Deep Historical Connections Between City of Waterford and the Grand Banks, Newfoundland
Waterford my Crystal City fair,
Waterford there is no place to compare,
Near or far no matter where I roam,
My heart is always with you, Waterford my home
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
WATERFORD - The city of Waterford or Portlairge (name in Irish) is over a thousand years old and is one of the ancient walled cities. Founded by the Vikings between 856 and 914, they first named it "Vedrarfjiordr," meaning "Fjord of the Rams."
THE CITY of Waterford.
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Its harbour has provided a safe haven from the windy Irish sea for countless sailing vessels and over the course of history, many bloody battles were waged at the walls of Waterford, which was besieged by the Spanish, Anglo-Normans and the Vikings.
In 1649, Oliver Cromwell unsuccessfully laid siege to the city. However, in 1650 Parliamentary forces launched a second two-pronged siege. The suburbs were burned while Parliamentary frigates bombarded the city from the river Suir, leading to the downfall of Waterford.
Today there are six surviving towers left on the defensive wall that surround Waterford. They are considered the finest remaining examples of medieval urban defences in Ireland, of which Reginald’s Tower is the most substantial. In 1954, Reginald’s Tower became a museum and stands watch over the ever-changing stage that is the River Suir. Quieter now, it still keeps guard over the memories of a city.
ALDERMAN TOM CUNNINGHAM, Mayor of the City of Waterford.
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Alderman Tom Cunningham, Mayor of the City of Waterford is serving his second term on the corporation. His family have a long political tradition within the city of Waterford, with his brother, grandfather, two uncles and a grand-uncle having all served on the corporation.
Mayor Cunningham recently spoke to The Celtic Connection about his background, his duties as Mayor of the City of Waterford and future plans for his thriving city. “I’m a self-employed consultant, a quantity supervisor, which means I estimate the cost of building projects. I’m a member of the Fine Gael Party, 49-years old and married with two teenage kids, so I’m aging by the second.”
Despite his consulting business, Cunningham said the position of mayor is actually a full-time position. He said, “it requires me to attend at city hall every day and as mayor you automatically chair all committees of the council itself and all sub-committees. We average between 30 and 40 meetings of the council yearly and then maybe another 25 meetings of sub-committees.
“I also receive dignitaries and host receptions for various bodies both within the city and visiting the city. There would be a large emphasis if you like on the presentation of the city. I average about two to three functions a day and I suppose that over the course of the year, I would average over 200 functions a year.”
Waterford is twinned principally with three cities: Saint Herblain in France; Rochester, New York; and St. John’s, Newfoundland. There are regular visits between the cities in which officials visit every alternative year typically.
Cunningham pointed out, however, “we have huge historical connections with Newfoundland and the Grand Banks fishing grounds, which was always known in Irish as Btalaimh an Uaisce, which literally translated means, ‘land of the fish’.
“The connection is that the fishermen of Whitby and Bristol, in particular, were the first Europeans to go and fish the Grand Banks. On their journey there, which was a very long journey, Waterford was their last port of call to pick-up provisions – principally, salt pork, beer, wine and anything that would provision them for the journey out there. This would normally take about a month and they would stay there for six months before returning to Waterford.
“The richness of the fishing grounds was just incredible and as the business grew and more boats came, they started to principally take on their crew from Waterford. So, Waterford people literally went to Newfoundland to fish the Grand Banks but what happened was that they started up settlements there. Even in this day and age of 2004, you have entire communities in St. John’s, Newfoundland, who speak with a Waterford accent.
“So, the connection has always existed and there’s a common thread that runs between them. I suppose the bridge that links the Newfoundlanders and ourselves would be the Quakers. The principal merchant families in Waterford in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century were of Quaker origin and they originated in fishing ports in England and Bristol. They were the merchant families who underwrote the fishing expeditions.”
Mayor Cunningham said one of Waterford’s very famous Irish patriots was Thomas Francis Meagher who was known as ‘Meagher of the Sword’. He is credited with designing or flying the first Irish tri-colour which was derived from the French tri-colour.
