A new book by Dermot Power has been released. The book, ‘The Street Where You Live’, is a fantastic insight into Waterford City and the surrounding street names.

Guest Feature: By Dermot Power

I decided to write this book while working in the Local History Department of Waterford City Library , or as many still fondly call it, the Waterford Room.Back in 1990, I was unemployed and applied for a place on a FÁS (An Foras Áiseanna Saothair) scheme, which offered part-time work to those out of a job. That’s how I first found myself in the world of folklore, working with Garter Lane Arts Company here in Waterford. I ended up publishing two small books on traditional Waterford songs, something I’d never have imagined when I started.

A few years later, in 1993–94, I joined the library again as an indexer under another FÁS scheme. When that wrapped up, I stayed on as a local history advisor with the City Library. Those were great years, in August 1997, the Waterford Room even won the Cablelink Customer Service Award. By the following year, The Library Council (An Comhairle Leabharlanna) had named it an area of excellence within the Irish library service. We were thrilled, of course, but mostly proud to see local history getting that kind of recognition.

The idea for the book came from the constant stream of people who got in touch , often descendants of Waterford families scattered across the world. They’d write or call looking for any trace of the streets their ancestors once lived on.

With the help of my colleague Michael O’Sullivan, I started pulling together a list of old Waterford City streets, drawing from every source we had, maps, books, directories, and stacks of old newspapers. At first it was just a reference list, but the deeper we went, the more stories began to surface.

Each name carried a bit of the city’s character, some tied to local families or trades, others to events long forgotten. The more we uncovered, the more it felt like walking through time.

So this book became something bigger: a map of memory. A way to connect Waterford’s past and present, and to help anyone , whether they live here or half a world away , find a piece of their own story in it.

It’s for the people of Waterford, wherever they are now, and for everyone who believes that local history matters, because it does.

I hope you enjoy my book.

Dermot Power