St Patrick's Tower

ST PATRICK’S TOWER ON WATLING STREET

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For some reason my father always referred to this as the Guinness Malting Tower.

The main item of interest on Watling Street was once the largest smock windmill in Europe and was built as part of the Roe whiskey distillery in 1757. Although it has lost its sails, it remains an iconic reminder of the industrial heritage of the area, particularly its extensive associations with the distilling and brewing industries.

The Thomas Street Distillery, run by the Roe Family, was once the largest in the Britain and Ireland, with an output of two million gallons per annum at its peak. It was located opposite Guinness’ St. James’ Gate brewery. After the distillery was closed in 1926, some of its buildings were purchased and incorporated into the Guinness Brewery.

In January 2017, Diageo, producers of Guinness, announced that they would invest €25 million in establishing a new distillery in the old brewery power house building on Thomas Street, close to the site of the original Thomas Street Distillery. Production at the new distillery started in the first half of 2019.

Note: Diageo resurrected the original brand and launched a non-chill filtered, 45% ABV premium blended whiskey under the name “Roe & Co” in March 2017.

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