Dungarvan's Irish name means 'Garbhann's fort', referring to Saint Garbhann who founded a church there in the seventh century.[5] The town had a population of 10,081 at the 2022 census, making it the third most populous in the county.[1]
Dungarvan is situated at the mouth of the Colligan River, which divides the town into two parishes - that of Dungarvan to the west, and that of Abbeyside to the east. These parishes are connected in three places by a causeway and single-span bridge built by the Dukes of Devonshire starting in 1801;[6] by an old railway bridge; and by a ring-road causeway and bridge.
History
Dungarvan Castle dates to at least the early 13th centuryFood riot in Dungarvan during the Great Famine. (The Pictorial Times, 1846)
Evidence of ancient settlement in the Dungarvan area includes standing stone, ringfort, bullaun and reputed paleolithic burial sites in the surrounding townlands, including in Luskanargid, Kilgreany, Kilrush and Mapestown.[7][8] Several sources propose that the town is of Viking origin,[9] and evidence of Hiberno-Norse settlement in the area dates to at least the 10th century.[10]
The Anglo-NormanDungarvan Castle, commissioned in the late 12th or early 13th century by King John of England,[11] stands by the harbour on the site of an earlier (possibly Hiberno-Norse) fortification.[12] The structure of Dungarvan Castle, including a shell keep of a type atypical in Ireland, dates to c.1209.[11]
A 13th century Augustinian abbey, now the site of Saint Augustine's Catholic Church (built 1832), was founded by Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald (c.1145–1213).[13][14] The remains of another 13th century church, on the opposite side of the harbour, are similarly found on the grounds of Saint Mary's church (built 1831).[15]
As of the 2011 census, approximately 3% of the town's population, or 242 persons were then daily Irish speakers, outside of the education system.[21] Irish language immersion education is available at pre-school and primary school level in Dungarvan's Gaelscoil, Scoil Garbhán. The Irish Language Officer of Waterford City and County Council is based in Dungarvan.
There are a range of activities and projects undertaken to strengthen the Irish language in the town. An Irish in Business award was established in 2009 to recognise businesses in Dungarvan and West Waterford who work to promote the Irish language.[22]
The town is home to an office of Glór na nGael, a national body that promotes the Irish language in three areas, the language in the family, in Business and enterprise, and community development. The Dungarvan office is responsible for Glór na nGael's work across South Leinster and most of Munster.[23]
Dungarvan is situated at the mouth of the Colligan River. Dungarvan Harbour as such is formed by The Quay (on the town side) and The Causeway. A single-span bridge was built in the late 18th century by Lord Devonshire to link Dungarvan with Abbeyside and indeed Waterford via said causeway. Outside the harbour, a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) sandbar, "The Cunnigar" (Irish An Coinigéar) defines the western limit of the 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) wide Dungarvan Bay. The Cunnigar encloses the estuary of the River Brickey which flows out to sea at Abbeyside without actually joining the Colligan. The two estuaries are separated by "The Point".
A friary in Abbeyside, founded by the Augustinians in the 13th century, is partially incorporated with the structure of a 20th-century Roman Catholic church. One of the most significant colleges in the town was also founded by these Augustinians, whose order remains active locally and maintains a parish church nearer to Main Street.[26]
Toponymy
In everyday local usage, "Dungarvan" is taken to refer to the western, more commercial half of the town, where the administrative buildings and shopping areas are situated.[27]
The town is separated from the open ocean by a shallow, eastward-facing bay. At its mouth, the bay is about two miles wide, with Dungarvan lying about four miles from the mouth. A meandering navigation channel marked by red/green buoys leads into Dungarvan from the ocean. For most vessels (except small dinghies) this channel is not navigable at low tide. Even at high tide, cruising yachts and larger vessels must be careful to remain in the buoyed channel. There is a concrete slipway in Dungarvan town, suitable for launching vessels up to eight metres in length.[citation needed]
Bus
Dungarvan is served by several bus routes. The Cork to LondonEurolines coach, which provides a daily overnight cross channel service, stops at Dungarvan.[citation needed]Bus Éireann Expressway route number 40 runs hourly in each direction providing a link to Cork, Waterford and Rosslare Europort. Bus Éireann's route number 362 also provides a commuter link to Waterford. Several Local Link bus services terminate in the town, including the service to Tallow via Lismore.[28] Dublin Coach serve the town on its M9 Cork to Dublin route via Waterford, passing through every two hours.
