The first indication that Birr/ Parsonstown (as often called in the 19th cent.) had used gas to illuminate the town during the dark winter months was an editorial comment that appeared in the King’s County Chronicle of January 9 1850[1] that extolled how the use of portable gas had made the town safer to move around at night.
Much has been written about the changing face of Offaly towns in the 1900-23 period and the same can be said for the period from the mid-1990s to 2007. For towns such as Tullamore the recession lasted up to about 2017 and since then building has improved. The former Tea/ ‘Tay’ Lane, later called O’Connell St (from Stella Press to the canal bank), saw change in the 1950s with the demolition of the old Tea Lane houses. Next came the new wine warehouse for D.E. Williams (now Offaly History Centre, also in the early 1950s), followed by the new Irish Mist warehouses in the early 1970s and early 1980s. This was followed in 1982 by the opening of the Quinnsworth supermarket on part of the Williams ‘yard’ behind the head office of that company. Three years later, in 1985 the Irish Mist bottling facility was sold to C&C and the business transferred to Clonmel with the loss of up to 75 local jobs. Urban renewal tax relief in the late 1980s and early 1990s saw two blocks built close to the lane and off Kilbride Street by M/s Forrestal and Walsh for use as shops and apartments. (Chipland, florist etc).
In a departure from the Gibney plan the town council sold sites in nearby St Kyran Street for offices and apartments as part of the urban renewal scheme. About 1994 the large carpark was developed by the council from lands that had been set aside for the Kilbride park and playground. The year 1995 saw the conversion of the 1929 large Williams oats store to a department store by Tom McNamara. By 2007 the entire area was sold to an investment company for about €50 million with full planning for a supermarket and shops granted in 2009. Alas it was too late as the recession was developing and Ireland (outside of Dublin) did not recover for up to ten years. It was a case of ten years of plenty (the Tiger Years) followed by ten desperately lean years. Covid came next in 2020—21 and it was 2022–3 before the kettle was on the boil again in Tea Lane. Aldi demolished the Irish Mist warehouses and, at a cost of perhaps €1 million. the old 1929 store and former Texas shop that had been opened to great fanfare in 1995.
Commerce, community, and creativity are all part of the weave.
Golden, sophisticated, with a dash of mystery Irish Mist occupies a special place in the history of Irish distilling.
Ireland’s legendary liqueur might well be described as the accidental offspring of Tullamore Dew.
First produced in 1947 in response to the urgent need to make economic use of excess stock of whiskey it proved to be an inspired idea by Desmond Williams, grandson of the founder of the Tullamore Dew whiskey company.
Rolling out the barrell – the last whiskey is the famous Sally Grove warehouse in Water Lane – now called Main Street with Irish Mist staff and the officers of the Excise in 1983.
The history of Irish Mist involves a secret receipt from a mysterious Austrian distiller, celebrated through the famed ceramic figure made by Coronetti, Cunardo, Italy.
Now a collector’s item the splendid figurine is a replica of an Irish officer in the Austrian army from the 1750s.
Work continues on the Irish Mist Liqueur book to be published by Offaly History with the support of Creative Ireland in October. The book will have 240 photographs and a good quality text by a number of contributors. This product was the first such liqueur in Ireland and employed up to sixty people before its sale to C&C and move to Clonmel in 1985. In this extract from the new book John Flanagan (the production manager up to 1985) looks at the closing of the famous Sally Grove warehouse, no. 13, forty years ago this month. It was located close to where the Central Hotel was built on the new Main Street after 2000. Sally Grove warehouse had great maturing qualities for whiskey and so was the last to go of the old system of maturing in oak casks. Tullamore distillery ceased production in 1954, but with 400,000 gallons in stock it remained open to dispose of that resource. The development of Irish Mist was part of the solution to overstock and helped use up some of the over supply available. That was only the beginning for a product that was uniquely associated with Tullamore and the Williams family.
John Flanagan writes:
The B. Daly & Co Ltd distillery was founded in Tullamore in 1829 and held the licence to distill and warehouse whiskey. Later, Pot Still, Malt and Grain whiskeys were all produced in the distillery. After 1900 the bottling of all the whiskey was done at the Bond Store at Bury Quay, under the Tullamore Dew brand name. ‘Give every man his dew’ was the famous slogan thought up by Daniel E. Williams, the owner of the distillery in succession to Michael Molloy and Bernard Daly. Other brands were bottled too, including a special brand called ‘Private Stock’ for the directors only.
