Creywell Brewery and Mineral Water Factory, New Ross - Wexford Guide and Directory, 1885

About “Wexford County Guide and Directory,” 1885

George Henry Bassett produced 7 Irish county directories in the 1880s: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Kilkenny, Louth, Tipperary and Wexford. Each provides useful history of the respective counties as well as lists of office holders, farmers, traders, and other residents of the individual cities, towns and villages.

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The directories are naturally an invaluable resource for those tracing family history. However, there are a few points to bear in mind.

  1. This online version of Bassett’s Wexford County Guide and Directory is designed primarily as a genealogical research tool and therefore the numerous advertisements in the original book, many full page, and quite a few illustrated, have been excluded.
  2. The text has been proofed with due care, but with large bodies of text typographical errors are inevitably bound to occur.
  3. Be aware that there were often inconsistencies in spelling surnames in the 19th century and also that many forenames are abbreviated in Bassett’s directories.

With respect to the last point, surnames which today begin with the “Mc” prefix, for example, were often formerly spelt as “M‘,”. For a list of some of the more common forename abbreviations used in the directory, see Forename Abbreviations.

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AT a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the centre of the town, using the Tholsel as the point of departure, stand the Creywell brewery, malthouses, and mineral water factory of Messrs. Cherry, Brothers. In point of situation it would be difficult to find anywhere one so convenient and attractive. A large slice of the Creywell Hill seems to have been cut away to give the requisite space for the huge pile of buildings which has been erected. The premises consist of five acres, and are approached by a broad avenue, to the right of which is a shrubbery maintained in a highly ornamental state. This is terminated by a lodge house and bow-way, and a gate that effectually stops communication with the grounds of Creywell House, the residence of Mrs. Cherry.

Creywell House is at the head of a series of admirably contrived terraces descending to the side of the Barrow. It has an exquisite landscape garden, ample fruit and vegetable gardens, and conservatories. The road to the brewery, malthouses, and factory, passes through the grounds and enters a bow-way to the brewery yard, where the highest building is a malt-house, seven stories. The Creywell brewery is fitted with the most approved appliances, and sends its porter, ale, and beer, through Wexford and Waterford.

The mineral water factory connected with the brewery is conducted in the very best manner, and has the advantage of a water supply for which it is claimed that it has no superior in Ireland. The discovery of the source was accidental, and occurred seven years ago at the sinking of the foundation of the new iron bridge. A quarter of a mile higher up the river the spring was tapped at a depth of fifty-two feet from the bed. A pipe was laid to it, through which the water is pumped as required. The cost of the undertaking was £450.

It is supposed that a pipe sunk anywhere on the Rosbercon side of the river would strike the same spring, a fact which may be of advantage when an increase in the population of New Ross necessitates a larger water supply. Before the spring was tapped in the river, all the water for the brewery had to be brought from the upper end of the town.

Originally, the Creywell brewery was a distillery. It was founded about a hundred years ago by Roe & Fletcher. It afterwards served the purpose of a bank. The Cherry Brothers entered into possession about fifty-five years ago. One of them, Mr. Richard Cherry, still survives; the other, Mr. William Cherry, died in 1868. His son, Mr. Arthur B. Cherry, is at present the brewer and active manager of the concerns.

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