Ardfinnan Woollen Mills

The mills adjoined an ancient monastery, attributed to Saint Finnian (locally associated with weaving and to whom Ardfinnan is named). Saint Carthage and his monks took refuge here c.632 AD, establishing Ardfinnan Abbey and the village by the river bank, along with his great school of western learning at Lismore Abbey 12 miles further south on the same path.^[3] This brought sheep for parchment and wool, weaving for vestments and milling for flour. It became a preceptory of the Knights Templar and was fortified with the royal castle of Ardfinnan in 1185. It’s believed they introduced the wool mill at Ardfinnan, known as a fulling mill, having first established them in England, also in 1185. This would include fulling 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.^[4] Dyers principally ran fulling mills in this era. A freeman (skilled artisan) named William the Dyer lived by the castle in the cantred of Ardfynan (Factory Hill Road) in 1295.^[5] Following imprisonment of the Templars in 1308, 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.^[6] The Knights Hospitaller took over from 1326 to 1558, with Ardfynan uniquely exempt from customs and sanctions from 1449 by act of the Parliament of Ireland.^[7][8] Strong traditions of hand-weaving and spinning in cottages on Factory Hill Road, from the wool mill to St. Finnian's Church, continued into the 19th century, with Ardfinnan Clothing Club established after the devastation of the Great Famine as an annual used-clothing market.^[9] 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 established Mulcahy, Redmond & Co. Ltd. woollen manufacturers in 1869, at the mills of Ardfinnan Castle on the River Suir.^[10] A waterwheel powered traditional wooden fulling stocks in the watermill and employment was around a dozen.^[11] 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, insuring a powerful flow. It was also along the coach road from Dublin to Cork.^[12] The watermill was likely in this advantageous position since the construction of the bridge, soon after the castle in 1185. The watermill is referenced in an inquisition in 1569 and the 1656 Civil Survey.^[13][14] The mills complex had several previous lessees, including W. Schofield and John Hogan Burke & Co. as a wool mill and as a flour mill under James Fennell, leased from the Ardfinnan Castle demesne.^[15][16]

John Mulcahy's father-in-law at Rossmore Mills represented the Irish woollen industry among 10 firms at London's Great Exhibition.^[17] Just four of these were outside of Dublin. Irish frieze for clothing and horse blankets was exhibited internationally for the first time.^[17] Mulcahy overhauled Rossmore Mills until he sold the site in 1890.^[18] Award of Commendation was given for frieze exhibited by John Mulcahy of Ardfinnan at the Irish Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, 1882.^[19] In June 1883 he took lease of the former flour mills at Castlegrace, near Clogheen, to establish a third woollen mills, close to his mills at Ardfinnan and particularly the Shanbally Castle estate where he sourced fine wool from the pedigree flock of Viscount Lismore.^[20][21]

On October 1, 1883 a fire gutted the main six-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.^[22][23] A new double-roofed watermill, retaining the original walkout basement, was engineered by a Dublin builder to house a water turbine built in New Jersey, U.S.A. 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.^[13][24] The new building was open plan with central supporting pillars, 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".^[24] Mulcahy, Redmond exhibited at the Royal Dublin Society Irish Artisans' Exhibition 1885.^[25] 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.^[26]

Frank Mulcahy was one of the first ten motorcar owners in South Tipperary, as was his brother William Mulcahy.^[27][28] He patented Galtee Motor Cloth in 1906, an innovation combining warmth with a unique waterproof-breathable functionality.^[29] 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.^[30] This functionality was lacking in popular fur coats, rubber Mackintosh or cotton Burberry raincoats.^[30]

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.^[31] 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 Georges Street, Dublin, with the Galtee Motor Coat as the highlight of their stall at Ireland's first motor show, the 1907 Dublin Motor Show.^[32] 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.^[33]

At the Irish International Exhibtion Mulcahy, Redmond displayed woollen and worsted goods alongside 'Motor Clothing, including our Speciality-"Galtee" Motor Cloth'.^[34]

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.^[35][36] Early war contracts were lobbied for Mulcahy, Redmond by John Cullinan (MP) in the House of Commons.^[37] They uniquely produced overcoat cloth for the Imperial Russian Army in 1916.^[38][39] 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.^[40] Ardfinnan Suitings gained prestige internationally in tailoring houses in London, Paris and New York.

John Mulcahy bought Ardfinnan Castle in 1921.^[41]

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.^[42]

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 Jack and Dick Mulcahy it was therefore the most vertically-integrated woollen mills and also had a darning department for repairing customers woollens.^[2][43] Dick Mulcahy was reported as President of the Association of Woollen and Worsted Manufacturers of Ireland in 1957.^[44]

Ardfinnan House, 17 Trinity Street, Dublin 2, was the address of their wholesale store, showroom and office in the capital city.^[45] 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 Jack 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.^[46]

The firm supplied to the knitting industry in the wake of the declining domestic market and increasingly relied on large commissions such as for Macy's in the USA. With up to 500 people directly and non-directly dependent on the mills, it let go of it's staff in January 1973. Competitive disadvantages climaxing with Ireland's admission to the EEC were blamed.^[47] A large protest in Clonmel led by the directors, workers and Mulcahy family followed, as promises by the government to support the Irish woollen industry were not upheld.

In the village today there are workers cottages that were built by the company, an agricultural co-operative, Ardfinnan GAA founded in 1910 by workers who had played football on the green and former tennis courts opened in 1926 ^[48] The mills gas and hydro-electrical generation, supplied electricity to local housing, businesses and gas to street lamps from the 1900s until the ESB took over the supply in January 1953.^[49][40]