A contribution to Tullamore 400 and the Living in Towns initiative of the Heritage Council. Sit down and have a cup of tea with this blog!
A visit by an Irish Press journalist to Tullamore in 1933 provided a nice puff for the Williams tea business and its brand Red Cup Tea. At the time Williams provided regular advertising in the Irish Press for its tea and Edmund Williams (d. 1948) was a founder director of Irish Press. D.E. Williams’ interest in tea can be traced back to 1895. In the Chronicle and the rest of the local press for February 1895 advertisements appeared in connection with the opening of a wholesale tea business by Daniel E. Williams. In a comment the Chronicle stated that most of the blending was done in London where D.E.W. had larger stores than hitherto. The draft 1917 accounts for DEW Ltd show sales at £8,324. This had risen to £13,807 by 1923. The business was much expanded in the 1930s led by the blender, a Mr O’Shea.
From the Irish Press, 5 May 1933. The picture is from an old postcard rather than sending a photographer.(more…)
For about forty years Tullamore was home to the production, bottling and marketing of a world-class product, Irish Mist liqueur. The background to the project to establish a whiskey-based liqueur came from English contacts of the Williams distillery company, B. Daly, and arose out of the scarcity of whiskey in England as the war came to an end in 1945. By late 1947 production of the liqueur compound – a mixture of honey, sugar and whiskey – commenced in Tullamore. Sales were good initially, but with the return of competitors to the market, such as Drambuie, and difficulties with the English shareholders progress slowed.
The good news is that with the support of Creative Ireland and Offaly County Council we are on an excursion to find out what made Irish Mist a product distributed worldwide and using the best designs for packaging. It was all started in Tullamore in 1947 so you can help fill in the gaps. We want to hear from people with memories. We want to record it in book form while there are people who can give first-hand accounts.You have a story to tell and you may have pictures.Please contact John Flanagan, Ardan Heights, Brian Jaffray or Michael Byrne. Why not email us info@offalyhistory.com or call to Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore.The work on the project has now started so get in earlywith your contribution of a memory or a picture.
Desmond Williams, a grandson of the founder of the firm was with the product from the start. He concentrated his sales skills on the wealthy Irish in America and by 1953 had established a small market there. It was his famous father-in-law, Oliver St. John Gogarty, who introduced Irish Mist to the U.S. when he personally conveyed four miniatures to a trade agent there in late September 1949, by way of samples of the new product.[1] Later, it was Irish connections such as that with Jim Costello (formerly of Ferbane, Offaly) and owner of a unique bar and restaurant in New York with an avant-garde clientele who gave an order for two cases and was willing to take another eight of a small shipment in 1950.[2
The B.B.C.’s centenary celebrations and John Bowman’s recent feature on RTÉ’s Sunday morning broadcast which included a recording of my late father, Llewellyn Marcus Goodbody, bring to mind the important part that Clara played in the development of radio, the scientific discovery which transformed communications and is now part of everyday life. Without the backing of Irish capital it is possible that Guglielmo Marconi’s invention would never have got off the ground.
Historical Notes by a contributor writing in 1912, edited by Offaly History
This contribution to local studies was made in 1912 and was based on the writer’s access to a copy of the Tullamore entry in Slater’s Trade Directory published in 1846. At the time there was no public library in Offaly and private reading rooms were few. Neither was there photocopying or digitized copies. Books were expensive and access confined to only a few. There is unlikely to have been any bookshop in Offaly in 1912. By that time Sheppard’s in Birr, the only decent bookshop in Offaly in the mid nineteenth-century, was concentrating on stationery.
The only original comment from our contributor of the 1912 article was in reference to the coming Home Rule and the appointment of Catholics to public office. The War of 1914–18, 1916, The War of Independence and the Civil War were yet to come. The writer remarked:
Judging by the names of those filling public positions in Tullamore sixty odd years ago [in 1846], Catholics and Nationalists had very little influence in the administration of public funds. But times are changed, and even in the comparatively brief period which has elapsed since the above described state of things existed, one cannot but marvel at the immense strides made in science, mechanical engineering, and the arts generally, while the rapid development of National political ideas and aim points to the rapid approach of a golden era for our country.
