Senior Classroom Visit the Creamery House in Castlecomer

In support of work covered on Buildings and Settlements in Geography, the Senior Classroom enjoyed a trip to the Creamery House on Friday, 22nd September.

The children enjoyed learning about the History of the house which dates back to 1750s. It originally belonged to the Wandesforde family, however in the early 1900s it became a pram making factory which brought a lot of employment to the town.

Here are some samples of some of the labels that were found between the floorboards when the house was renovated in 2015!

We also found out that a lot of the prams that were made were called after townlands like Ardra as well as provinces like Leinster! Here are some pictures of these prams!

In the 1970s, the house became known the residence for the manager of the Creamery in Castlecomer, hence why to this day it has the name “The Creamery House”

During 2014/2015, the house went under renovation and it now has a music academy on the top floor and there are other rooms being used for offices and conferences.

The children enjoyed seeing all aspects of the house. They saw the outside well which is underground and also the cellars which originally stored coal in them for their homes. Did you know there are stalactites in the cellar of the Creamery House?

They learned about the gardens around the house as well as the large orchard which would have spread up along Barrack Street. The children visited the basement of the house where the servants worked and prepared meals and washed clothes for the family living in the house.

On the ground floor, there was a large, front room which had the original floorboards and it was here where the family would have entertained its guests.

On the first floor, there were rooms which would have been the bedrooms and there was also a kitchen area where the family may have practised their cookery skills as a hobby. In this room, the builders found an old range which was fueled by coal hidden behind a wall. They refurbished the range for us all to see 🙂

The children thoroughly enjoyed the view from the top floor. It was amazing to see the view of the Discovery Park and its surrounds from such a height. We tried our best to see our school but the lime trees along the street had it so well hidden!!

Originally, you would have been able to see Castlecomer House (the Wandesforde Family home) from the Creamery House before it was burnt down in 1798 by rebels in what became known as “The Battle of Castlecomer”

Thank you to Saibhín, our tour guide and John Comerford (owner of the Creamery House) for kindly opening up the house to the children out of their seasonal hours. We really appreciate it and the children thoroughly enjoyed it too! We completed a worksheet on what we had seen and learned on our tour back at school later that day. Below are just a few photographs of some of the children’s thoughts and memories of The Creamery House.