-396 THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 



inches in width Double -width cloth is practically never made on hand- 

 looms in Ireland, as a loom of the requisite size could rarely be accommo- 

 dated in a peasant's cottage or weaving-shed. It may, therefore, be safely 

 ■concluded that the term " home-spun " means imitation home-spun, and not 

 the genuine hand-made article, if applied to any Irish cloth of fifty-six 

 inches wide or thereabouts. 



Every home-spun district in Ireland produces cloth of its own special 

 character. In North Donegal, about Glenveigh and Gweedore, a heavy, 

 well-woven, substantial cloth is made, generally dyed in dark colours, often 

 with check or striped patterns. The market is mostly a retail one, and the 

 sale of this excellent cloth has in recent times been largely promoted by the 

 efforts of Mrs. Adair of Glenveigh Castle. The Castlebar industry, which 

 owes its success to the Countess of Lucan, produces a similar cloth to that 

 •of north Donegal, but with brighter colouring. In Connemara and other 

 parts of County Galway (especially Gort, where the Convent of Mercy 

 fosters the industry), a great deal of white flannel or bAinin, pleasant 

 to look at and most durable in texture, is produced for local use, and finds 

 its way occasionally into the drapers' shops in Galway. This material is 

 sometimes made with a thick loosely spun yarn, and the surface then teased 

 up, producing the napped cloth known as " Galway flannel." It is often 

 dyed red, dark blue or black ; and the Galway peasant woman with a 

 hooded cloak of this woolly material, dyed a rich black, and with a scarlet 

 petticoat showmg underneath, presents a study in vivid colour not often 

 seen out of Spain. The County Kerry homespuns are well spun and 

 woven, but poor in colouring and pattern. Vegetable dyes are little used — 

 a black is obtauied with logwood and copperas, and a grey-brown cloth is 

 made by a mi .>iture of natural brown and white wool ; but little more is 

 attempted except ni one small centre on Lough Currane, where a few webs 

 are made with some attempt at artistic effect, for sale to summer visitors at 

 Waterville. At Dereen, on the Kenmare estuary, a good deal of white and 

 grey cloth is made in connection with the Countess of Lansdowne's industry, 

 and is afterwards piece-dyed and sold for dress materials in London and 

 elsewhere. 



In all the above cases the output which finds its way into the public 

 market is merely the overflow of a much greater body of production 

 intended for local use. In South Donegal, however, we have an example of 

 an extensive home-spun industry conducted almost entirely for an outside 

 wholesale market and carried on upon regular business lines. From the 

 fairs of Ardara and Carrick nearly iJ^/oo worth of hand-made cloth goes 

 every month to London, Glasgow, Huddersfield, Vienna, Paris, Melbourne, 

 New York, Boston, and other centres of trade. It is not a decaying in- 

 dustry, nor is it in any degree dependent on the social influence of wealthy 

 patrons. Prices have rarely been so high or demand so keen as at the 

 present moment. At a recent fair in Carrick a single dealer bought fifty- 

 five webs of cloth, representing nearly ^^300, and in about a fortnight after- 

 wards had disposed of almost all of them. 



The present flourishing state of the South Donegal Industry must be 

 attributed largely to the operations of the Congested Districts Board under- 

 taken in the year 1893. The district was visited that year by the Countess 

 of Aberdeen, President of the Irish Industries Association, and from reports 

 drawn up by the agents of the latter body, and also by Mr. Townsend 

 Gahan, an Inspector of the Congested Districts Board, it appeared that the 



