Carrick-on-Suir Town Government, Park, Strand Walk, Navigation - Book of County Tipperary, 1889

About “The Book of County Tipperary,” 1889

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. The Book of County Tipperary is the first of these to be made available on libraryireland.com, with its own search page. However, there are a few points to bear in mind.

  1. This online version 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.

To enjoy the rich variety of advertisements, confirm accuracy of the entries, or have a printed record of a family member, obtain an original or facsimile copy of The Book of County Tipperary.

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Carrick-on-Suir was governed under the 9th of George IV. before advantage was taken by the rate-payers of the provisions of the Towns Improvement Act, 1854–5. It has 15 commissioners, 5 of whom retire from office every year. The annual election is held October 15th. The chairman is elected annually on the third Wednesday in June. An area of a little over 2,159 acres, statute, is liable to taxation. In 1888 the valuation was £3,157 18s. on land, and £5,516 on buildings, yielding a total revenue of a little over £430. The rate for general purposes was 1s. 4d. in the £. Of this, the rate on land was 4d. in the £. The Town Commissioners became a Sanitary Board under the Act of 1878. Public lighting is done by oil lamps at a cost of £55 4s. 6d. These are lighted and extinguished by three men who act also as a Night Watch.

A neatly kept public park of about three acres is maintained by the Town Commissioners. It was laid out in 1868, the cost having been borne partly by public subscription and the balance coming out of the rates. Lord Bessborough, one of the landlords of the town, gave the site free. The Strand Walk, running past the castle for about half a mile along the river, is a favorite resort for the people. It is broad and well sheltered.

There are many springs at Carrick-on-Suir and Carrickbeg, and from these a good water supply is procured.

In 1668, as already stated, J. Archer, by direction of the great Duke of Ormonde, blasted away the reef of rocks in the Suir, opposite the castle, thus admitting vessels over 20 tons. In the first half of the present century, when the export trade was very extensive, the merchants of Clonmel, assisted by the Harbor Commissioners of Waterford, expended a large amount of money in improving the navigation between Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel. By an Act passed in 1835, the River Suir Navigation Company, consisting of many Clonmel, Carrick and Waterford merchants, was empowered to build a ship canal on the south side of the river through the reef of rocks opposite Carrick castle. This work, completed about 1840, enables vessels drawing up to eleven feet of water to reach Carrick quay on spring tides, and vessels of eight feet on neap tides. Since 1840 the same company has expended considerable sums received in tolls on vessels trading eastward of Granny Ferry, on the improvement of navigation between Carrick and Waterford. The River Suir Navigation Company, of which Mr. J. Ernest Grubb, is secretary, has a capital of £10,0oo, in shares of £20 each. This company collects tolls on vessels trading between Carrick and Waterford—1d. per ton register on vessels inward bound, and 1d. per ton burden on vessels outward. Over and above expenses, all the money collected is laid out in improving and maintaining the navigation. The stock-owners being all interested in this work, receive no dividend. Mr. J. Ernest Grubb and partners, trading as the Suir Navigation Company, are the principal owners of boats plying between Clonmel and Waterford. They keep about 20 horses at Carrick for hauling, and had the only steam tug working on the river at the time of my visit, close of 1888. The S.S. Henry Allen, 270 tons burden, had been recently delivering cargoes of coal to Messrs. John Grubb & Son. She is the largest steamboat that has ever entered Carrick-on-Suir.

The Clonmel Boat Haulers’ Co., Ltd., has stables within one mile of Carrick. It charges at the rate of £3 for 40 tons from Carrick to Clonmel. Sails and the current are sufficient in coming down the river. The Suir is tidal to a point one mile above Carrick.