URBAN EXPRESSION AND DEPRESSION

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browns quay

MEMORIAL PLAQUE IN LIMERICK AT BROWN’S QUAY – O’DWYER VILLAS

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MEMORIAL PLAQUE IN LIMERICK AT BROWN’S QUAY – O’DWYER VILLAS

Brown’s Quay was named after a local brewer. It was also the riverside location of Archibald Walker’s Thomondgate Distillery.

“In memory of the deceased relatives of the residents of O’Dwyer Villas”. This plaque is located on a wall at Belfield Court on Brown’s Quay in Limerick.

I cannot determine what this refers to. However, it was really the name “Kevin Kiely” that caught my attention.

Kevin Kiely is an Irish politician and former Mayor of Limerick from 2009–10. He was made a Peace Commissioner in 1983 by the then Fine Gael Minister for Justice, Michael Noonan. He is a member of Fine Gael.

He was first elected to Limerick City Council in 1985. He was re-elected to the council in June 2009. He is a member of the Governing Authority of the University of Limerick. He is Chairman of Limerick City Council Joint Policing and a former Chairman of Limerick City Council Future Planning.[

In November 2009, he called for unemployed European Union nationals to be deported from Ireland. His views led to a debate over racism. This was part of a broader controversy surrounding racist comments from Fine Gael members in Limerick.

In March 2010, he called for a change to the law which bans selling alcohol on Good Friday and Christmas Day, at a time when a rugby match was due to take place in Limerick city. Shortly before leaving office in June 2010, he again was the subject of national news when he called for the re-introduction of capital punishment.

BROWN’S QUAY LIMERICK APRIL 2022

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BROWN’S QUAY LIMERICK APRIL 2022

Brown’s Quay was named after a local brewer. It was also the riverside location of Archibald Walker’s Thomondgate Distillery. Today there is little to see except for the Thomond Weir which I will discuss in a separate post.

In 1809 construction started on the banks of the River Shannon and by 1818 the Thomond Gate Distillery was a sizeable operation. It produced Ireland’s famous Single Pot Still and Malt Irish whiskey, maturing whiskey in Sherry butts, hogsheads and quarter casks for local trade and export. The distillery operated three copper pot stills which produced a “whiskey of good reputation” known as Pot Still Real Irish Whiskey.

Over a century the distillery changed hands a number of times and went by many names, including; Brown(e) Stein & Co, Messrs. Brown, Stein, and Co, Limerick Distillery Co Ltd and by 1868 it was known as Archibald Walkers Limerick Distillery. The only constant was the name, The Thomond Gate Distillery.

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