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heritage · Wednesday 19 August 2026 · 1:00pm 
A Day in the Life of a Georgian Lady
At Bishop's Palace · The Mall, Waterford, Co. Waterford
At Bishop's Palace · The Mall, Waterford, Co. Waterford
Dress and social historian Dr Melissa Shiels leads a 90 minute presentation at the Bishop’s Palace in Waterford on Wednesday, 19 August 2026, tracing the outfits a Georgian lady would have worn through a single day in the 1780s. The talk is part of the Waterford Treasures Heritage Week programme and takes place inside the Bishop’s Palace, an eighteenth century townhouse that is itself furnished in the Georgian style the lecture describes. Tickets cost €5 and go toward the museum’s Conservation Fund.
Dr Shiels walks the audience through a Georgian woman’s wardrobe from first light to evening, starting with grooming routines and the layers worn beneath a gown, moving on to morning dress, day wear for social calls, and the formal clothing kept for evening engagements. The presentation draws on the Bishop’s Palace’s own period rooms and its collection of Georgian era furniture and silver as visual reference points, so the talk is grounded in objects the audience can see around them rather than slides alone. It closes with a practical demonstration of eighteenth century tea etiquette, a ritual that structured much of a Georgian lady’s afternoon and came with its own strict rules of pouring, holding a cup and making conversation. Advance booking is recommended since capacity in the Palace’s period rooms is limited, and the talk tends to draw a full room during Heritage Week.
The Bishop’s Palace stands on the Mall in Waterford’s Viking Triangle, within walking distance of the Quay, Reginald’s Tower and the rest of the Waterford Treasures museum quarter. Waterford city centre is compact, and Plunkett rail station and the main bus depot are both a short walk away.
The Bishop’s Palace sits alongside the Medieval Museum and Reginald’s Tower in the city’s museum quarter, so a visit can easily be paired with the rest of Waterford’s Viking and medieval sites on the same afternoon. There is more to see and do in Waterford and across Co. Waterford.
Heading to Bishop's Palace in Waterford? Waterford has plenty more to see. Read the Waterford area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.