A round 13th-century tower dominating Waterford's quayside, it is Ireland's oldest civic building, in continuous use for over 800 years and the only Irish monument to keep its Viking name.
A spiral staircase winds up through 16m of thick wall to the top floors. The uneven 'stumble steps' are all different heights, and the right-handed turn was designed so a defender above could swing a sword but an attacker climbing could not.
Two floors hold one branch of the Waterford Museum of Treasures, focused on the town's Viking heritage: the Woodstown Viking sword, the silver kite brooch with gold foil and amethyst glass, a rare 12th-century dog collar, bone gaming pieces and a decorated lead weight.
The tower's arched window openings were later widened to take cannon after Perkin Warbeck's 1495 attack. Look at the outer wall for a cannonball lodged there during Cromwell's 1649-50 siege, and at the heavy iron prison door of 1819.
Standing 16m high and 13m across, the tower was the apex of Waterford's Viking Triangle and the strongest point of the medieval walls. Of the 23 towers and gate-houses that once protected the city, it is the only one still standing intact.
The other Waterford Treasures museums - the Medieval Museum and the Bishop's Palace - plus the House of Waterford Crystal and the ruined Franciscan friary of Greyfriars (the French Church), about 0.1 km away, are all a few minutes on foot. Ask at the desk for a map of the city's medieval gates and towers.
Load the interactive map to explore this place location.
