SARG goes to Medieval Waterford
On Wednesday the 19th of February 2025 SARG set out on a trip from Stoneyford to experience the wonders of Waterford Museum of Treasures. The Waterford Museum of Treasures affords an excellent place to dive into the city’s rich history. It is also a great way to learn about the past while enjoying the beautiful architecture and exhibitions.
We met our tour guide Liam, as arranged, Liam had a very nice way of introducing us to the treasures that Waterford offers and we began with a visit to the Medieval Museum.
This is Ireland’s only purpose-built medieval museum, uniquely incorporating two medieval chambers: the 13th-century Choristers’ Hall and the 15th-century Mayor’s Wine Vault. The museum offers a comprehensive exploration of Waterford’s medieval history, featuring artefacts from the Viking era through the Middle Ages.
The museum also houses the only surviving piece of clothing worn by Henry VIII—a cap of maintenance awarded to the Mayor of Waterford in 1536.
Our next destination was The Irish Museum of Time, located on Greyfriars Street in Waterford’s Viking Triangle.This is Ireland’s only horological museum. Housed in a refurbished Gothic-style church, it showcases a remarkable collection of timepieces, including some of the oldest Irish-made grandfather clocks, table clocks, and watches. The museum also features early European timepieces, with some dating back to the mid-16th century, as well as clocks and watches from countries such as Switzerland, England, America, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Russia, and Japan.
The museum’s collection includes approximately 600 timepieces, highlighting the craftsmanship of Irish artisans since the 17th century. Notable exhibits include a 1663 clock by William Clement, the world’s oldest surviving timepiece with an anchor escapement.
Father time was on our side and allowed us the opportunity to visit one more museum, Waterford Silver Collection Museum, before lunch. The museum displays some of the finest examples of silverware made by Waterford’s silversmiths over the centuries. The pieces range from the 18th century to the present, showcasing intricate designs and craftsmanship. Some of the pieces are functional, while others are pure works of art.
What I found most interesting was the section dealing with the Viking silver and how they carried the silver and used it for trading. It was also interesting to learn how the pound weight of silver was used as a standard of currency and how it was subdivided into 240 smaller pieces for trading. from this grew the concept of Pounds, Shillings and Pence in days of yore. Our guide here was most interesting and engaging and obviously loved his topic. We could have spent the day here listening to his jams of information.
After a delicious lunch and chat we embarked on a tour of the Bishop’s Palace. Our guide here brought the house to life by portraying herself as the housekeeper of some standing within the house society. She dressed in period clothes and as she brought us around the house she feigned to share some of the secrets and scandals of the various lords, ladies and dignitaries who inhabited the building over the centuries. She was excellent.
We had Liam as guide for the final leg of the tour which was a walking tour of Medieval Waterford. Unfortunately for us the weather grew inclement and even though the tour was interesting the bad weather ruined what would have been a most interesting trip. Liam did his best to keep us engaged and his humour and knowledge kept us distracted for long enough to make it worth while.
As we finished our walking tour Liam brought us back to the present when he stopped opposite No. 33 The Mall to show us the place where Thomas Francis Meagher presented the Tricolour to the Irish Nation for the first time.
The Irish Tricolour flag was first flown publicly by Waterford man and Irish American Patriot Thomas Francis Meagher in his native city at the Wolf Tone Confederate Club at 33 The Mall, Waterford on March 7th 1848.
On the 15th of April he presented a fabulous version of the Tricolour made from the finest French silk to the citizens of Ireland. He said:
“…I trust that the old country will not refuse this symbol of a new life from one of her youngest children. I need not explain its meaning. The quick and passionate intellect of the generation now springing into arms will catch it at a glance. The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the “orange” and the “green” and I trust that beneath its folds, the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood…” Thomas Francis Meagher
Soon after Meagher was part of the Young Irelanders 1848 Famine Rebellion. He was arrested and accused of high treason. On the 16th of July, just before his trial, he visited Slievenamon in Co. Tipperary and gave a speech to 50,000 people. Meagher, decorated with a fabulous Tricolour Sash fulfilled his February promise and baptised the country with his new flag saying these words:
“…he [Daniel O’Connell] preached a cause that we are bound to see out. He used to say “I may not see what I have laboured for I am an old man, my arm is withered, no epitaph of victory may mark my grave but I see a young generation with redder blood in their veins, and they will do the work. Therefore it is that I ambition to decorate these hills with the flag of my country.” Thomas Francis Meagher
Seanad Éireann endorsed the protocol governing the national Flag for the 165th Anniversary on the 6th March, 2013.
“Seanad Éireann endorses the protocol governing the national Flag on this the 165th anniversary of the displaying of the Irish Flag for the first time by Thomas Francis Meagher at 33 the Mall in Waterford City on March 7th 1848.”
The Irish Tricolour has inspired generations of Irish people since its conception in 1848. Although the flag didn’t see the light of day again until it was raised above the GPO in 1916, so poignant was its symbolism that its message still prevailed over half a century later, as it does today. The tricolour was eventually recognised as Ireland’s national flag in 1937.
A point of interest concerning No. 33 The Mall Waterford,The Wolfe Tone Club. It is the only building in Ireland with official permission to fly the Tricolour all the year round for 24 four hours each day. The normal protocol is that the flag is raised at sun-up and lowered at sun-down.
