Overview
The black-and-white front of the Old Market House closes off the view at the end of Dungarvan’s Main Street, and the ground you’re standing on to look at it, the old Market Place, was once where the town carried out public executions. The building itself went up as a market house – an open arcade below for trade, the corporation’s chambers above – and it has cycled through several lives since. Today it holds a gallery, the Waterford County Museum and the public library, all free to go into, which makes it a reliable stop when the weather turns in Dungarvan.
A building with layers of history
There was civic use on this site by 1641, when a deed records a courthouse here, and a 1610 charter had already ordered the corporation to build a stone guild hall. For much of its life it worked as a market house, butter traded under the arcade and the town’s business done overhead – the two roles, commerce and governance, sharing one roof as they did across Irish market towns. By the mid-19th century the Duke of Devonshire owned it; Griffith’s Valuation of 1851 lists the Market House and its butter-crane. The Duke sold it with the rest of his Dungarvan estate in 1861 to John R. Dower, and around 1868 Robert A. Merry took it on as a wine store and offices.
The darker chapters play out at the front of the building. In 1642, during Lord Inchiquin’s occupation, the parish priest John Clancy and his curate Edmond Hore were put to death in the Market Place. In 1799 the United Irishman Edmond Power was hanged from a front window; the centre’s multi-purpose room, the Seomra de Paor, is named for him. The building was reconstructed in 1984 to house the library and museum, and reopened as the Old Market House Arts Centre on 10 April 2000, opened by the Minister for the Arts, Síle de Valera.
What to see & do
Gallery
The ground-floor gallery runs rotating shows of contemporary Irish painting, photography and craft, often with an artist talk alongside. A recent one was Bernard van Giessen’s Local Land, colour and black-and-white photographs of the farmland and fields around Dungarvan. It’s worth checking the current programme before you come, since the space changes over regularly.
Waterford County Museum
The museum is the reason most people go up the stairs. Its collections run to local prehistory and archaeology, and a maritime section that reflects Dungarvan’s fishing past – harbour maps, lifeboat models and the story of the 1895 Moresby disaster – alongside social history of the local estates and a small hands-on area for children.
Library
The public library has a quiet reading room, free Wi-Fi and a good local-history section, and hosts craft classes, readings and outreach through the year.
Practical information
Opening hours
The gallery, museum and library each keep their own hours, so time your visit to whichever you’re after – and note that both the gallery and museum are shut on Sundays, and the museum on Saturdays too.
Gallery
- Tuesday–Friday: 11:00 – 17:00 (closed for lunch 13:30 – 14:30)
- Saturday: 13:00 – 17:00
- Sunday & Monday: Closed
Waterford County Museum
- Monday–Friday: 10:00 – 17:00
- Saturday & Sunday: Closed
Library
- Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday: 10:00 – 17:00
- Thursday: 10:00 – 13:00 (community groups), 13:00 – 20:00 (public)
- Monday & Sunday: Closed
Admission & contact
Entry is free. For exhibition or booking enquiries, phone +353 58 48944 or email artscentre@waterfordcoco.ie. The address is Lower Main Street, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford.
Accessibility & parking
The building is wheelchair accessible, with a lift to the upper floors. There’s street parking and public car parks around Market Place and Lower Main Street; spaces fill fast in summer and during festivals, so arrive early.
Exploring the surrounding area
The Old Market House is a short walk from the rest of Dungarvan’s centre:
- Dungarvan Castle – A 13th-century Norman keep with guided tours and views over the harbour.
- Market Place & town centre – Independent shops and cafés along walkable, part-pedestrianised streets, best seen on foot.
Allow an hour or two for the museum and library, then step back out into the Market Place for a coffee or a walk along the harbour.