DAY 13c
WATERFORD ~ House Of Waterford Crystal, (County Waterford, IRL)
Wednesday September 10th, 2008
TODAYS MILEAGE – 151 miles or 243 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 12291 miles or 19780 kilometres
The final stop of the day, after Batesy's fender bender, was just on the outskirts of Waterford.
Founded in 1783, the world famous Waterford Crystal facility was high on all of our collective “to do” lists. We managed to snag seats on the final tour of the day, which as we all know is the best one to get on as most of the drongo tourists have packed it in for the day.
Just in case you’ve been under a rock or living in a federal gated community for a couple of centuries, here’s a bit of the guff on Waterford Crystal:
The crystal business was originally founded in 1783 by George and William Penrose; it produced extremely fine crystal that became world-renowned. However, in 1851 their company closed, reportedly due to excessive taxation of the product. In 1947, Czech immigrant Charles Bacik, re-established the glass works in the city, due to the superb reputation of the original glassware.
By the early 1950s it had been taken over as a subsidiary of the Irish Glass Bottle company.
Since 1986, Waterford Crystal Limited has been a subsidiary of Waterford Wedgwood, formed through the acquisition by the then Waterford Glass Group of the famous pottery manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood.
Aside from the obvious stemware, chandeliers and sculptures, Waterford Crystal trophies are awarded for distinguished achievement in all fields, from academai to science to sport, including the champions of some of the world's most prestigious sporting events including Golf, Rugby, Tennis, Soccer, Formula 1 Grand Prix, 500cc Grand Prix - even the Major League Baseball World Series Champs.
