Ardfinnan Woollen Mills

Mulcahy Redmond, established 1869, was a family-run woollen and garment manufacturing company at the Ardfinnan Woollen Mills that traded as Ardfinnan on the underlying banks of Ardfinnan Castle in Ardfinnan, County Tipperary, Ireland.^[1] Ardfinnan Woollen Mills dates to the 12th century, as a monastic woollen mills. A woollen and worsted mills, it became known for Irish tweed, worsted suitings, overcoatings, blankets, knitting yarn, and ready-made suits as the only factory on the island of Ireland completing all stages of processing from sheep to tailored clothing in the 20th century.^[2]

The mills adjoined an ancient monastery, attributed to Saint Finnian. Saint Carthage and his monks took refuge here c.632 AD, developing Ardfinnan Abbey and the village on the river bank, along with his great school of western learning at Lismore Abbey further south on the same path.^[3] This brought sheep for parchment and wool, weaving for vestments and milling for flour in the centre of the fertile valley. After Henry II visited the monastery in 1171, it became an early preceptory of the Knights Templar, fortified with the royal castle of Ardfinnan by Prince John in 1185.^[4] It is believed that the Templars established the vertically-integrated Ardfinnan woollen mills with the introduction of a fulling mill, having introduced the first examples in England also in 1185. Adjoining cottages of textile workers, extended from the fulling mill along Factory Hill Road to Saint Finnian's Church, becoming the medieval town, or burgage, of Ardfynan. This would include manufacture of frieze cloth, flourishing with 13th to 16th century demand for woollen Irish cloaks to mainland Europe from the port of Waterford where the Templars had free passage.^[5] Dyers principally ran fulling mills in this era and it is recorded that a freeman named William the Dyer lived in Ardfynan in 1295.^[6]

Following Trial of the Templars, Edward II granted pontage for three years to the "bailiffs and good men of Ardfynan" in 1311, supporting the mills that were built on the bridge, until the Knights Hospitaller took over.^[7][8] Ardfynan was uniquely exempt from customs and sanctions from 1449 by act of the Parliament of Ireland.^[9] Subsumed by the Bishopric of Waterford and Lismore during the Reformation, the mills remained a valuable ecclesiastical asset until the 19th century.^[10][11] Strong traditions of hand-weaving and spinning in cottages on Factory Hill Road alongside the "woollen factory" continued into the 19th century, with Ardfinnan Clothing Club established after the devastation of the Great Famine as an annual used-clothing market.^[12] Traditionally the village green was used for tentering cloth and drying wool, from sheep in the surrounding valley and Galtee, Knockmealdown and Comeragh mountains.

John Mulcahy continued the Ardfinnan woollen mills or "woollen factory" from 1869 at the mills of Ardfinnan Castle on the River Suir.^[13] A waterwheel powered the old-fashioned fulling stocks in the watermill and employment was around a dozen.^[14] The Suir flowed through the watermill via an extensive weir and a short mill race before exiting under one of the 14 arches of the medieval Ardfinnan bridge, ensuring a powerful flow. It was also along the coach road from Dublin to Cork.^[15] The watermill was likely in this advantageous position since the construction of the bridge, soon after the castle in 1185.^[16] The mill's complex had several previous lessees before Mulcahy, including W. Schofield and John Hogan Burke & Co. as a "woollen factory", and as a flour mill under James Fennell, leased from the Ardfinnan Castle demesne.^[17][18]

John Mulcahy's father-in-law at Rossmore Mills (once part of the Templar preceptory at Clonoulty) represented the Irish woollen industry among ten firms at London's Great Exhibition.^[19][20] Just four of these were outside of Dublin. Irish frieze for clothing and horse blankets was exhibited internationally for the first time.^[19] Mulcahy overhauled Rossmore Mills until he sold the site in 1890.^[21] The Award of Commendation was given for frieze exhibited by John Mulcahy of Ardfinnan at the Irish Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, 1882.^[22] In June 1883 he took lease of the former flour mills at Castlegrace, near Clogheen, to establish a third woollen mill, close to his mills at Ardfinnan and particularly the Shanbally Castle estate, where he sourced fine Irish wool, a rarity and luxury, from the pedigree flock of Viscount Lismore.^[23][24]

