Waterford City's Ancient Walls
Founded by the Vikings between 856 and 914 the city of Waterford is over 1000 years old. The city was fortified from an early date and the annals of Ireland mention the existence of a dun or fort at Waterford in 1088. The remains of a stone built Viking Age gateway that once stood at the top of Peter Street was uncovered in 1989.
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The city's Hiberno-Norse defences feature prominently in Gerald of Wales' account of the Anglo-Norman capture of the city in 1170. He tells us that Raymond Le Gros, an Anglo-Norman knight who commanded the besiegers, noticed "a small building" (possibly a look-out tower) "overhanging the city wall supported on the outside by a beam.
Upon attack, the building collapsed, and with it a considerable part of the wall. The invaders rushed into the city and won a most bloody victory. Within a few decades of the Anglo-Norman invasion, a major wall building programme was begun.
King John extended the city to the west with at least three new gates being built on the circuit before 1212. Murage Grants were given to the City Council during the 13th century giving it permission to collect special taxes for the building and repair of the city walls. In the late 12th and 13th centuries the suburbs were occupied by the Anglo-Norman settlers. By the end of the middle ages a complete circuit of stone walls and towers existed.
However
even when the suburbs were enclosed the line of wall and gates which
divided the old Viking city from the Anglo-Norman suburbs remained
intact, acting throughout the medieval period as a double line of
defence. Developments towards the end of the 15th century resulted
in the building of additional fortifications and the modification
of existing structures to enable them to accommodate cannon.
As the use of cannon became more sophisticated, town walls,
like the castles of the great lords, became redundant. In the
late 17th and early 18th centuries the medieval gates to the
city were seen as a hindrance to development and their destruction
began as early as 1695. By 1705 the wall running along the Quays
was demolished. Fortunately six towers and large sections of
city wall remain today.
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