Thomas Francis Meagher’s father and grandfather were two of the original people who went out to Newfoundland. They became very prosperous and returned to Ireland and became a very wealthy and influential family. Actually, Thomas Francis Meagher senior was the first Catholic mayor of Waterford in over 200 years.
Waterford is also known as the crystal city, as it is home to the world-famous Waterford Crystal factory. Cunningham said, “it is our flagship industry and our main manufacturer and employer within the city.
“It is still wholly Irish-owned, even though it went through a period of reorganization. What the company did was diversify and widen the range of glass which they produce. Waterford Crystal now produces principally three types of glass. Obviously the classic cut which has a huge input and is produced totally within Waterford.
“The other range is the Marquis range, which would be a slightly less expensive range of crystal, and is proving to be extremely popular and a lot of it is produced in Eastern Europe.
“The third range, which is a range of cut crystal has recently been developed by John Rocha, who is a fashion designer who was born in Hong Kong but is Irish-based and has proven to be a huge bonus for Waterford Crystal, going from strength-to-strength.”
Waterford has been chosen as a “gateway city” for the southeast region and has been designated for major infrastructure development. As a result, there has been substantial development and reconstruction of a portal terminal slightly down the river from the inner city.
Also planned is a new bypass and motorway to connect Dublin, Ireland’s capital with Waterford. “Over the next 10 years, we’ll see an enormous amount of activity in terms of capital projects within the environs of Waterford City to reinforce its status as a ‘gateway city’,” said Cunningham.
As a “gateway city,” Waterford has always had a thriving port and now it principally handles bulk goods such as timber, fertilizers and such. It is the second largest container port in the country, dealing primarily with mainland Europe.
Waterford is one of only two centres in the world that produces what is called “the essence of Guinness.” Guinness is sold worldwide to over 150 countries and “the essence of Guinness” is the raw material from which the pint of stout is produced.
Cunningham said, “the essence is a secret formula and historically always has been, but it is obviously made from malted barley, which is produced in only two centres in the world. One being the headquarters of Guinness in Dublin, St. James’s Gate and the other centre is Waterford.
“Guinness has recently invested EU40 million, of which I think the equivalent would be US$40 million in the Waterford plant. I think this is a huge compliment to the management and staff. It demonstrates the confidence which the management worldwide has validated an investment of that magnitude.
“Guinness would not be one of our larger employers because the process now is highly specialized and governed to a huge degree by technology and modern brewing and milling techniques, it would be classed as high-end jobs,” according to Cunningham.
Waterford has specifically geared itself towards high end jobs and is specializing in third level white collar and high technology jobs, particularly through the Waterford Institute of Technology, which is the largest institute of technology in Ireland.
Mayor Cunningham also pointed out that in 2005, Waterford will be hosting the first leg of the tall ships race. The inner port of Waterford will play host to approximately 110 three and four-masted sailing ships. He said, “the largest sailing ships in the world will be coming from Chile, Japan, Russia and all of the European countries. Most of them have accepted our invitation to come to Waterford for one week in July 2005. Very few ports in the world could take that number of vessels right into the heart of the city.”
Another major coup for the city, and one which fills the Waterford mayor with pride, is that his city will host the senior conference meeting of the enlarged European ministers for the environment. This is in light of the fact that this year the EU is enlarging to 25 member states from its current membership of 15 and that enlargement is due to take place on May 1 this year.
Speaking about St. Patrick’s Day events in Waterford, Mayor Cunningham said, “we will have our traditional parade and we generally welcome dignitaries and visitors from our sister cities of Rochester and St. John’s, Newfoundland. The city hosts them to a gala dinner and the day is celebrated in much the same way as in other parts of Ireland.”
In closing, the Mayor of Waterford said, “I would like to invite any of your readers who have not been to Waterford yet to please do so, and to those that have, please come back early and come back often.”
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For more information about the historic city of Waterford visit: www.waterfordcity.com or Tourism Ireland. Call toll-free at: 1-800-223-6470.
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