Industry
Milling, with mills powered by the waters of the River Nore, was the principal industry in the town until the early 1960s. The mills were Pilsworth's Mills. At one stage there were 12 water-powered mills, for grain and cloth, working in the parish. The last working mill in Thomastown closed in 1963. This mill is now the site of Grennan Craft School. Several mill buildings in good condition can be seen upstream from the bridge.
For centuries there was an important boat trade to carry produce to and from the port of New Ross. It went into decline at the end of the 18th century.
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Famous quotes containing the word industry:
“As our boys and men are all expecting to be Presidents, so our girls and women must all hold themselves in readiness to preside in the White House; and in no city in the world can honest industry be more at a discount than in this capital of the government of the people.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“No delusion is greater than the notion that method and industry can make up for lack of mother-wit, either in science or in practical life.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)
“Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)