Waterford

Ireland's oldest city, founded by Vikings in 914. Reginald's Tower at the point of the triangle has stood for eight centuries and is the oldest civic building in the country still in use. Strongbow married Aoife here in 1170 and took Leinster as her dowry — the moment the Norman conquest became permanent.

Waterford's English name is Old Norse, Veðrafjǫrðr, the ram fjord; its Irish name, Port Láirge, is Lárag's port. Vikings first settled nearby in 853, were driven out around 902, and came back in 914 to build what became Ireland's first city, ruled by the Uí Ímair dynasty. Strongbow and Diarmait Mac Murchada took it in 1170 after a desperate defence, and Henry II landed here in 1171. Reginald's Tower, built after the Normans came on the site of an older fort, keeps its Viking name and was one of the first buildings in Ireland to use mortar.

Through the Middle Ages Waterford was Ireland's second city. It turned away both Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck in the 15th century, and Henry VII gave it the motto Urbs Intacta Manet Waterfordia — Waterford remains untaken. It stayed Catholic after the Reformation, joined the Confederation of Kilkenny, and fell to Ireton in 1650. The 18th century was a time of great prosperity, and in the 19th glassmaking and shipbuilding thrived. John Redmond sat for the city from 1891 to 1918, and there was fighting here in July 1922 in the Civil War.

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on Waterford ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

• Gaulstown Portal Tomb · dolmen · 9 km
• Knockeen Portal Tomb · dolmen · 9 km
• Ballynageeragh Portal Tomb · dolmen · 14 km
• Gorteens Castle · castle · 5 km
• Ballygunner Castle · castle · 5 km
• Corluddy Castle · castle · 6 km
• Duncannon Fort · castle · 12 km

Straight-line distances from the town centre, from each site's documented coordinates.

• Hook Lighthouse · Raised between 1201 and 1240 by William Marshal to guide ships to his port at New Ross, with walls four metres thick. It is still working, eight centuries on — the second-oldest operating lighthouse in the world.
• 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.

All of these are pinned on the Hidden Ireland map.