On October 1, 1883 a fire gutted the main five-story watermill building at Ardfinnan and damaged Mulcahy's adjoining former family home at Mill House, with 50 to 100 workers affected. Two children trapped in the uppermost loft jumped from a window and were caught in the arms of a mill foreman and a constable, receiving minor injuries.^[25][26]

The watermill was restored as a double-roofed structure, retaining the original walkout basement, engineered by a Dublin builder to house a water turbine built in New Jersey, United States by T.C. Alcott & Son. It was among only two other mills in Munster to use a water turbine, being Ashgrove Woollen Mills and Kerry Woollen Mills.^[16][27] The building was open plan with central supporting pillars, and had a monastic style bell for work hours, adjoining communal canteen and retained the much older castellated annex office with gothic door and gate that survived the fire. It was "fitted on an extensive scale with the most improved machinery known in England or America for the manufacture of the very best Irish tweeds".^[27] Mulcahy, Redmond exhibited at the Royal Dublin Society Irish Artisans' Exhibition 1885.^[28] They advertised in the late 1880s as makers of Irish tweeds, friezes, blankets, shawls and railway rugs.

Mulcahy, Redmond represented the Irish woollen industry among 12 firms at the Cork International Exhibition of 1902.^[29]

Frank Mulcahy was one of the first ten motorcar owners in South Tipperary, as was his brother William Mulcahy.^[30][31] He patented Galtee Motor Cloth in 1906, an innovation combining warmth with a unique waterproof-breathable functionality.^[32] It was named after the Galtee Mountains and targeted the emerging motoring clothing market, advertised as "the warmest cloth ever made for motor coats and motor rugs". It was a layered cloth of traditional Irish frieze and mohair inter-woven with merino. The weave was breathable when dry, described as hygienic, but as the surface became wet the weave contracted and became rainproof.^[33] This functionality was lacking in popular fur coats, rubber Mackintosh or cotton Burberry raincoats.^[33] It has similarities with Loden cloth.

In November 1906 King Edward VII ordered Galtee Motor Cloth from Mulcahy, Redmond and had a motoring coat made from it, with which he expressed great satisfaction.^[34] At the time, Edward VII's royal household was the first in the world to adopt the use of the motorcar. Edward VII, Queen Alexandra and Princess Victoria became familiar with the Mulcahy family, their early involvement with motoring and the local woollen industry after a visit to Ardfinnan Woollen Mills during a private tour of Ireland by motorcar in May 1904, en route between Shanbally Castle with its pedigree sheep on the Galtee mountains and Lismore Castle (sister castle of Ardfinnan Castle), where their respective hosts were local patrons of the mills for sporting and estate tweeds.

Galtee Motor Coats were first made and sold by Pim Bros department store, South Great George's Street, Dublin, with the Galtee Motor Coat as the highlight of their stall at Ireland's first motor show, the 1907 Dublin Motor Show.^[35] Irish motoring pioneer R.J. Mecredy wrote in 1909 "I have used one of these coats for several years" and praised the unique scientific qualities of the cloth in his book Health's Highway.^[36]

At the Irish International Exhibition Mulcahy, Redmond displayed woollen and worsted goods alongside 'Motor Clothing, including our Speciality-"Galtee" Motor Cloth'.^[37]

The War Office had back-to-back contracts with Mulcahy, Redmond throughout the First World War to produce khaki serge for their military uniforms, frieze for overcoats, and blankets.^[38][39] Early war contracts were lobbied for Mulcahy, Redmond by John Cullinan (MP) in the House of Commons.^[40] They uniquely produced overcoat cloth for the Imperial Russian Army in 1916.^[41][42] After the war, the mills expanded extensively on the opposite side of the road with new machinery and had the largest boiler in the south of Ireland, imported from Glasgow.^[43] Ardfinnan Suitings gained prestige internationally in tailoring houses in London, Paris and New York. John Mulcahy bought Ardfinnan Castle in 1921.^[44]

