THE DISTILLING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 497 



ments working at Comber, County Down, owned by the Comber Distilleries. 

 Company, and of the two buildings one was originally a brewery and 

 the other a paper mill until 1825, when distilling was started in both 

 establishments. The two distilleries in Londonderry, one of which dates 

 back to the eighteenth century, are owned by Mr. Watt, and Messrs. Young, 

 King and Co. have a distillery in Limavady. Then there is the Bushmills 

 Distillery already mentioned as famous for being the most ancient in 

 Ireland ; it and the Coleraine Distillery, owned by the representatives of 

 the late Sir Robert Taylor, are remarkable as being the only " All Malt "' 

 distilleries in Ireland. 



Almost midway between Belfast and Dublin there is another well-known 

 distillery at Dundalk. owned by Messrs. Malcolm, Brown and Co., which 

 dates back to the eighteenth century. According to the statistical records, 

 of Dundalk this Distillery, as far back as the year 1837, employed lOO men 

 and used 40,000 barrels of grain. 



Cork is another important centre of the distilling trade, and the Cork 

 Distillers Company includes three distinct distilleries. One of these is the 

 North Mall Distillery, which was erected by Mr. Wyse in 1779. The second 

 establishment is the Middleton distillery, which is situated some thirteen 

 miles from the City of Cork ; the buildings were originally used for a woollen 

 manufactory, then as barracks, and, finally, they were converted into a distil- 

 lery sliortly after 1825. The third distillery, known as the Watercourse, 

 has not been worked since 1876, but is held as a stand-by. There are two 

 other distilleries in the County of Cork, one in Bandon owned by Messrs. 

 Allman and Co., who fitted up the present distillery about th year 1826, 

 and one situated at Kilnap, owned by the Glen Distillery Company, which 

 was started about twenty-five years ago. Another distillery n the South of 

 Ireland worthy of note is the Limerick Distillery, owned by Mr. Walker, 

 and situated within a few hundred yards of the famous treaty stone. 

 The Nun's Island Distillery in Galway, owned by Mr. H. S. Persse, was 

 purchased by the father of the present proprietor in the year 1840, and is 

 remarkable as being the only distillery in Connaught. 



With the exception of the Bishop's Water Distillery in Wexford, which 

 w^as erected in the year 1827 and which is owned by Messrs. Nicholas 

 Devereux and Co., the other provincial distilleries are all situated in the 

 Midlands. Thus in Monasterevan there is Mr. Cassidy's Distillery which 

 w-as built as far back as 1784. and which belongs to the proprietor of the 

 Monasterevan Brewery mentioned in the preceding article. Mr. Daly's 

 Distillery in Tullamore, was founded in the year 1829, and the Brusna 

 Distillery at Kilbeggan, owned by Messrs. John Locke and Co., was estab- 

 lished in the }/ear 1750, and so, as already mentioned, disputes with the 

 Bushmills Distillery the distinction of being the oldest established distillery 

 in Ireland ; wliilst the Birr Distillery, owned by Messrs. R. and J. Wallace, 

 was founded in the year 1805. 



The histor)' of distilling as applied to fermented liquors so far as the 

 LTnited Kingdom is concerned, is, like the history of 

 Taxation and brewing, inseparably connected with questions of 

 Production. taxation ; indeed but for this fact it would be well- 



nigh impossible to trace the gradual development of 

 the distiUing industry. As already mentioned, even before the Restoration 

 taxes were levied upon the distilHng industry, and in 1660 a duty was 

 imposed on British spirits, which amounted in Ireland to /[d. per gallon, and 



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