What a pity the writer did not say more about 1912. That is the gap we have been trying to fill with our blogs on the Decade of Centenaries and our new Decade platform on www.offalyhistory.com. We are now working on a book to bring all these article and photographs together and to be published in late 2023. In the meantime we share this article on Tullamore in 1846. In 1912 the article was probably written out by hand from the rare book and then typeset with hot metal type for publication in the local press. To think that in those days people depended entirely on the printed newspaper for news of things past and pressing matters then current. The new telephone was first tested in Clara in 1898 and the motor car locally in the same year. It was only ten years later in 1908 that telephone services began to develop in the county and likewise with the motor vehicle. To quote the article of 1912:
Slater’s Directory compiled so far back as the year 1846 – [over 175 years ago] – contains some interesting particulars at this distance of times regarding the towns, villages and parishes with which it deals. One frequently hears this period in our history referred to as “the good old coaching days,” though famine and pestilence wasted our land, and the exodus of our kith and kin may be said, as a consequence, to have been inaugurated amid the distressful scenes of “Black Forty – Six and Forty – Seven.” Railways had not then intersected the country, nor had the electric telegraph spreads its message-bearing network round the world. “Wireless” was unknown, and the telephone lay hatching in the cradle of its inception. Business moved in a slow and happy manner, with neither rush nor worry, such as crush the life out of our present-day business men, Heavily-laden carriers carts moving lazily along with their burdens of merchandise from town to town, were a frequent and picturesque sight along the high roads, while the sounding horn of the “Royal Mail” coach awoke the echoes in vale and mountain, as does the shrill steam-blast of its successor at the present time. Carriers’ inns were a feature of our towns, and around the fires in winter, or about the doors in the summer’s eve, many jokes were cracked, and stories told of “life on the road”
Of deeds of valour done ‘gainst robber bold.
Or encounter with a ghostly visitant.
A Bianconi coach in Clonmel, probably 1830s by John Harris, after Michael Angelo Hayes. In 1836, Hayes produced what was to prove one of his most popular pieces of work. It was a series of four illustrations entitled “Car Driving in the South of Ireland” and featured the famous Bianconi coaches, one of the main forms of public transport in Ireland at the time. They were engraved by John Harris and published by Ackermann in 1836. Concerning them, Crookshank and Glin remarked: “They were extremely popular, were often reprinted and clearly made his name.”
The hotel from which the Royal mail coach took its departure upon its daily or nightly journey was regarded as a place of importance in the community, and was generally the scene of much animation as the coach was being prepared for the road. Ostlers bustled around their well-groomed horses, getting them into position, with loud-voiced orders to their dumb friends as to good behaviour, while the scrutinising eye of the driver beamed upon them, sometimes in anger, but more often with a look of happy approval. In a by no means softly modulated voice he gave his directions as to traces, bits, reins, swing bars etc., while porters buzzed about like a flock of bees, getting passengers’ luggage into the “boot” of the coach under the driver’s seat, paying scant need to its owner’s inquiries as to possible safety. Highwaymen were not unknown in those days. Passengers took leave of their friends and become seated inside or scrambled to the top of the coach by means of steps conveniently ‘placed for the purpose, and the “Guard, “splendidly robed in brightest of scarlet, bearing the Royal insignia on each shoulder, strutted, peacock-like, up and down the pavement, frequently consulting his watch as the hour for departure approached. At least he become seated, and a huge blunderbuss on each side of him, warned all and sundry that something unpleasant awaited those who, ventured to exhibit an impertinent curiosity as to the content of Her Majesty’s mails. A loud blast of the guard’s horn, and the driver whipped up his horses – they were off.—
Off on their journey for good or for ill,
Down thro’ the valley, up over the hill;
Some to return – some future to roam—
While fond hearts are grieving behind them at home.
TULLAMORE
The authority from which we quote says, that according to the Census of 1841 the parish of Tullamore contained 9,608 inhabitants, and the town 6,343 of that number. The post office was situated in William Street; and the post-master was John Alexander Bradley. There was a delivery of letters daily; those from Dublin and the North arriving every morning at half-past five o’clock, and those from Parsonstown, Mountmellick, and the South and West every evening at seven. Letters from Dublin and the North were dispatched every evening at half-past seven, those from Parsonstown , etc., at six o’clock every morning. A one-day delivery of letters would hardly meet present-day business requirements.
