven in Florence. The panels were embroidered in Bruges which was the centre of the medieval embroidery industry. These vestments survived the 17th century wars of religion because they were buried in a trunk in 1650 before the city fell to the army of the republican general, Oliver Cromwell. They were re-discovered 123 years later when the medieval cathedral was being demolished and were then gifted by the Church of Ireland bishop to his Catholic counterpart. They can be seen as part of the Treasures of Waterford collection.

Holy Trinity RC Cathedral lacks the spire of Christ Church but both are of a Georgian design with similar supporting columns. The main interior difference is Christ Church lacks the balconies of Holy Trinity.