Thursday 17 March 2016

History: Carlow's Lost Breweries - The Search Begins...

Yesterday I had my first taste of trawling through microfilm in the local library - an eye-wearying but interesting task.

My subject was a local brewery that once existed on the site where now stands Carlow town hall. The earliest information I can find names it as 'Hamilton's Brewery' in the late 18th Century and it is known as 'The Old Brewery' in the late 19th century, although by this time it had been used as an overflow to the local workhouse and nothing was being brewed here as far as I can tell.

I found this advert, which ran for a number of weeks in early 1854



It sounds like breweries were scarce in the town and so far I can't find reference to any others at this time. - although the Historic 6" OSI map for 1839 shows two including this large one.

(The other was situated closer to the Burrin river and its memory remained in the name of 'Brewery Lane' until the area was demolished to build the monstrously ugly post office and social welfare offices in the 50s/60s ... but more about that in another post.)

I don't imagine I'll find brewing records but I hope to find out more about when it was first built and its owners over the hundred or more years it existed in one form or another - I have a few of those names already thanks to various historical directories and other publications

I had better bring my glasses on my next trip to the library!

Liam