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Reginald's Tower, County Waterford
Photograph: Nmwalsh · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Province of Munster

County Waterford

Port Láirge

“port LAWR-ga” · Lárag's landing place, from port (landing place) + Lárag

Known as The Déise. For the Déisi, the people who held this country long before the county existed. Declan was their bishop, and his medieval Life has him converting them before Patrick.

Did you know? Waterford (Norse Veðrafjǫrðr, founded 914) is Ireland's oldest city, and Reginald's Tower its oldest building still in civic use — it has stood guard for some 750 years.
A fact like this for every county and every age →

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Waterford by the numbers
Munster province 127,363 people · 2022 census 1,858 km² · 20th of 32 by size County town Waterford -14% in the Famine · 227,000 people in 1841, 196,000 in 1851 (approx.) 8 baronies · 1,629 townlands 1930s folklore · the Schools' Collection ↗ 1 Olympic medallist born here 16 surnames 3 towns on the site 1,800 daily Irish speakers Highest point Knockmealdown, 792 m 2 senior All-Irelands 29 notable people born here 2,698 historic buildings recorded Everything on the site about Waterford ↓
Carlow Cavan Cork Donegal Dublin Clare Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Laois Leitrim Limerick Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Offaly Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry Tyrone

Open the atlas ↗

The history of Waterford

Waterford has many megalithic tombs and ogham stones. Reginald's Tower in the city, one of the first buildings in Ireland built with mortar, recalls the Vikings, and Woodstown, a 9th-century settlement found 5.5 km west of the city, is the only large-scale 9th-century Viking settlement found so far in western Europe. Much of the rest of the county's older architecture came with the Anglo-Normans.

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on County Waterford ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The chronology above is this site's own; where the two differ, the article is the one to check.

The land — from Wikipedia

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 Geopark, a place of great geological importance. To the west of Dungarvan is the Déise Gaeltacht, an Irish-speaking region comprising the areas of Ring, County Waterford and Old Parish.

Waterford is the county seat; prior to the merger of the 2 Waterford authorities in June 2014 Dungarvan was the county seat for Waterford County Council.

Read the full article ↗ · Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Clans & surnames of Waterford
Aylward Aighleart Norse-English · “æthel-weard, 'noble guardian'” Comerford Comartún Norman · “from Comberford, Staffordshire” Connery Ó Conaire Gaelic sept · “descendant of Conaire, 'keeper of the hound'” Curran Ó Corráin Gaelic septs (several) · “descendant of Corrán” Deasy Déiseach Gaelic territorial · “'of the Déise' — a man of the Déise people” Dennis Ó Donnghusa Gaelic sept · “descendant of Donnghus, ‘brown choice’” Foley Ó Foghladha Gaelic sept · “descendant of Foghlaidh — 'the plunderer'” Kiely Ó Cadhla Gaelic sept · “descendant of Cadhla, 'graceful'” Lonergan Ó Longargáin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Longargán, a diminutive of lonngarg, ‘strong-fierce’” McGrath Mac Craith Gaelic learned family · “son of Mac Raith, 'son of grace'” Mulcahy Ó Maolchathaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of the devotee of St Cathach ('battle')” Power de Paor Norman · “le poer — 'the poor man' (a crusader's vow)” Wall de Bhál Norman · “du val — 'of the valley'” Wallace de Bhailís Norman-Welsh · “le waleis — 'the Welshman, the foreigner'” Walsh Breathnach Norman-Welsh · “'the Welshman' — soldiers who came with the Normans” Whelan Ó Faoláin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Faolán, 'little wolf'”

Tap a name for its full page — story, homeland map and neighbours. Or see all surnames from County Waterford, with the other counties each name is tied to.

Towns, saints and legends of Waterford

Towns. Waterford Port Láirge (60,079, 2022), Tramore Trá Mhór (11,277, 2022), Dungarvan Dún Garbhán. What every town name means →

Saints. St Declan of Ardmore (24 July), St Otteran (27 October).

Legends set here. The Comeraghs — Crotty’s rock. On the atlas →

First names that belong here. Garbhán, Declan, Clodagh.

Irish in Waterford today

At the 2022 census, 48,106 people in Waterford said they could speak Irish. 1,800 speak it every day outside school, and 2,865 weekly.

