Prospectus For Auction of Ballymore-Eustace Woolen Factory in 1904
Prospectus For Auction of Ballymore-Eustace Woolen Factory in 1904
The Kildare Local Studies collections hold an original prospectus for the sale of a woolen factory by public auction at Ballymore-Eustace County Kildare, together with machinery and fittings, on 6th of September 1904. The full prospectus with details of the particulars and conditions of sale is now available to view through this link 1904 Auction Ballymore Eustace Woolen Factory
Ballymore-Eustace has a long association with the wool industry, including a branch trail that linked up with the ‘Woolpack Road’ of County Kildare. This route ran from the edge of the Curragh continuing towards Rathcoole and eventually to the weavers’ quarter located in the Liberties in Dublin City. The centrality of Ballymore-Eustace to the wool industry is underlined by evidence that the earliest tuck mill in Ireland that has been definitively dated to 1276-77 was located at nearby Ardenode (Hussey, 2020). Ballymore-Eustace and the surrounding district would continue to be involved in the wool trade over the following centuries. Homan’s Woolen Mill at Ardenode operated for around fifty years from the late 1770s for example.
The woolen factory for sale in 1904 was developed by the Drumgoole Family of Weavers Square, Dublin in the first half of the nineteenth century. It was described by Lewis in 1837 as ‘a large manufactory in which every description of cloth is made’ and at one stage a majority of inhabitants of Ballymore-Eustace were employed in the woolen mills. The mills were further developed by members of the Copeland family (cousins of the Drumgoole family) in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Copeland family were still owners of the factory at the time of the auction in 1904. A previous post on Kildare eHistory, re-producing a 1906 article from the Leinster Leader, sets out the history and development of these woolen mills at Ballymore-Eustace. See https://kildarelibraries.ie/ehistory/ballymore-eustace-an-article-on-the-story-of-the-ballymore-eustace-woollen-mills/
The prospectus for the September 1904 auction states that the sale includes the woolen factory, tuck mill, residence, other buildings, machinery and a number of land holdings. Miss Mary Christina Copeland, aged 82 years at that time, was to be the beneficiary. Anthony Metcalfe of Lemonstown, Ballymore-Eustace was the Auctioneer.
Although the factory failed to be sold at this September 1904 public auction, several months later the Leinster Leader of 3rd December 1904 reported that the well-established wool factory had recently been sold by private treaty. Although attempts were made to revive the woolen industry and the factory in subsequent years, the factory and mill had ceased operations by 1914. The factory premises was for sale again in 1932 and again in subsequent years when it lay in ruins and unroofed. There has been plans for its conservation and adaption to modern use in recent years (Tierney, 2019).
Further Reading:
Buildings of Ireland entry: BALLYMORE EUSTACE EAST (B’MORE EUST. ED), Ballymore Eustace, KILDARE – Buildings of Ireland
Burke, Jack. ‘The Factory Story’ in Ballymore Eustace Millennium 2000 Chronicle of an Ancient Village (1999).
Hussey, John. ‘Co. Kildare’s ‘Woolpack Road’ and Its Feeder Trail’ in Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society, Vol. XXI (Part I), 2016-2017.
Hussey, John. The Quakers of Baltyboys, County Wicklow, Ireland 1678 to 1800s (2020)
Tierney, Andrew. ‘Ballymore Eustace Woolen Mills’ in Central Leinster The counties of Kildare, Laois and Offay (2019)