Following Irish independence in 1922, the Irish Free State commissioned Mulcahy, Redmond under the direction of William Mulcahy to produce uniform cloths again, for the new public service, civil service and Defence Forces. This included exclusive commissions for the suits and overcoats for Head of State Éamon de Valera to wear in Switzerland representing Ireland at the League of Nations from 1932 to 1939, including both as president of the Council of the League of Nations in 1932 and president of the Assembly of the League of Nations in 1938. Alternately, William Mulcahy and Mulcahy, Redmond accountant E.J. Shott were appointed in 1936 as first directors of Belgian firm General Textiles cotton mills, Athlone, opened in 1947 by Seán Lemass following delays of World War II.^[45]

In 1947 a men's, boy's, and later a women's ready-made clothing department employing over 70 female workers was operated at the mills, making Mulcahy, Redmond the only factory on the island of Ireland that was completing all stages of clothing manufacture from raw fleece to finished garments. It made suits, overcoats, sports jackets and trousers. This brought the number of employees above 300. Under the direction of John A. Mulcahy and Richard Mulcahy it was therefore the most vertically-integrated woollen mills on the island of Ireland. It also had a darning department for repairing customers' woollens.^[2][46] Richard Mulcahy was reported as president of the Association of Woollen and Worsted Manufacturers of Ireland in 1957, and showcased Irish tweed as an export on par with Irish whiskey at the 1957 New York International Trade Fair.^[47]

Ardfinnan House, 17 Trinity Street, Dublin 2, was the address of their wholesale store, showroom and office in the capital city.^[48] It was the first of its kind in Dublin, selling directly to tailors, drapers and fashion brands in the 1950s and 1960s. The sign "Ardfinnan House" remains on this building today. A trade showroom was also on South William Street in Dublin.

The signature green Aer Lingus uniform was made from cloth designed and produced at Mulcahy, Redmond before the airline changed to Donegal tweed from Magee in 1963. In both 1961 and 1962, Ardfinnan Thornproof Tweed won the Premier London Award and Georgian Silver Cup at international level in London.^[2] The Ardfinnan brand was also known for Tipperary Tweed, Tipperary Luxury Tweed or Ardfinnan Tweed. A Gold Medal of Industrial Excellence was presented to John A. Mulcahy and tweed designer Eddie O’Flynn for Mulcahy, Redmond's bouclé tweed at the 1965 Leipzig Trade Fair in Germany, out of 350 entries from all fields of industry.^[49]

The firm supplied to the knitting market under the direction of John A. Mulcahy in the wake of the declining domestic market and increasingly relied on large commissions, such as for Macy's in the USA. The next generation, Frank and Desmond Mulcahy began working in the mills. With up to 500 people directly and non-directly dependent on the mills, it let go of its staff in January 1973. Competitive disadvantages climaxing with Ireland's admission to the EEC were blamed.^[50] A large protest in Clonmel led by the directors, workers and Mulcahy family followed, as promises by the Fianna Fáil government to support the Irish woollen industry and particularly Ardfinnan, were not upheld.

In the village today there are workers' cottages, an agricultural co-operative and Ardfinnan National School that were funded by the company and Ardfinnan GAA, founded in 1910 by members of the mill’s football team who had played on the green.^[51] The former Cycling and Athletics Club, Handball Club and later tennis courts opened in 1926 were also introduced by the Mulcahy family. The mill's hydro-electrical generation and carbide lamps supplied electricity to local housing, businesses and street lighting from the 1900s until the ESB took over the supply in January 1953.^[52][43]

52°18′40″N 7°52′46″W / 52.311222°N 7.879583°W / 52.311222; -7.879583