The entry for Tullamore from Slater 1846. Note the number of bakers
In the historical sketch the “Directory” says: – “Tullamore, or Tullamoore, the latter appellation said to be derived from the moor on which it stands [in fact the surname of the Moore family] is the county and Assize town of the King’s County, and a parish, in the barony of Ballycowan, 57 miles W. by S. from Dublin, 25 S.E by E from Athlone,12½ N.E. from Ballyboy, 10 west from Philipstown, and six south from Kilbeggan The Grand Canal passes the end of the town, affording water communication with Dublin and Shannon Harbour ; and the small river Clodagh (a branch of the Brosna) runs through, and is crossed by a neat bridge. The town is arranged in the form of cross and the houses being white, and the streets wide, it is in appearance airy and cleanly. The surrounding country is level, and the bogs are numerous, causing turf to be cheap and giving employment to great numbers of persons in producing and bringing it to market. The public structures, besides the places of worship and schools are a noble and admirably constructed gaol, with a graceful courthouse, market house, barracks, and a convent. The Assizes, having been removed from Philipstown, are now held here, and petty sessions every Saturday. The municipal government is vested in a Seneschal, and the local magistrates. The headquarters of the constabulary force is in this town, which is the residence of the county inspector. The principal business establishments are two breweries, the same number of tanneries, a distillery, a branch of the Bank of Ireland, and four hotels.
The savings bank was located in the former market house (centre)as was the Tullamore Charitable Loan Fund
The parish church of St. Catherine, which stands about a quarter of mile from the town, upon a lofty, sandy hill, is a new building, with a handsome pinnacled tower, conspicuous for a considerable distance round; and several finely sculptured memorials of the Charleville family adorn the interior. The Catholic chapel is a handsome building in the modern style of architecture, with two pinnacled towers at the east end: and the Methodist chapels, of which there are two, are neat structures. To the latter places of worship Sunday school are attached, and there is a valuable school, founded by the Earl of Charleville, for the education of an unlimited number of children of both sexes: a National School, the female branch of which is under the tuition of the Sisters of Mercy, and a free School, supported by their Baptist Irish Society of London, wherein public worship is held every fortnight are the other public educational establishments. A Savings Bank and a Loan Found dispenses their respective benefits here. About quarter of a mile distance, on the banks of the Canal, and near the old road leading from Dublin to Galway, art the ruins of Shragh Castle, built in 1588 by John [Bris]scoe, Esq., of Crofton Hall, in Cumberland, an officer of high rank in Queen Elizabeth’s army, and by his wife, Eleanor Kerny, and their son, Andrew Briscoe, Esq., as recorded on a tablet in the church. Within a mile of the town is the beautiful demesne of the Earl of Charleville, to whom the town is greatly indebted for its improvement. The delightfully-wooded park, with its grottos, rustic bridges, artificial caverns, cascades and lakes, constitute the demesne a terrestrial paradise. The market days are on Tuesday and Saturday. Fairs, March 19th, May 10th, July 10th, October 21st, and December 13th.
Slater 1846 on transport from Tullamore
A mail car ran to Mountmellick every morning at six; to Mullingar every evening at seven, and to Parsonstwon every morning at six, passing through Frankford. Conveyance by water canal for goods to Dublin and Shannon Harbour was available by boats running daily-. Thomas Berry and Co., owners; and for passengers by same route, “swift boats,” started from the Quay [near Bury or Whitehall Bridge] for Dublin every morning at nine, and night at ten, passing Philipstown and Edenderry. To Shannon Harbour, swift boats left the Quay every morning at two, and afternoon at three, passing Gillen, and meeting the steamer for Limerick and Ballinasloe to Shannon Harbour. The Very Rev. James O’Rafferty, V G, was P. P. of Tullamore at this time, the curates were Rev Terence Devine, Rev Philip Callary, and Rev James Keegan. The Protestant congregation of St. Catharine’s were ministered to by Rev Edward Fleetwood Berry (Vicar), and Rev Peter Wilson, curate. Mrs Purcell was superiors of the Convent of Mercy, Bury Quay. The other religious denominations do not seem to have had any fixed pastor attached to their congregations.
