Reginald's Tower

Reginald's Tower
	Reginald's Tower in Waterford
Alternative name (s):	Dundory Tower, Ring Tower, Túr Raghnaill
Creation time :	13./14. century
Castle type :	Location
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	Viking needle
Construction:	Quarry stone
Place:	Waterford
Geographical location	52 ° 15 '37.7 " N , 7 ° 6' 19.5" W Coordinates: 52 ° 15 '37.7 " N , 7 ° 6' 19.5" W.
Height:	7 m ASL

Reginald's Tower ( Irish Túr Raghnaill ) is a historic round tower in Waterford in Ireland's County Waterford . It is located at the eastern end of the city quay . Over the centuries the tower has served many different purposes. It is an important landmark, an important remnant of the medieval city fortifications and is considered a national monument . It is the oldest civil building in Ireland and the only urban monument in Ireland that still bears his old Norse or Viking name.

history

11th to 13th centuries

Reginald's Tower was built by the Anglo-Normans in the 11th century after their conquest of Waterford, replacing an older Viking fortification. The name of the tower is derived from the Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Raghnall . This in turn is a Gaelic form of the Old Norse Røgnvaldr . The name of the tower seems to refer to one of the city's many Viking rulers who bore this name. One possibility is that it is referring to Ragnall mac Gillemaire , the last Irish-Nordic ruler of the city. The current tower was probably built in the 13th or 14th century; it could have been made between 1253 and 1290. In 1185 Prince John of England landed at Waterford and organized the reconstruction of the city fortifications, including the tower.

The tower is 16.2 meters high; its floor plan is round. It is 12.75 meters in diameter and has a conical roof. A spiral staircase leads up in the thick wall; the walls are 3 meters thick at the base and taper towards the top to 2.1 meters thick. The tower was part of the old city walls of Waterford and forms the point of a triangle, the other two points of which are the Turgesius Tower on Barronstand Street and St. Martin's Castle on Lady Lane . The tower is strategically placed on a hill between an arm of the St. John's River (now drained and called The Mall ) to the southeast and the Suir River to the north. It is also close to the historic French Church . This place is sometimes referred to as Dundory (English: oak fort ) and so the tower is also called Dundory Tower . Another name is Ring Tower . Reginald's Tower is one of seventeen towers that surrounded the city of Waterford in the Middle Ages. Today it is the largest of the six remaining towers, which are considered the finest examples of medieval fortifications in Ireland. The other towers still standing are the Watch Tower, Double Tower, French Tower, Semi-Lunar Tower and Beach Tower .

13th to 18th centuries

The tower served as a mint , prison, and military warehouse. There the wedding of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , and Aoife (pronounced: Iefe ), the daughter of Dermot McMurrough , King of Leinster , took place. It served occasionally as a royal castle and King Johann Ohneland visited it in 1210 when he ordered new coins to be minted there. King Richard II of England visited Reginald's Tower in 1394 and then again in 1399. He used the tower as an ammunition store. Richard left Reginald's Tower as King of England and Wales on July 27, 1399 . Upon his arrival in England, he was captured and forced to abdicate at the behest of Henry IV .

In 1463 , coins were minted in Reginald's Tower on the orders of the Irish Parliament , which was then meeting in town for its sessions. The words "Civitas Waterford" were stamped on the edge of the coins. In 1495, the tower's cannons successfully deterred the troops of Perkin Warbeck , the pretender to the throne of Henry VII . The tower's cannons sank one of its ships during an 11-day siege. This was the first successful use of artillery by an Irish city. In 1901 a cannon of this ship was recovered from the Suir River. Waterford owes its motto Urbs Intacta Manet to this victory ( Eng : The city remains unconquered.)

In 1649 Waterford was besieged by the army of the English MP Oliver Cromwell , but this time it could not be captured. The troops returned in 1650 and this time they were successful. A cannonball that was shot down during this siege can still be seen at the top of the wall on the north side of the building.

In 1690, after their defeat at the Battle of the Boyne , King James II of England and James VII of Scotland are believed to have climbed to the top of the tower for one last glimpse of his lost kingdom before settling on the Made way into French exile.