GlaxoSmithKline's consumer products division has a manufacturing plant in Dungarvan which, as of 2011, employed approximately 700 people.[40] The town is also the home of Radley Engineering, the company responsible for manufacturing the Spire of Dublin.[41]
Dungarvan previously had a tannery, a distillery, a gasworks, and a fishing fleet. In the later 20th century, a source of trade and employment was Dungarvan Cooperative (creamery), which connected the town of Dungarvan with its agricultural hinterland.[citation needed]
Mercyhurst University (MU), located in Erie, has hosted a bi-annual Global Intelligence Forum in Dungarvan.[44][45][46] Each spring, MU students and faculty also spend a term in Dungarvan as part of MU's 'study abroad' scheme.[47] MU's base in Dungarvan includes its European Centre for Intelligence Research, Analytics and Training.[48]
Entente Florale
Dungarvan participated in the 2018 Entente Florale competition, organised by the European Association for Flowers and Landscape (AEFP), and received a silver medal.[49]
The British poet laureate, Sir John Betjeman (who lived in Ireland from 1941 to 1943) mentions Dungarvan in his poem, "The Irish Unionist's Farewell to Greta Hellstrom". Each stanza closes with the line, "Dungarvan in the rain". Irish poet Mai O'Higgins was born on Saint Mary Street in the town centre.[51]
Dungarvan is referred to in the collection of short stories Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges: In The Shape of the Sword,[52] the protagonist notes, "He was Irish, from Dungarvan. Having said this, he stopped short, as if he had revealed a secret". Dungarvan is also mentioned in the 2002 novel The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor.[citation needed]
^Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee Report 2013p. 124: The new local electoral area in the west of the county acknowledges the position and status of Dungarvan, which is currently the 'county' town of Waterford County Council and has a town council.
^Curtis, E (1929). "Sheriff's accounts of the house of Dungarvan, Twescard in Ulster and of County Waterford, 1261-63". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 39C: 1–17.
^Bradley, J.; Halpin, A.; King, H (1989). Urban archaeology Survey of Waterford City and County. Office of Public Works. pp. 34–40. An Augustinian abbey was founded c. 1290 by Thomas Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald. By the Suppression in 1541 it served as a parish church and it was in ruins by 1654 [..] The tower is incorporated into the modern St Augustine's RC church which is built on the site of the N transept
^"Irish Language"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015. GRADAM GNÓ NA nDÉISE Irish in Business Awards 2016 - Waterford City and County Council
^"Gaeltacht Service Towns". Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. 3 December 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
^"Post 2002 figures include environs of Dungarvan". Archived from the original on 20 September 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2009. For a discussion on the accuracy of pre-famine census returns see J. J. Lee "On the accuracy of the pre-famine Irish censuses" in Irish Population, Economy and Society edited by JM Goldstrom and LA Clarkson (1981) p54, and also "New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700–1850" by Joel Mokyr and Cormac Ó Gráda in The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Nov. 1984), pp. 473–488
^Commissioners appointed to inquire into the municipal corporations in Ireland (1835). "Dungarvan". Appendix to the First Report, Part I: Southern, midland, western and south-eastern circuits, and part of the north-eastern circuit. Command papers. Vol. 27. HMSO. p. 64. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
^City and County of Waterford Local Electoral Areas and Municipal Districts Order 2018 (S.I. No. 635 of 2018). Signed on 19 December 2018. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Archived from the original on 23 January 2020. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 5 October 2022.
^"There's no holding her back". independent.ie. Independent News & Media. 10 August 2008. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
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