The public institutions were officered as follows: ____
Constabulary Barrack, Charleville Square ____ William Henry Pearce, County Inspector ; John S. Stuart, Sub-Inspector ; James Hay, Head-Constable.
Miliary Barrack, Barrack street – Lieut. Henry Jepson, Barrack Master.
Charitable Loan Fund – Francis Berry Esq., Treasurer; John A Bradley, secretary.
County Gaol – Robert Harding, Governor; Very Rev James O’Rafferty, Catholic chaplain; Rev Edward F. Berry, Protestant chaplain; Thomas Whitfield Inspector.
County Infirmary, Church street – George Pierce, M.D., Surgeon ; Jane Henderson, Matron.
Courthouse adjoining the Goal – Laurence Parsons, Clerk of the Peace ; A.H.C. Pollock, Clerk of the Crown; Thomas Mitchell, Secretary to the Grand Jury, Parsonstown ; Thomas Whitfield, Inspector of Weights and Measure.
Town House, Charleville Square – Francis Berry, Esq., Seneschal.
Union Workhouse Harbour Row – Thomas Prescott, Master; Ann Guirly, matron. Very Rev. James O’Rafferty, Catholic chaplain; Rev. C. F. Berry, Protestant chaplain; John Hussy Walsh, Esq., Chairman of the Board of Guardians; Francis Berry, Esq., Vice-Chairman ; Thomas P. O’Flanagan, Esq., Deputy Vice –Chairman.
There were four hotels – The Charleville Arms, Hannah Ridley, Bridge street; Garland’s Hotel, Mary Garland, Church street ; Grand Canal Hotel, Joshua Gill, Harbour; and the Shannon Hotel, John Shannon.
The medical practitioners comprised – Michael Joseph Moorhead, High Street; George Pierce, Charleville Square; John Ridley, Bridge street; and amongst the hardware and ironmongers the firm of Messrs T. P. and R. Goodbody is mentioned. Agent for the Bank of Ireland Branch, Mr. Bartholomew Maziere.
Savings Bank, Town House (open on Mondays) – Mr Anthony Molloy, treasurer; Mr. John Alexander Bradley, actuary.
Apothecaries – Philip Belton, William Street; John Quirk, Bridge street.
Attorneys – George Duigenan, John William Briscoe, Charleville Terrace; William Ridley, Bridge Street.
In addition to the four hotels mentioned above , the names of nine publicans and two spirit dealers, four pawnbrokers, three saddlers, two tallow chandlers, four tailors, two tanners, three millers, two dyers, two brewers, one distiller, while eating and lodging house keepers musters a total of nineteen. Grocers and provision dealers number thirty- one; blacksmiths, six; boot and shoe- makers, five, etc.
Note the number of hotels and eating and lodging houses
In the second article on the quarries and stonecutters of Tullamore, I wrote about members of the Bracken family that left Ireland with their stonecutting skills and brought them to Australia. That was around 1910. However, stonecutters from the Ballyduff quarries had been emigrating and practicing their trade abroad for many years before that. Australia, in particular, was the destination for many. In this article, I will focus on two families, the Molloys and the Cronlys, and their involvement in stonecutting both at home and abroad.
The story of Alderborough Nursery, Geashill is a must have for delightful summer reading. This book tells the story of Reamsbottom & Co., Alderborough and West Drayton, and the development of the Alderborough strain of the St Brigid Anemone which made it famous around the world. Geashill was for decades at the center of Irish horticulture with an international reputation for the quality of its plants. Alderborough Nursery competed with the best nurseries in the world, winning awards, medals and accolades from judges and gardening publications. From 1890 to the 1980’s Anemones and a wide range of plants were exported from Geashill. Archives of all the important horticultural shows in Ireland and Britain record that Reamsbottom & Co. exhibited their produce and won prizes, particularly for their St. Brigid Anemones. By 1907, Reamsbottom & Co., had won 33 medals for Alderborough St. Brigid Anemones, including four gold. [This is a beautiful book and adds to the growing Geashill library of attractive volumes reaching a wide and enthusiastic market.]
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