7 primary schools here teach entirely through Irish (2025/26, 1,149 pupils), and 2 secondary schools.

Waterford's Gaeltacht had 2,063 people in 2022, 508 of them daily Irish speakers. The Gaeltacht in numbers →

CSO, Census 2022, table SAP2022T3T2CTY. Every county compared →

The top of Waterford

Knockmealdown (Cnoc Mhaoldomhnaigh), 792 metres, in the Knockmealdown Mountains.

Wrecks on its coast: Samson (1987). Shipwrecks of Ireland →

Rivers and loughs: River Barrow, River Suir, River Blackwater, River Bride.

MountainViews, via Wikipedia. Every county's highest point → · Rivers and loughs →

Waterford in the All-Ireland

Hurling: 2 senior titles (1948, 1959); 6 finals lost.
Football: no senior title; 1 final lost.

Every county's All-Ireland titles →

Born in Waterford

From Wikidata: people whose recorded birthplace is in the county, who have a Wikipedia article and are no longer living, with dates shown only where the article confirms them, ordered by how many languages Wikipedia covers them in. Traditional birthplaces of early saints are as Wikidata records them. Dates are left off where the sources disagree.

People in Waterford, census by census

Waterford had 227,000 people in 1841 and has 127,363 now (-44%). Its peak was 196,187 in 1841; its low point 71,439 in 1961, -69% of 1841. It has never regained the population it had before the Famine.

1821183118411851186118711881189119011911192619361946195119561961196619711979198119861991199620022006201120162022
76,10385,217196,187164,035134,252123,310112,76898,25187,18783,96678,56277,61476,10875,06174,03171,43973,08077,31587,27888,59191,15191,62494,680101,546107,961113,795116,176127,363

Census returns as tabulated in the county's Wikipedia article. All 32 counties, 1821 to today →

Hidden Waterford — the places the buses miss
  • St Declan's Well, Ardmore
    Declan brought Christianity to the Déisi before Patrick came; his cliff-top well, oratory and 'stone that floated from Wales' are still visited on 24 July.
  • Reginald’s Tower
    The oldest civic building in Ireland, and the only urban monument in the country still carrying a Norse name. Strongbow married Diarmait Mac Murchada’s daughter Aoife here — the marriage that tied Leinster to the Normans.
On the ground in Waterford

Every pin is placed by its documented coordinates. All the monuments of Ireland →

Everything on the site about County Waterford

The county

History

Monuments and heritage

Coast and country

People and culture

Quick answers
What is the Irish name for County Waterford?

Port Láirge. Waterford is one of the 6 counties of Munster (Cúige Mumhan).

Who ruled County Waterford in the Middle Ages?

Around 1014 it was held by Desmond (MacCarthy); by 1450, Earldom of Desmond (FitzGerald). The full era-by-era chronology is on this page.

What surnames come from County Waterford?

Names historically associated with Waterford include Aylward, Comerford, Connery, Curran, Deasy, Dennis, Foley, Kiely, among others.

What does Port Láirge mean?

Port Láirge, said “port LAWR-ga”, means Lárag's landing place — from port (landing place) + Lárag. The English name is Norse — Veðrafjǫrðr, the ram or windy fjord. Ireland's oldest city has one name from each set of invaders.

What is the population of County Waterford?

127,363 at the 2022 census, against 227,000 in 1841, before the Famine.

What is the county town of Waterford?

Waterford. County Waterford covers about 1,858 km², which makes it the 20th largest of the 32 counties.

Who are famous people from County Waterford?

Among the best-known people born in Waterford are Robert Boyle, Ernest Walton, Dorothea Jordan, Craig Breen, William Hobson, Richard Mulcahy. The full list, with their birthplaces, is on this page.

What did the Famine do to County Waterford?

The census counted 227,000 people in Waterford in 1841 and 196,000 in 1851 (the 1851 figure is approximate): a change of -14% in ten years, through death and emigration.

Sources for this page

A clean copy for school projects or the family file; collapsed sections print in full.

The chronology of who held the county is this site's own reading of the standard histories onto today's county borders, and says so where the fit is rough. Quoted passages are marked and licensed. Spotted an error? Say so — corrections are credited.

Trace your ancestors in Waterford

Free, from the holding institutions. How to begin: the six-step guide → · Spotted an error on this page? Suggest a correction.