Waterford and Newfoundland

The following extract is taken from the Stellar Project, which was undertaken by the Edmund Rice Primary School.

There are very strong historical. social, and cultural links between the Waterford region and Newfoundland,Canada. These links go back many centuries, mainly due to the fishing grounds situated off the coast of Newfoudland. In fact the Irish for "Newfoundland" is "Talamh on Éisc", which literally means the "Fishing Grounds". Fishing has played a signifiant part in the economic development of both countries but has shown a considerable decline in recent years in both areas, due to over fishing by large 'Factory ' ships from the continent of Europe.

Are you aware that practically all of the relatives of Irish Newfoundlanders came from Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny area in Ireland. The accent of downtown St. John's today is said to sound like that of a Waterford accent in Ireland. Mr. O'Neachtain told us that he thought the accent in some parts of Newfoundland was very like a Wexford accent. We watched a video about the people in Newfoundland made by RTE television about twenty five years ago called "The Forgotten Irish" . Brother Murphy who visited us had a strange accent. He even says "Well. boy", which is what you would hear in Waterford Ireland.You would not think that the people were from Canada. Irish music is very popular over there as well. Irishmen went over there on fishing boats from the 17th century onwards to prosecute the salt cod-fishing industry.

It would have taken about two months to sail over there in them days. The water around Newfoundland is freezing and fishing was a tough life as you had to pull in the nets by hand.They were tough men in them days.Waterford businessmen like John Kent, the second Prime Minister of Newfoundland, and who established businesses at St. John's,arranged ships that brought thousands of Waterford people across the Atlantic to Newfoundland. First only the men went during the fishing season but they got fed up making the long journey back and forth across the

Atlantic so they then brought over their families and they settled in small fishing villages around the coast of the island. They brought with them their customs, their music and songs , which remain on the island to this very day.

Another Waterford businessman named, Sweetman, who also ran a business at Placentia, Newfoundland in the last century, transported several thousand Irish people from Waterford and surrounding area to the Placentia-St. Mary's Bay areas. In fact, the connection between St. John's and Waterford, Ireland was so strong that many parents of Irish origin, though their children were baptised at St. John's had them entered into the records of St. Patrick's Church, Waterford, Ireland.

The English merchants travelling to Newfoundland normally called to Waterford, on their way to fish off The Grand Banks of Newfoundland and along the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. At Waterford, these merchants had warehouses and took on supplies before crossing under sail, the Atlantic Ocean every May or June.Jacob's,famous in Ireland for their biscuits set up their first factory in waterford. They made their money from developing a special "Ship's biscuit" which would not go soft on a long voyage.

There were Waterford merchants engaged in the fishery too. John Kent is said to have brought several thousand Irishmen to St. John's as immigrants. He had businesses at Waterford and at St. John's simultaneously. John Kent was the second Prime Minister of Newfoundland which received representative government in 1834 and Responsible Government in 1855. He was impeached by Governor Hoyles, an embittered English bureaucrat not willing to have a Roman Catholic P.M., here. Another Anglo-Irish Waterford merchant, Sweetland, brought about 3,000 Irish immigrants to Placentia, Newfoundland to settle there after the French had been driven out. Placentia, roughly 75 miles from St. John's was the old French capital of Newfoundland in the 17th century.

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The Quay to Waterford's success

Waterford's Quays have always been an important part of the city. They are a mile long, making them the longest street in Waterford.

In the early 1700s, the council decided to demolish the city walls facing the river. They used the remains of the walls to widen the quays and open them up for more commerce. More merchants settled in Waterford, as trade boomed and diversified. Waterford became a leading producer and exporter of bacon. Trade in butter and corn was also important and large stores were built along the Quays.

Markets grew in the area selling hay and straw, potatoes, fresh fish and vegetables. By the end of the eighteenth century, trade with Newfoundland, a large island off the east coast of North America that now makes up part of Cananda, was increasing in importance.

Nearly seventy boats sailed over and back from Newfoundland every year with about 5,000 people travelling from Waterford and the adjoining areas. As a direct result of the trade in the Port, many new jobs were created in the city. Goods were deposited along the quays before there were cars or trucks, so many people were needed to offload, upload and transport the produce around the quays.

Shipbuilding was also a major industry in Waterford City between 1820 and 1882. White's Shipyard and Malcomson's Ironworks Shipyard were the most prominent.

By 1929 the chief imports into Waterford were coal, maize, artificial manure, flour, cement, sugar and wheat. The chief exports were timber, oats, bacon, butter and livestock. The harbour was greatly improved in the 1950s. During the 1940s and 1950s coal, grain and timber were imported by ship.

In the 1960s and 1970s, cattle boats were regularly seen on the quays. Bell Lines Ltd. operated a successful container business on the Ferrybank side of the harbour for many years. In 1992, the Port was moved to Belview, a new location 4 kilometres downstream from the city on the northern bank of the river.

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The Blue Plaque Trail: Waterford - Nefoundland

Trade between Waterford and Newfoundland was of prime importance in the development of the city in the eighteenth century. By 1770 this route absorbed between 10% and 15% of the city's exports. Waterford merchants provisioned English ships sailing from Bristol and the West Country ports to Newfoundland for the fishing season and Waterford people migrated there also in search of employment. Thousands from Waterford and the south east traveled to fish the Grand Banks from the second half of the eighteenth century. In time many of those who worked on the fisheries became permanent settlers and by the beginning of the nineteenth century Newfoundland was referred to as 'merely Waterford parted by the sea.'

Waterford Civic Trust has installed numerous Blue Plaques in the city to commemorate a link between a particular location and a famous person or event.

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Waterford Watercolours: The Granville Hotel

Residence of the Quans and Meaghers, families who made their fortune in the provision trade between Waterford and Newfoundland. Thomas Meagher became in 1843 the first Catholic mayor of Waterford since the Reformation and his son Thomas Francis Meagher, republican leader in 1848 and a general in the American Civil War, was born here in 1823. The house was bought by the stage-coach impresario Charles Bianconi, and as Cummins Hotel became an important terminus in his coaching network.

This painting is part of a collection of watercolours of Waterford by local artist John O'Regan, commissioned by Waterford Civic Trust and sponsored by local bodies and companies. This particular painting was sponsored by the Granville Hotel.

The watercolours were published in a diary for 1992,'93 and '94 after which they were donated to the municipal art collection of Waterford City Council.

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