The Factory Story
By
Jack Burke
The story of the factory began in 1804
when Christopher Dromgoole, Clothier, of the Weavers Square, Dublin, purchased
the "Corn Mill, Tuck Mill and Kiln together with the privilege of a strip
of bog adjoining the same" at
Ballymore Eustace.
The factory built on the site was
impressive and machinery was provided to match: -
Tuck
Mill - 2 Jig mills - one brush mill for finishing cloth - one machine for
washing, 4 pair of fallers for milling or thickening cloth. Diameter of wheel
12 feet. Breadth of ditto 6 feet 4
inches. Diameter of 2dwheel 14 feet.
Breadth 6 feet 6 inches, depth of shrouding 13 inches 40 buckets - fall
13 feet. The machinery worked by water
is as follows - one willow (or Devil) for breaking the wool before it is carded
- also 3 Scribbling machines for same purpose. 4 carding machines - One teaser
for breaking the wool before going to the Scribbling machines - There are 6
Scribbling machines & 6 carding machines There are 50 looms - and 20
jennies for spinning Wool.
Truly a "large manufactory in which
every description of cloth is made".
Business was good at first, but after
1815 and the end of the Napoleonic Wars the economy declined, and the factory suffered.
On the edge of the river, in a very pretty situation, are the buildings of a
factory, once kept up by Mr. Dromgoole, but now idle and deserted',
By 1840 however prospects had improved:
Last year the concern
was employed 8 months, 12 hours per day The foreman states that the work done
in this factory might be averaged at 6 months -12 hours per day that there was
as much work done last year as in 2 years previously since 1831 - But he is of
the opinion that the work will be carried on more extensively soon, as the
machinery is undergoing repairs, and a new wheel has been set up since 1 first
visited the concern.
The 'family papers' support the foreman's
optimism at that time. In January l841,
for example, in exchange for substantial annuities for himself, his wife, and
remaining children, Christopher Dromgoole transferred the business in its
entirety to his third son Peter. The documents further state that Peter
Dromgoole:
worked the factory with much success, and after a few years he erected
and fitted up an oatmeal mill adjoining the Factory, which also proved a
profitable concern - he also erected or improved the dwelling house - and is
stated to have expended upwards of £2000 on the premises.
The factory was doing well. But of a
total population of 2129 in Ballymore Eustace 107 persons were engaged in the
clothing trade. But the 1840s were not happy times, particularly for the
Dromgoole family.
By the winter of 1842 Christopher
Dromgoole had passed away. His second
son, John died in April 1845, and then Peter, so lately and assuredly in
command, departed this life in May 1848.
It was to be nine years in July 1879 before ownership would stabilise sufficiently to allow production
to re-commence, when the premises were acquired by one John Copeland in 1857, a
cousin of the Dromgoole family. The factory continued to stumble toward its
uncertain destiny.
John Copeland died in July 1879 and the business
was left to his son Henry Lewis Copeland, with the proviso that he should pay
his father's debts and provide modest annuities for his mother and
brethren. The modest size of the
annuities, and the fact that John Copeland died in debt, may indicate that life
at the factory was unsure, and perhaps 'down at heel' during his time in
charge.
The following letter to the Irish Builder
in l882 points to a quiet revival under the direction of Henry L. Copeland.
The Woollen Factory at Ballymore Eustace
In the last article I through an
oversight and inadvertence, described the woollen factory at Ballymore-Eustace
as a ruin. I believe it was so when I was last there, forty years ago. When describing the river at that point, I
referred to D'Alton's History of the
County Dublin and at page 740 found that "the buildings of the factory
once kept up by Mr. Dromgoole are now idle and deserted'.
I understand that since then Messrs
Copeland (father and son) have carried on a most flourishing business; and I
would be sorry indeed, that the stray notes made in 1838 should be supposed to
have any reference to the present time, as nothing could possibly be further
from my wish or intention than to give offence or injure anyone by an illusion
that would cause error in point of date.
John S. Sloan CE
We are reminded that our Irish Exhibition contains samples
of woollen goods from the Ballymore-Eustace factory.
The Irish Exhibition, took place at the Rotunda,
Dublin in 1882 and appears to have been a success for the factory. Business prospered for several years, and
Henry Copeland was appointed Peace commissioner in 1894, an honorary position
that implied prominence in local society, and in this case likely success in
business.
By the beginning of the twentieth century
however, business was not good. The Census of Ireland 1901 for example shows just eight persons, (5 females and 3
males) out of a total population of 978 employed in the woollen industry
(including Ellen Brien Widow Age 72 Lodge-keeper ).
The rate book of 1905 shows Mary C.
Copeland as the occupier, and that rateable value was assessed at the full
amount. The factory was still in business and Mary Copeland who was then 71 years
of age was coping.
Two separate reports in the same edition
of the local newspapers provide a parting glimpse of the last years in the
working life of the factory. The first,
a report on a meeting of the Board of Guardians at Baltinglass Workhouse
contains the following paragraph:
Amongst the
tenders and samples received were some from Ballymore Eustace Woollen
Mills. We are pleased to see that
energetic efforts are being made on the part of the management to revive the woollen
industry in this well-known and old-established factory, which for some years
has been allowed to lie idle.
The second item concerns a subsequent
meeting of the same board, and under the title "Ballymore Eustace Woollen
Mills" reports:
The Baltinglass
Board of Guardians at their meeting on Saturday last paid high tribute to the
quality of the material turned out at the Woollen Mills, Ballymore
Eustace. The tender of Mr. P. McGrath,
manager of the mills was accepted for the supply of blankets and yam to the
Union notwithstanding that this marked an increase on the former price. The standard of the stuff manufactured at
the mill is very superior, the premises being fitted up with the most upto-date
machinery.
Prosperity could
not have been substantial or have lasted for long. The census for 1911 returns the manager's house, gate lodge, and
associated nearby cottages (where weavers lived in 1901) as unoccupied. Four persons only, indicate connections with
the mill, - the last of the life-givers, the last to leave. They are remembered here:
|
John Whittle |
Age 40 |
Wool Weaver |
|
Frances Devoy |
Age 40 |
Wool Carder |
|
Mary Devoy |
Age 32 |
Wool Spinner |
|
Elizabeth
Keogh |
Age 57 |
employed in
the factory |
Story by
Jack Burke format by Matt Purcell