486 THE BREWING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 



The Limerick Collection District. 



The next largest Collection District — Limerick— contains three breweries, 

 one in Clonmel, one in Carrick-on-Suir, and one in Rathdowney. 

 The Clonmel Brewery, which is owned by Messrs. Thomas Murphy and Co., 



Ltd., was first built in 1798 upon a most substantial 

 Clonmel. basis, and was enlarged from time to time to keep pace 



with the increased demand resulting from a growth 

 of popularity. In 1829 it was destroyed by fire, and was rebuilt in 

 the castellated style in which it is now seen. From that period to the 

 present day improvements have been introduced into the several depart- 

 ments to keep pace with the progress of inventive skill, and as a result the 

 brewery is splendidly organised and equipped. There are three large 

 malting houses. A portion of the supply of barley is procured in the local 

 market, but the greater part is brought from the Cashel, Horse and Jockey, 

 and Thurles districts. Messrs. Thomas Murphy and Co., Ltd., are ale, stout, 

 and porter brewers, and employ about 200 hands. Besides their own imme- 

 diate locality their business extends over the entire County of Tipperary, 

 Waterford, Kilkenny, Cork, Limerick, Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, and the 

 City of Belfast, and they also do an export business with England and Wales. 

 The casks are made on the premises, and the department from which 

 they are turned out contains a fine saw miH, and is not the least interesting of 

 the features of the brewery. At the Dublin Artisans' Exhibition in 1885, 

 a first class certificate was awarded for the excellence of the cooper work 

 sent from this establishment. There is also a department for building 

 floats, carts, and cars of the regulation pattern. The water for brewing is 

 obtained from two artesian wells, one seventy feet, and the other thirty feet 

 deep, and high pressure water supplied by the Corporation from a source 

 about three miles distant from Clonmel. Within the recollection of one of 

 the present directors, two breweries in Clonmel, one in Clogheen, three in 

 Limerick, and one in Tralee were closed. 



There is a very old established brewery in Carrick-on-Suir, of which 

 Messrs. Richard Feehan and Sons are the proprietors. 

 Carrick-on-Suir. They brew ales, porter, and stout, and do a consider- 

 able trade in ales. Nothing but malt and hops are 

 used, and the firm make all their own malt, and purchase all their barley 

 locally, principally from the farmers upon the County Kilkenny side, except 

 a little foreign barley which they mix with the home barley for the produc- 

 tion of their light ales. They have a wholesale whiskey business in con- 

 nection with the brewery. Their business is personally superintended by 

 Mr. R. B. Feehan, a thoroughly practical brewer who obtained his experience 

 in England. 



The Brewery in Rathdowney which is owned by Messrs. Robert Perry and 



Son, Ltd., Brewers and Maltsters, dates back to the 



Rathdowney. early part of the last century, when it was founded 



by a member of the Perry family, who have since 



carried it on. The firm was registered in 1877 as a Limited Company under 



its present title. The business has been steadily progressive, and gives 



