Reginald's Tower (Túr Raghnaill)

A Viking-founded tower guarding Ireland's oldest city.

Marking the tip of Waterford's Viking Triangle, Reginald's Tower is the oldest civic building in Ireland still in use, its circular stone walls raised on the site of a Viking fort of 914. It now houses the city's Viking treasures.

At a glance

• Oldest civic building in Ireland
• On the site of a Viking fort of 914
• Anchors Waterford's Viking Triangle

In County Waterford

Reginald's Tower is in County Waterford, Port Láirge in Irish, which means “Lárag's port / landing place”.

More in Waterford

• An Rinn (Ring) (An Rinn): A small but proud Gaeltacht on the southeast coast, and the main surviving Irish-speaking community in the region.
• The Comeragh Mountains (Na Comaraigh): A plateau of dark cliffs and hidden corrie lakes above the Waterford coast.

Other places of this kind

• The Cliffs of Moher (Aillte an Mhothair): Sea cliffs located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region.
• Newgrange (Sí an Bhrú): A prehistoric monument in County Meath, older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.
• The Giant's Causeway (Clochán an Aifir): Around 40,000 interlocking basalt columns on the Antrim coast, a UNESCO site wrapped in the legend of Finn McCool.
• Glendalough (Gleann Dá Loch): A beautiful glacial valley of two lakes, home to one of Ireland's most important early monastic settlements.
• The Rock of Cashel (Carraig Phádraig): A dramatic outcrop crowned with medieval buildings, once the seat of the kings of Munster.
• Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis): A great early monastery on the banks of the Shannon, once a renowned centre of learning.

The Irish name

The Irish form of Reginald's Tower is Túr Raghnaill. You can hear it spoken, and take apart names like it, in the Placename Explorer. The authoritative record for any Irish place-name is logainm.ie.