Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 15 August 2013
Kieran’s Heritage Week, 17-25 August 2013
National Heritage Week is upon us again at the end of next week (17th – 25th August). It’s going to be a busy week. I have set up a number of events. They are all free and I welcome any public support for the activities outlined below.
Sunday 18 August 2013 –Making a Venice of the North, Exploring Eighteenth Century Cork City (new tour), explore a world of canals, and eighteenth century Cork society, meet at City Library, Grand Parade, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).
Monday 19 August 2012 – Shandon Historical Walking Tour, Discover one of the City’s key historical quarters; learn about St Anne’s Church and the development of butter market and the Shandon Street area, meet at North Gate Bridge, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).
Tuesday 20 August 2013- Blackpool Historical Walking Tour, From Fair Hill to the heart of Blackpool, learn about nineteenth century shambles, schools, convents and industries, meet at North Mon gates, Gerald Griffin Avenue, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).
Thursday 22 August 2013 – From a Workhouse to a Hospital, The Story of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Discover the history of the workhouse, meet at entrance gate, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).
Friday 23 August 2013, “Where the future and the past meet, A historical walking tour of Mahon, to mark the 100th anniversary of Dunlocha Cottages” (new tour), meet at Blackrock Garda Station, top of Avenue De Rennes, Mahon, 7pm (free, duration: 1 ½ hours).
Sunday 25 August 2013, Douglas Historical Walking Tour, Discover about the sailcoth and woollen mills, meet at St. Columba’s Church Car Park, Douglas, 2pm (free, duration: two hours).
The story of Douglas and its environs seems to be in part a story of experimentation, of industry and of people, and social improvement; the story of one of Ireland’s largest sailcloth factories is a worthwhile topic to explore in terms of its aspirations in the eighteenth century; that coupled with the creation of 40 or so seats or mansions and demesnes made it a place where the city’s merchants made their home it and also these suburban spaces make for an interesting place to study in terms of ambition. Those landscapes that were created still linger in the environs of Douglas Village.
The District of Douglas takes its names from the river or rivulet bearing the Gaelic word Dubhghlas or dark stream. As early as the late thirteenth century King John of England made a grant of parcels of land, near the city of Cork to Philip de Prendergast. On 1 June 1726, Douglas Sail Cloth Factory was begun to be built. Samuel Perry and Francis Carleton became the first proprietors. The factory is said to have been founded by a colony of Huguenot weavers from Fermanagh. The eighteenth century was a golden age for wooden sailing ships, before the 1800s made steam and iron prerequisites for modern navies and trading fleets. The era was also a golden age too for maritime exploration, with the voyages of James Cook amongst others opening up the Pacific and the South Seas.
Indeed by 1810, William West in a travelogue of Ireland states that upwards of 1,000 hands were employed in the extensive concern belonging to Messrs Besnard & Sons, who also at a short distance had an extensive ropeworks. They had several grants for sailcloth and spindles through the Napoleonic Wars. In 1817, Peter Besnard (eldest son of Julius) was appointed Inspector General for the provinces of Leinster, Munster and Connaught in succession to Charles Duffin. There were also industries also at Dunmanway and Innishannon where up to 60,000 people were employed in Ireland.
The Besnard family discontinued flax spinning before 1830, but they continued to work in the linen trade. In 1824, Besnard and Herrick with an address in Perry Street, Cork were large shippers of brown and white linen and beetled hollands. The firm was in business until at least 1830, and up to that time were apparently the most influential shippers in Munster. By 1837, the business had declined owing to English competition, but the manufacture was being carried on, together with a trade in cordage (cords or ropes, especially the ropes in the rigging of a ship), which was held in high repute.
After a gap of 40 years the Patent Hemp Spinning Company of Wallis and Pollock, Douglas introduced mechanised flax-spinning into the area. They established themselves within the former Douglas sailcloth factory, erected scotching machinery and encouraged flax cultivation. They destroyed the eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings and a new multi-storey flax-spinning mill at Donnybrook was designed and built by the Cork architect and antiquarian, Richard Bolt Brash, for Hugh and James Wheeler Pollock in 1866. Its essential design was modelled closely on contemporary Belfast mills. Its main enclosing walls were built with Youghal brick and are externally faced with Ballinhassig (Ballinphellic) Brick.
In 1883, the factory changed production from flax spinning to woollen manufacture become apparent, when the mill was producing Cork tweeds. In 1889, the mill was bought by James and Patrick Morrogh and R A Atkins, the High Sheriff of Cork. In 1903, the mill employed 300 people, many of whom were housed in the 100 company-owned cottages in Douglas. To learn more, come along on the walking tour!
Captions:
704a. Former Donnybrook Woollen Mills, built 1866 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)