In the 17th and 18th centuries the tower served as an ammunition store. A prison was housed there at the beginning of the 19th century.

19th to 21st century

Reginald's Tower and the town quay in the 1890s

In 1861, Reginald's Tower became the property of the Waterford City Council and became the seat of the Chief Constable of Waterford. It was inhabited until 1954 when it was converted into a museum. During the emergency it had served as an air raid shelter. Today the Waterford Viking Museum is housed there, where many finds from the archaeological digs in Woodstown on the Suir River near the city in 2003 are on display.

The tower is now part of the Waterford Viking Triangle in the city center. A replica of a Viking longship is next to the tower.

Individual evidence

↑ Eamonn McEneaney: Discover Waterford , O'Brien Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-862786-56-4 . P. 70.
^ A. Wilson: The Vikings in Munster . In: Languages, Myhts and Finds . Center of the Study of the Viking Age, University of Nottingham. P. 30. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
^ A. Halpin, C. Newman: Ireland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600 in Oxford Archaeological Guides . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006. ISBN 978-0-19-280671-0 . P. 490.
↑ ^a ^b J. S. Carroll: Decies Journal . XXVI. Summer 1984. pp. 22-27.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Reginald’s Tower . City-guide. Office of Public Works.
^ Charles Smith: The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Waterford . 166, 1746. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
↑ Eamonn McEneaney: Discover Waterford , O'Brien Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-862786-56-4 . Pp. 96-104.
^ Patrick C. Power: A Short History of County Waterford . 1933. p. 20.
^ Patrick C. Power: A Short History of County Waterford . 1933. p. 44.
^ ^A ^b Joseph Walsh: Waterford's Yesterdays and Tomorrows and an Outline of Waterford History . Munster Express, 1968. ISBN 978-0-950205-61-8 . P. 13.
↑ ^a ^b Eamonn McEneaney: Discover Waterford , O'Brien Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-862786-56-4 . P. 72.
^ Joseph Walsh: Waterford's Yesterdays and Tomorrows and an Outline of Waterford History . Munster Express, 1968. ISBN 978-0-950205-61-8 . P. 14.

Web links

Commons : Reginald's Tower - collection of images, videos and audio files

Waterford Treasures website.
National Monuments in State Care - Waterford . March 4, 2009. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
Daniel Maclise: The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife . 1854. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved on May 21, 2019.

[McEneaney70-1] Eamonn McEneaney: Discover Waterford , O'Brien Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-862786-56-4 . P. 70.

[Wilson30-2] A. Wilson: The Vikings in Munster . In: Languages, Myhts and Finds . Center of the Study of the Viking Age, University of Nottingham. P. 30. Retrieved May 21, 2019.

[HalpinNewman490-3] A. Halpin, C. Newman: Ireland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600 in Oxford Archaeological Guides . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006. ISBN 978-0-19-280671-0 . P. 490.

[Carroll2227-4] J. S. Carroll: Decies Journal . XXVI. Summer 1984. pp. 22-27.

[Guide-5] Reginald’s Tower . City-guide. Office of Public Works.

[Smith166-6] Charles Smith: The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Waterford . 166, 1746. Retrieved May 21, 2019.

[McEneaney96104-7] Eamonn McEneaney: Discover Waterford , O'Brien Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-862786-56-4 . Pp. 96-104.

[Power20-8] Patrick C. Power: A Short History of County Waterford . 1933. p. 20.

[Power44-9] Patrick C. Power: A Short History of County Waterford . 1933. p. 44.

[Walsh13-10] A ^b Joseph Walsh: Waterford's Yesterdays and Tomorrows and an Outline of Waterford History . Munster Express, 1968. ISBN 978-0-950205-61-8 . P. 13.

[McEneaney72-11] Eamonn McEneaney: Discover Waterford , O'Brien Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-862786-56-4 . P. 72.

[Walsh14-12] Joseph Walsh: Waterford's Yesterdays and Tomorrows and an Outline of Waterford History . Munster Express, 1968. ISBN 978-0-950205-61-8 . P. 14.