Historic Sites in County Waterford

Four of the twelve sit within a short drive of one another along the Blackwater. St Carthage’s Cathedral occupies the hilltop in Lismore where the saint founded a monastery in 635 AD, though most of what stands was rebuilt from 1663. Three miles upriver at Glencairn, St Mary’s Abbey is an enclosed Trappistine community of 29 nuns, closed to tours but open for the daily liturgy. Dromana House looks over the same river near Cappoquin, and above the town Mount Melleray Abbey sits on the Knockmealdown slopes, its monks gone to Roscrea in January 2025 but its pilgrim paths, tearoom and five Ogham stones still in use.

The rest are coastal or urban. St Declan’s Cathedral stands on the hill above Ardmore, a 30-metre round tower and a roofless cathedral together. In Tramore, Christ Church is a short walk inland from the promenade, with an obelisk in the churchyard to the 363 people drowned in the bay in the 1816 Sea Horse wreck. Waterford City holds two, the roofless French Church in the Viking Triangle and the Holy Ghost Hospital on the Cork Road, and Dungarvan’s Old Market House closes the view at the end of Main Street, free to walk into.

Three need planning. Curraghmore opens Friday to Sunday, May to September only; the French Church is currently listed as closed for maintenance; and Matthewstown passage tomb sits in a working pig farm north of Fenor, so you ring for permission first.